fear of missing out (FOMO)

I've taken to dumping the mail order catalogs right into the recycle bin without looking them over. I used to take them upstairs and they would pile up (often unread for weeks). Or I would succumb to purchasing something from the enticing spread, convinced I had to have whatever thingamajig I'd stumbled across.

I've come to think that those catalogs are very much like everything else in my life that I crane my neck to see or cram my calendar full of or squish into my closet or stress over.  I didn't even know it was important until it showed up in my in-box and someone told me it was on sale, urgent, or had some entertaining sparkles and twists. I've gotten so I can hardly sit still to read a book for fear that I'll miss out on the next email or Instagram post. It's a little mortifying that I have a twinge of anxiety when I can't find my phone for ten minutes. On the weekend.

What if we don't log onto FaceBook for the latest update or life hack? Or read every Tweet that flits across the transom? What if friends gather for drinks and gossip without us? What are we afraid of missing? What will happen if we don't look, cram, squish, or stress?  I don't have the answers. I'm just asking for a friend.