The Joy Of Missing Out
A Goodbye To The Hell-Yes-Girl In Me
One morning at 4 a.m. I found myself at an overpass subway station in Tokyo. I’d lost my friends, but I was full of adrenaline. I was twenty-three and I had life by the balls. But how did I get there?
I was running FOMO. The fear of missing out triggered a knee-jerk reaction, which in my case, was saying Hell, yes! (Often combined with my right fist pumping into the air, a wink and a head tilt), to everything. Spoiler: I completely wrecked my body and mental health because I believed firmly in not missing out on any opportunity my social life presented me. Drinks after a grueling 12-hour-workday which turned into karaoke which turned into a dive bar which turned into smoking weed with strangers in an alley at 4 am? Sign me up!
Hiking a mountain (I have never hiked a mile in my life) for a weekend, camping and ‘being in nature’ (I have a hayfever). Sure! Going home with a mysterious stranger and sleep with him on a stained mattress in a rat-infested walk-up? I mean, he’s wearing a fedora and said he was musician!
I was the OG hell-yes-girl. Part of it must have stemmed from being a people pleaser and avoiding the uncomfortable conversation which would — in my mind — probably would succeed a ‘no’. Putting my life in danger, racking up credit card charges and not having…
