I was recently informed of a crafty new acronym to describe the plight of many 20-somethings. We suffer from our own version of the midlife crisis, FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out.

The 40-50-somethings often have nervous breakdowns (or minor strokes), cheat on their spouses, get Botox, and trade in their station wagons for German cars (or at least American cars with convertibles). Whereas, the 20-somethings move to Manhattan, spend their low-paying assistant (or unpaid intern) salaries on expensive mixed drinks and summer shares in the Hamptons–all out of the paralyzing fear that “these are supposed to be the best years of my life, so what happens if I don’t do them up right?”

I used to suffer from FOMO. I would drive myself crazy worrying that if I didn’t go dancing at a nightclub or RSVP to some party, then I would miss out on the man of my dreams, or the definitive career connection of my life. But then I realized that most special events aren’t really that special, and even if a 20-something stays in for 365 nights eating pasta and watching 30 Rock, then she’ll still have her 50s to hook up with a 20-year-old. And maybe by then she’ll have a big house and lots of money to buy delicious groceries from Whole Foods, so going out won’t even sound that appealing.

Tweet This Post