Experiencing Uni FOMO

Summer 2015 flew by and before I knew it my sister was back to school shopping, my mum fretting about her new class (she's a teacher) and me? Well I was settling back into a routine of work, work work. 

The thing about having an unplanned gap year (if you want to know more about why I'm taking a gap year, click here) is that it's just that - unplanned. Six weeks ago I still intended to go to university this year and whilst I was very nervous, I had a plan. But like it often is, life got in the way and I found myself calling up my manager and asking to keep my job.

So here I am a month later. My friends are either at university or planning their ski seasons and I'm stuck working a job I literally couldn't care less about. And I realise that I sound incredibly sorry for myself and I should probably be grateful that I have a job at all but frankly standing behind a counter, selling paracetamol isn't how I imagined my life would be. 

But back to university. As soon as my best friend left, last Sunday, I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that things were just going to be different. Adults always say that you make your lifelong friends at uni and school friends are often forgotten... So where does that leave me? I found myself in the coming days obsessively clicking on her snapchats like some kind of stalker intend on seeing just how much fun she was having without me. 

But then, it suddenly hit me. It wasn't just her I was afraid of missing, it was the whole experience - hence uni FOMO or Fear Of Missing Out. 

Throughout my whole life I've always been very easily influenced when it came to the fact that I believed others were having more fun than me, owned nicer clothes than me, or in general having a better existence. It was completely irrational - I knew I was being irrational! But for a long while I've been content in knowing that I'm living a great life - I loved my school, my friends were fab and I was travelling to some super nice places. But now that's over and I'm having to come to terms with a year with little planned, FOMO hit me hard.

So here I am, throwing myself into blogging which truly is something I adore and trying to envisage bright spots throughout the next year: Family holidays to Greece and the Lake District, trips to London, visiting my friend on her ski season in France... All of which are like anchors - 'if I can just make it through the next few weeks...' 

So whilst I am still stalking my bestie occasionally I'm just hoping she's having a fab time, and it's not like I'll never see her again!

For right now I'm just looking to the future and focusing on the bright spots... like Christmas & halloween and hopefully passing my driving test in three weeks time! So don't forget it's natural to feel like we're missing out. We live in an incredibly competitive world where moments can feel wasted if we're not living life to the absolute fullest.

But don't forget, nothing is permanent, (except tattoos) buy that handbag, book that trip, quit your job, because nothing in this world is as important as being happy in yourself.