Analogies, Synchronicities, Random Thoughts and Digital FOMO
Lately I’ve been thinking about FOMO, you know, that dreaded ‘fear of missing out.’ Specifically in the digital realm.
I wrote a lot of this post in my head as I was picking blackberries this morning, thinking about how I’ve been trying to stay away from social media and how hard that often is. How life isn’t happening on social media. It’s only a highlight reel.
I’ve also been thinking about my why … why I share, why it feels important to me, why it’s sometimes hard to stay away. The answers are not yet clear but I am unpacking it day by day.
As I was at the mail box dropping off my cup of blackberries to take a little hike on our back country road, I checked my emails. Why? I don’t know, but I did. And there it was.
Q and A: How Often Should I Post Content?
An email from a Content Strategy blog I subscribe to. (I am the Marketing Director for a medium-sized non-profit, so I’m always reading about best practices.) Buuuuuut, I am online a lot for work — another reason I want to be online less in my personal life.
To me this email was a clear sign from the universe … and proof that the world doesn’t want us to stop. But what the world wants and what our souls want are often two very different things.
Our souls seek peace.
Our souls seek to align us with source, spirit, God, whatever you want to call the Higher Power that guides us all.
The world, however asks us to do more, to put ourselves out there, and today’s world in particular, wants everything to be online.
While I am highly drawn to social media (addicted?) something is clearly shouting STOP. Enough.
So I am heeding that call.
Since I stopped teaching yoga regularly, I’ve been looking for my purpose. I know that yoga is in there somewhere but it’s not meant to be what it’s been.
My purpose is greater. My purpose is to live the life I’ve been called to live, and perhaps to share it, but most importantly to live it.
Lately, I’ve been studying and clearly bringing awareness to all of the synchronicities that play out each day. I’m paying attention dreams, random (or not so random) things that happen in my every day waking life that I previously might have ignored.
I’m writing this post on my phone, talking into it as I’m walking. And just a few minutes ago, part of a huge branch fell out of the tree into the road, blocking the way for cars to pass. Luckily, very few cars travel this road way, but as I began to speak these words one of my neighbors I’ve never met is driving toward me. I stopped her and told her of the fallen limb. Another neighbor with a tractor drove out of his driveway just as we were finishing our conversation. Between the three of us we got it cleaned up.
What is the message? Such a small thing, but I talked to two neighbors I wouldn’t have met otherwise. It showed me that the power of connection allows us to get things done. Personal connection, not through a screen.
So … FOMO … digital in particular. I choose to use my digital means to connect instead of randomly scroll — to be intentional.
Random scrolling and comparison bring defeat. There is zero connection in that.
I’ve used social media as a way to write and a way to process my thoughts. But I see that I’m also seeking personal validation in the posting. Truly that can only come from within.
I began writing this post because I was thinking about how little I’ve been writing here. I’ve been working on my book and have been staying away from writing on Medium. It takes away from finishing my book and it’s already been a very long process. I worry about losing followers and not connecting with others, but the truth is we cannot connect with everyone all the time.
Like the wise words from Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time for everything.
Today I do not choose to let FOMO decide.
All is well.
Life is unfolding exactly as it should be
Thanks for reading. Connect with me through my personal blog, on the 19, where you can also learn more and get my free e-book before the full version is released later this year.
