How times have changed…Today we have acronyms and new age lingo for pretty much everything, and I need either a friend or Google to explain the word to me. Another trend am noticing with the current generation is they don’t really care for a career, or respect the concept of staying at a company for more than 6months [ yes, you read it right.. 6months is a long time, 1 year- gasp, more than that, well they probably belong to my generation…lol ] If you were to tell them that your dad/uncle/aunt worked in 1 company all their life and retired from there, you would be met with “are you kidding me” or a similar reaction…

Gone are the days when people believed in working, saving up, buying a home, or getting married and so on. Today, it is all about living in the moment, enjoying life for what its worth. Well, that is something I believe in too, but I am also made to be responsible, work, save up some money. Well, by now you must have deduced that am over 30, heck am over 40 [no no, am not one of those women who shy away from sharing their age], freelance and live life my way. Did I mention am single? Yes!

YOLO” (you-only-live-once) and “FOMO” (fear-of-missing-out) are terms that seem to become a norm these days.

The 1st time I saw them being used, it was on twitter and someone had tweeted about quitting their job so they could travel and explore the world. My jaws dropped.. My mind was like “you don’t have to quit your job, unless it was one of those that had you glued to the chair 24/7”, and I had questions like “where does the money to travel come from? Or was there someone sponsoring their trips? Even the so called “influencers”, whenever I see a post, my brain instantly goes into “they are not posting cos they like it, they are doing it cos they are getting paid to promote it…” and when it comes to Health related products/treatments/services, I often wonder how people go ahead and try new things without some research .. I wouldn’t even go to a new salon to get a haircut, I believe in building relationships, having a connection whenever something related to health is in the works.. Same goes for a doctor or a health product i subscribe to. And if ever I am going to try something new, it would be after adequate study & research, and only when I believe in it.

Fear or insecurities- where does FOMO or YOLO sprout from?

I find quite a few doing things cos of the FOMO phenomenon…. recently, I watched the Korean movie Parasite, and it so happened the next day was Oscars- where the movie won the Best Picture award. While chatting with a friend about the movie, she actually said “I wanna watch it too..”, when I questioned her on this [cos she isn’t into foreign language movies or even english movies for that matter], her retort was “mainly because of FOMO I will. Just not right away.” Another had a similar response when we spoke about a destination I had been to earlier this year. And this trend I find across interest groups….

What is this fear or missing out and why is it taking over the world ? So what if you don’t watch a movie or buy something or visit a place?Shouldn’t it be more about what you like to do/go to/wear/eat than what the world does? I call it herd mentality, not FOMO….

Have always been someone who went the other direction when the world went to one direction. This is why I haven’t read/seen harry potter movies/books, or Da Vinci code or  gone to a restaurant/pub. Most people who  hear me confess to not reading Harry Potter gasp and are speechless for a while before going on a rampage about how awesome it is, how I have missed out on something amazing etc.. It is alright, I haven’t lost anything just cos I dint read/watch. When I went to Universal Studios in LA, I went on every single ride except Harry Potter… not hard to guess, but those I spoke to afterwards were in shock… lol

Few months back, a friend’s friend asked me “Aren’t you afraid your body clock is gonna run out and you cant have all that we do?”. I stared at her with a “eh, what?” look and she was surprised I did not have FOMO, I wasn’t palpitating or going bonkers screaming anything.. She said she was married, they had an apartment, her parents were in an elderly senior citizens home in Coimbatore and they had 2 kids… She hadn’t slept in years, was cranky all the time, she  & her husband hadn’t been intimate in a year or more, but well she had it all and wondered why I wasn’t worried i had none…

Huey patooey – if you ask me! Who died and made all these people king/queen of the world? I choose to live my life my way and am HAPPY… So deal with it and move on~!

Heck, my own family has questioned me multiple times and poked fun at where Life has left me.. According to them, am a failure! Yes, you heard it right. Cos am still single, I am too independent for my own good and I did reject the 1 or 2 guys who actually said OK to marry me [ well, lemme tell you, I know more about those jackasses than what my family do and I would have killed em if I had gotten married to any of them]… They don’t get it, they just don’t..they don’t even try to..

I don’t blame em but then I wish they would make the effort to understand.. But then, that is expecting too much. they come from the world that believes a girl should be married by 27/28, have kids, be happy serving her husband and not expect more out of life. If you got more, you are lucky… I am the completely opposite of all that they hoped, so they are unable to wrap their head around me & my way of life…Oh well~! I got nothing to say, for I don’t believe in justifying my actions… I need to be happy, I deserve to be happy and loved… so am going to enjoy life the way I know how to…

Another aspect of my life that gets questioned a lot is “travel”.. Those who know me are aware of how tight lipped I am about my travel, I don’t disclose the destination till I board the flight/train, all this cos many a trip got cancelled and so i do believe in the jinx factor.. That said, it has changed over the years, close friends do come to know of my plans a few days ahead of the trip.. And then there are those who question me “So, do you travel cos you are growing old and not much time is left?” My response is always “err, say what? ” I cannot make sense of such folks and they are the majority.. I travel cos I love to explore new places, and am happy doing it on my own or with people.. There are others who want to travel with me cos they find what I do fascinating, but then we haven’t done any trips so far…finally, the small percentage of people who are happy I am travelling, exploring new places and bringing back stories… Not to forget the few who whine and whine about they haven’t taken a break or gone anywhere in ages and are so jealous of me & my life. To them, I say “Make time, get your priorities right and do what makes you happy”..

My Life..

Even though I am not from the current generation, even though I was raised to believe that only when you got married & had babies was your life complete, I don’t have any of those nor am I afraid of anything.. So, yes I don’t have FOMO or YOLO or JOMO [Joy Of Missing Out], but what I do have is ICAD[I Care A Damn] & IAGLMLMW [I Am Gonna Live My Life My Way] only..

I don’t have any fears, I am not in a race to see /do as much as possible. I am all about enjoying life, doing something new, visiting a new place and welcoming the new experiences that come my way.. I don’t stress about what is not mine, I don’t fret about things not in my control… C’est la vie.. Go with the flow, do your best and love Life… 🙂

Oh, I recently read there is something called FOGO [Fear of Growing Older].. Goodness, somebody save me..

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