The Perils of FOMO

It’s amazing how fast chaos can sneak up on you!

Or at least how fast it seems once we begin to notice.

I got pretty busy over the last year or so. Mostly good stuff. Learning. Writing. Traveling.

Lots of it was awesome!

Then I came down with a big case of what my wise (and really talented) friend Yasmin Nguyen, at Gratitude Inspired Living,  calls FOMO…Fear of missing out. (Which feels rather like fear of not being enough.)

I signed up for way more learning than I could keep up with. My e-mail was overwhelming. I wanted to sleep. Or watch Grey’s Anatomy re-runs.

Then, in July, I fell down. Literally. I’m ok, but at the time it was a fairly big deal.

In August, I did it again. Much less of a deal, but still not at all helpful.

About that same time, I began learning about Intentional Creativity. And painting, which is something of a miracle in my world.

Then my friend got sick and I invested a whole bunch of September and October in prayer and presence.

All that learning I had signed up for pretty much went by the wayside. Technically, it’s still there but it has felt buried under all the overwhelm.

Except for the creating and painting. That happened. Slowly, but it happened. And as I painted, I began to learn new things.

My butt hurt less. I found new parts of me.

I woke up. (Though I’m still a fan of napping.)

One day I opened my eyes and realized that a lot of things had gotten away from me.

My sewing table was buried in miscellaneous junk. Dusty miscellaneous junk.

I couldn’t find the tape measure. Or my passport.

My closet was running over with artifacts from lives past.

You get the drift.

It’s getting better these days.

I can actually see the sewing table. And, Wednesday, I’m giving a friend a sewing lesson!

I have a new passport.

A bunch of the old stuff in my closet has been promoted to the “paint clothes” department. A bunch more is headed out the door to new lives in other places.

My freezers are full of bone broth.

Mostly, though, I’m recovering from the fear of missing out.

I have a plan. I’m going with things I believe in. Following my heart kinds of things.

I’ve dumped a bunch of email. My recycling basket is full of catalogs which are full of shiny things I don’t need.

There is space in my world. More would be good, but it’s a start!

There is meditation music playing in my house. The dogs are more relaxed which helps me be more relaxed.

Most of all, I have a sense of where I’m going. I suspect it’s like nowhere I’ve ever been before and that’s ok. It seems a little less chaos makes me feel a bit more brave.

I’ll keep you posted.

Tomorrow, chalk board paint.

And, Wednesday, meet me back here. It’s all about my super simple dry brining process for a fabulous, juicy turkey!