Fighting FOMO

Without a doubt, one of the things I struggle with whilst I'm here on the other side of the world is that FOMO feeling. For those of you not in the know, FOMO stands for 'Fear Of Missing Out', and it was one of my biggest fears before actually boarding the plane to China.

From time to time, I wonder about what I'd be doing back home if I wasn't here in Tianjin. Things were going pretty well for me before I left. I was doing a job I felt I was really getting good at and more importantly, it was a job that I actually enjoyed! I was spending a lot of time with my friends and family (mostly due to the many leaving parties I threw) and exploring London more and more each week (there's just always something good happening!). Generally, I was really content with my life and where it was all going and although I'd been wanting to experience China for quite some time, it was still a big thing to just get up and leave everything back in the UK.

Now don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy life here in China. I feel very settled and comfortable in Tianjin already and I'm really looking forward to exploring more of this massive country. But, when certain events happen back home, I can't help but really feel a pang of FOMO hit me right in the chest.

Bonfire Night did this to me recently. It's one of my favourite nights of the year because I absolutely love fireworks! I head to the Battersea Park fireworks display almost every year. I love waiting to see what theme they'll go with for the display. I love the smell of smoke that lingers in the air when everyone heads home. Fireworks just make me inexplicably happy, so it's been a bit sad for me to think about how that's all going on whilst I'm in a completely different time zone.

The only consolation I had was being able to teach my students about the Bonfire Night back story. I'm particularly proud of the lesson I ran last week. I loved being able to introduce complex new words like conspiracy, and telling them about some of the more gruesome aspects of the gunpowder plot. It was great to see their reactions to the brutal punishment of being hung, drawn and quartered. It's things like being able to talk about traditions I love from back home, like Bonfire Night, and getting my students really engaged that pulls me back from that FOMO feeling.

FOMO had no plans to just leave things there though. My daily scroll through social media decided to throw the annual John Lewis Christmas advert my way, reminding me that Christmas is around the corner and that this will be the first time ever I've spent it away from my family.

(The cover of  Oasis' 'Half the World Away' never felt more apt)

I keep in touch with my family relatively regularly. It doesn't fuss me so much any more when my siblings meet for dinners and outings without me. I'm not too bothered at the thought of my Dad's amazing cooking at big family gatherings any more either because there's a wealth of amazing food to be had in Tianjin. But one of the things that gets me is that there is pretty much no such thing as celebrating Christmas here in China. In fact, the kids are still at school on Christmas day. Maybe I could ward off FOMO if there was some kind of Christmas tradition I could join in oni, but the complete lack of it will certainly make things feel strange for me come the end of December.

I don't want to dwell on it though. One thing I have to remind myself is that FOMO is only temporary and that it will only make you feel bad if you let it get to you. Likewise, I think the only other way to get over it is to play dirty - fight FOMO with FOMO. I have every intention of doing this in the next few weeks as I'm heading for some weekend trips to Xi'an and Qingdao. Hopefully nothing goes wrong and I'll have a great time exploring more of China. I'll be sure to do an update on my travels, and who knows, maybe next time you'll feel FOMO on your next read?

Until then!