How to Treat FOMO: 4 Ways

FOMO is a real problem

I’ve had my own struggles with FOMO. Seeing people on social media traveling the world can get me feeling…well, like I’m missing out!

In high school, the list of places I wanted to eventually visit was longer than my own body. But life doesn’t go as planned. I’m glad I’ve gotten to see Disney World and the Grand Canyon, but it’s easy to get hung up on not (yet?) having seen Washington, DC, or the California redwoods. You get the picture.

But if you can’t afford the proverbial surgery, you can try some cheaper alternatives.

As follows are four different treatments for FOMO. Use as often as needed. No prescriptions required. Each treatment may be used alone or in combination with other treatments. No adverse side effects have been reported.

1. Offer your FOMO up as a penance

I want to experience a real autumn. Fall foliage and pumpkin patches and harvest moons. I want to go apple-picking. I want to collect leaves that shimmer like crimson and gold!

But I live in a place where autumn still means flip-flops and pool days and “I hope the air conditioner doesn’t stop working.”

So when I get “triggered” seeing “real autumn” in movies and TV shows (Gilmore Girls I'm looking at you!), I can offer it up as a penance: for the conversion of sinners, for the intentions of loved ones, for priestly vocations, for anything!

2. Pray for the places you want to visit

In 2020, I was supposed to fly to London to embark on a cruise sailing the fjords of Norway. I displayed a vintage Norway travel poster by my desk for months, to look at every day as I crossed off the days on my calendar.

But then Covid.

And then the stars simply never aligned again for me to take such a trip.

But I can pray for blessings upon the country of Norway. I can pray for protection of the natural beauty of Norway. I can pray in thanksgiving for the fjords and their wildlife. I can pray that people are reminded of God’s majesty when they behold the fjords He created.

3. Pray for the people visiting the places you want to visit

Several years ago, I got frustrated seeing someone from my high school days vacationing in Greece.

I can pray for the people currently visiting the places I wish I could visit; I can pray that their travel is safe and smooth. Yeah, it’s not super-appetizing, like a stale cracker with no cheeseball in sight, but a stale remedy is better than none.

The above three treatments can add some dynamism to our prayer lives and help pull us beyond self-focused petitioning, e.g. “Please Lord give me the opportunity to see the Great Wall of China someday.”

This last treatment is my favorite. And it's what inspired this article in the first place.

Frankly, I think it’s enough to convert a person to Catholicism.

4. Remember the saints

And I’m not talking about the seafaring Jesuit missionaries. Look to the saints who were cloistered or tied to a single place! 

Saint Padre Pio spent the vast majority of his life at his monastery. In 1918, St. Padre Pio "went to visit his beloved hometown, Pietrelcina, for the last time in his life, and then returned to the Capuchin Friary in San Giovanni Rotondo where he lived continuously for the next 50 years." (Biography, Padre Pio Foundation of America). I might get frustrated that I’ve never been on a cruise, but I was privileged to travel outside of my home country as a teenager. St. Padre Pio never left his home country his whole life...How ungrateful I can be!

Speaking of St. Padre Pio, “Padre Pio frequently spoke about how he was attacked by the devil, and it was in his cell that these battles took place.” (Biography, Padre Pio Foundation of America). What a lesson it is for us that he fought the devil inside his monastic cell. We can know, love, and serve God, without even leaving our bedrooms. 

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux spent roughly the last decade of her young life at her Carmelite monastery.

Don’t even get me started on the Desert Fathers. They went into the desert to stay in the desert. Not to go glamping and showing off on social media.

If not-going-anywhere was good enough for so many saints, then it's gotta be good enough for me...But seriously, many saints embraced their stationary circumstances. The wisdom to unpack from that would need more blog posts than one person could ever write. 

Cloistered/stationary saints abound in our cherished Catholic history. And for those of us who haven't racked up enough credit card miles to get off the ground, maybe it's because God is challenging us to number ourselves among the saints...Right where He has us. 

Chelsey Kennedy writes at Seeking the Mercy in the Mundane on Substack.

Reference

"Biography," Padre Pio Foundation of America, https://padrepio.com/padre-pio/biography/.