In case you didn’t know, FOMO means fear of missing out. We live in a highly distracted age. The Internet offers too much information, way too fast. Some of us are struggling, not only to keep up with that, but to keep going in spite of various health issues—ahem!
Here are five tips for you to keep you from being constantly pulled in different directions by social media and the onslaught of email coming to your inbox.
Don’t subscribe to every blog or e-zine you come across: Subscribe only to the ones that truly interest you. If you subscribe to something and you find you’re no longer reading it, quit deleting those emails and unsubscribe now.
Beware of “shiny object syndrome”: Not every deal you see on the Internet is worth the money or the time. All those $.99 books? They add up after a while. All those great deals on how-to courses? They add up. And they take time from something else you could be doing. Just because someone tells you a thing is worth $2,000, so you’re getting a great deal if you’re getting it for $300, that doesn’t make it so.
If you have a strong political opinion, stop wasting your time venting your spleen on social media: You can be using that time to write your congressperson or other representative. I’m not saying you shouldn’t express your opinion. All I’m saying is that 10-paragraph rant you put on Facebook could be put to better use. If you aren’t writing your government representatives, you could be blogging about it. Telling the world, instead of having your thoughts cluttering up a social medium full of noise.
Don’t sign up for every form of social media without thinking about why you’re doing it: Each type of social media has a different purpose and a learning curve associated with it. Trying to market your product or service on all forms of social media at once is a recipe for failure. Do each type one at the time (ideally) and make each one part of a larger marketing strategy.
Get away from your computer. Get out of the house and actually meet people: The world isn’t going to end if you aren’t constantly online. This is especially important for those of us with chronic illness. I speak from experience when I say that getting out and simply being with others may be stressful, but no amount of online interaction replaces the great feeling of being with others.
Finally, I’d like to call your attention to the final words in this interview in Washington Post Magazine.
Everyone has heard how exercise and therapy both will improve their lives, but people in general don’t do it regularly. Why do you think that is?
We are wired towards health, which means there’s a kind of will to heal ourselves. People desperately want to try that first. Some people have to really hit bottom. With PsychFit, I think it’s a little more cool, you know? My hope was it would attract that piece of the population that’s ambivalent. When I first started I was coming at it like an athlete. What’s been a little strange in my life is I’ve developed fibromyalgia [a chronically painful condition]. Recently it’s flared so badly that I can’t exercise.
Oh gosh!
I’m feeling a lot better, but I had a really bad bout of it, which got my attention. I knew I had it, but I was always like, Okay, it’s pain, whatever. But this was debilitating and exhausting. So now I do ask people, “Do you have physical pain in your body?” Because unless you ask them, people might not even talk about it. And that really affects your mental health. Pain really wears you down. [Emphasis mine.]
Here’s another one I like: How to overcome body pain during meditation.
Plus: ‘I Look Fine, but No One can see my Pain’: Living with Invisible Illness.
