Is FOMO making you miss out?

A favorite quote from a hero of mine, Jim Elliot (first husband of Elisabeth Elliot, read more on her here!) reads, “Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” Something that I have thought of often throughout the years ever since I first heard it, I believe this saying is even more prevalent in the day and age in which we live. 

“Wherever you are, be all there!”

In this digital age, FOMO (fear of missing out) is more prevalent than ever before. We are constantly wondering what our friends are doing, what our favorite celebrities are up to, or what new place our favorite vloggers are visiting. We don’t want to miss out!! However, we can become so consumed with the digital world, or our little world in our brains, that we end up missing out on the real one. 

Raise your hand if any of the following scenarios has happened to you. 

• You sit down to dinner with your family or friends and your phone buzzes, you think that maybe you should wait until after dinner to check it but you’ve been waiting for a text, the anticipation is too much, you take a quick peek and before you know it you are texting back and forth with your friend instead of focusing on those you are eating with.

• You are sitting in church, and you want to focus, but your mind is wandering into Monday, what you have to do, the coffee date you have with your friend, oh and you need to do laundry too. You snap back to reality when the person next to you says, “Amen!”

• Your siblings have wanted you to play a game with them all day, and you finally agree, but when it’s not your turn you are browsing Amazon. Eventually, your siblings lose interest in the game, you don’t really notice because you are so excited about the good deals you’ve found!

• You really wanted to go shopping with your friends but your parents said it was family night. Instead of having a good time with your family, all you can think about is the good time you are missing with friends, that night you see on IG that they all bought matching sweatshirts. Another thing you missed out on. 

• It’s September, but your head is in December, Christmas is your favorite season! All you can think about is Christmas. What gifts you want, what gifts you’ll give, do you need more Christmas clothes, how about you buy more decorations for your room!! Since you are so caught up wishing it was Christmas you all but miss the 2 months in between.

I’m raising my hand with you. It’s easy to want to be somewhere else, whether that is a place or season. When you are so caught up in the digital world and what all your friends are doing you miss out on your real world and the people around you. When you wish you were at a different stage in life you miss out on the season where God has you!

Wherever you physically are, make up your mind that it will be there too. When you are interacting with people face to face, don’t allow your mind to be wandering through the social media world. Don’t allow your phone or other devices to get in the way of the real-life human sitting in front of you. It’s also easy to worry about other things, like what you should be doing instead of “wasting time” with the person you are with, or where you wish you were. That’s a time to remember your priorities and that the person you are spending time with is far more important than the virtual world or anything else you “should be doing”.

Whatever season or stage of life you are in, choose to enjoy it! It’s good to plan for the future and to be looking ahead to all that God has for you, but don’t make that your main focus. You don’t know when your life will change and you move into a different stage, if you miss out on where you are right now, you will never get that time back. 

This has been something that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Time seems to be flying by. I don’t want to miss out on life because I wish I was somewhere else, or in a different stage in my life. There is truth to the saying “You only live once”, I want to make every second count. Instead of having FOMO regarding everyone else’s life, why don’t we let the “fear of missing out” on what God has for us be our motivation? 

“Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God”

Living to the hilt is the idea of going all in, not leaving anything behind. In whatever situation you are in that you believe to be in God’s will, give your all. 

Once, I saw a sign for sale that, though it was funny, truly made me think, it said, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, 'Wow! What a ride! '” (Hunter S. Thompson) This is a good description of how I want to live, not just experiencing things that are fun or adventurous. I want to get to Heaven like this, saying, “Wow! What a ride serving God was!” 

Even though I would love to travel the world and see all the exotic places there are or live somewhere in the mountains where it snows a lot or any of the other dreams I have, I know that the will of God for me is far greater than the things of this world. All missionaries that I have met or read books about tell the same story, “Life serving God is always an adventure”. 

The exciting thing is, that you don’t have to be a missionary to do incredible and exciting things for God. Jesus came for us to have an abundant life (John 10:10), though we may face trials the hope of Heaven within us (2 Peter 3:13) makes it all worth it. 

Choose to be all there

There is much we can do to “live in the moment”. Here is a list of practical ways to focus on making the most of the incredible life God’s given you!

• Probably the most substantial thing would be to put away your phone. As hard as it may seem, once you make a conscious effort to stop pulling out your phone at any dull moment, it will soon become a habit. If you are having a hard time with this ask a friend or family member to keep you accountable.

• Another thing that can distract you is you! When you are in church or talking to a friend or family member it’s easy to let your mind wander to something you are worried about or some unfinished task you have to complete. If you notice this happening, stop, refocus, and actively listen to the person speaking to you, not only will this show them that you care about what they are saying but it will keep you focused on that conversation and person. 

• If you find yourself always wishing you were older, graduated, moved out, living in the Bahamas, or anywhere else than you are right now. Stop and take a second to be grateful for where God has you. Realizing that you don’t know when your life can take a turn and completely change (for better or worse) can help you shift your perspective. The truth is we aren’t promised tomorrow nor are your family or friends. Today may be the last day you have to spend with them or the last time you get to do a certain activity with them. Remembering that life can change at any moment is something that has helped me to not take for granted every special moment I have with my family. 

The greatest thing you can do, as always, is to pray! God will help you to focus on what is important. Asking Him to guide you to what His will is for you is how you can know where all of you needs to be. The longer you live the quicker time seems to pass, we all have regrets of times we wished we gave a little more, so instead of continuing to have more and more regrets choose to live life to the fullest. Be all there!