How Caregivers Can Overcome FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out

As a busy caregiver, it’s almost impossible to achieve a perfect work-life balance. Unfortunately, social media isn’t the best at helping you get there, right? Think about it! Whenever you have some time to yourself, you turn to social media to read about what your friends and family may be doing. Yet is everything out there really worth your time and engagement? Are you considering how the hundreds of posts you see every day are making you feel?

By being mindful and forcing yourself to live in the moment, you can get rid of these feelings of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and experience JOMO – the joy of missing out.

So, let’s talk about a few ways to eliminate FOMO!

Remember that Facebook is just a highlight reel – it isn’t real life!

Social media is a wonderful tool. It builds relationships and friendships, it allows friends and family to connect and stay in touch in thousands of more ways than ever before. It’s also very engaging and addicting – especially given how we can now do pretty much anything, between checking up on friends, watching the news, learning new things or even shopping! Yet social media pages that millions around the world create for themselves hardly represent their personality or daily struggles. You would never post an unflattering photo of yourself, or talk about how bad your day is going. You’ll want to share only the best, right? This is actually why we feel the “fear of missing out”. Our friends and family are active on social media only when they are doing something fun, which isn’t real life! Remember that.

Recognize that you are experiencing FOMO

The first step to working through a problem is making sure you admit to it. The minute you feel sad or disappointed about missing a certain event or someone’s posts from their beautiful vacation, tell yourself this: “I can’t be everywhere at all times” or “They are having a great time, and I will soon, too!” Don’t ignore the issue itself and channel your inner superhero to get out of the funk.

Set limits on your social media use

Because FOMO usually sprouts from social media, you can actually set a timer on your phone or certain apps that will log you out after you’ve exceeded your “limit” on that particular app. You can also set a physical timer for 15 minutes (and no more) to allow yourself to check social media either in the morning or afternoon. We prefer to check social media later during the day rather than first thing in the morning as FOMO can definitely contribute to a loss of productivity and general irritability or sadness that will ruin your day! You don’t need that in your life.