You missed it man!

Oh man, you missed it. It was awesome. You should have come. We all enjoyed " statements like these represent this age, this generation. I am sure all of us hear something like this on a regular basis. We are all plagued by the FOMO epidemic. FOMO stands for Fear of Missing Out. It's like if you go to a movie, you will miss a party. If you go to parents meeting, you might miss out on some concert at the same time.

Let's come to the very basics. Why do you choose to do one thing over the other? That is because in your opinion, the thing you chose to do is more important, holds more priority.

Let's take a small example. You decide to take care of your sick grandma and miss a music concert that you booked tickets for. Your friend tells you "Hey D, you missed it! " What your friend says is totally true, you missed the concert. But think further , what did you miss it for? You missed it for your dear grandma. How much is your grandma important to you? Is she more important than the concert? In this case, your answer will be yes since you chose to be with your grandma . As one person cannot be at two places at the same time, you stayed with grandma and missed the concert. In any case, you would have had to make a choice.

This is the basic stuff. Life presents us with many choices at any given point. It is up to us whether we choose to be home, in university, in office, care for our loved one, watch movie or travel. The choices we make have their own consequences. Any choice will have its own "opportunity cost"-the cost incurred by not enjoying the benefit that would have been had by taking the second best available choice. No matter what alternative you choose, you will have opportunity cost.

So what do you do in the "FOMO" era? First , set your priorities right. Be aware that you cannot have it all. Be aware that all what is said about "you missed out" is sometimes said more to make you feel miserable than anything else. Never ever set your eyes off your goal, no matter what. Let your mind not be manipulated by FOMO feelings.

Remember that a person who is seen vacationing on Facebook might have a sick mom at home who wouldn't be seen on Facebook. He too has the opportunity cost of not being with his mom. Whether he chose to vacation or was forced to travel for work we don't know. Hence do not judge people by their social media appearances. Let's get back to school and remember " All that glitters is not gold" .