Today, with the presidential election two weeks away,  I woke up feeling like I should have gotten more involved in one of the campaigns a long time ago. I could have done so much more if only…I kept going over and over the same old negative self-message. And then I realized, my life was going on without me!

One of the best things about getting older is we treasure life more and more. We stop taking so much for granted, and become a little more grateful and maybe even sweat a little less over the small stuff.  It’s a bit of a mixed blessing, though. With all of this treasuring going on, there’s a fear of missing out. Maybe we should have picked this instead of that. Gone here instead of there.  We hunger to make our mark, do more for humanity, to have richer, more meaningful experiences.

The worst thing about this fear of missing out? Regret. If we think we’ve “missed out” then regret sets in. When we regret, we end up missing out, on our life. The very thing we’re trying NOT to miss out on! And so it goes. One thing is for sure, time keeps zooming by, and we can get mired in wishing we’d made other decisions, other plans.

It seems more and more, I constantly struggle with decisions about which project to pursue, event to attend, class to take, (although NOT which guy to date…pretty much… none!) fearful I might miss out. But in that strange non-committal fear,  I end up swirling around in a paralyzed indecisiveness. Then, I miss out anyway. Does this happen to you?

Maybe this is partly due to my unstructured life, making my own work hours. Then, all of this “fear of missing out” panic ends up catapulting me into rediscovering myself. I shed all the “missing out” skin stepping into a new outlook, looking for another Sizzle Chick adventure. A little wiser and definitely a little older.

3 Tips for Missing Out Syndrome:

1. Just pick one! Make a decision even if it’s just for the sake of making a decision. That’s an adventure in itself. It will feel great and maybe even give you clarity.

2. Take some sort of physical action. Today I volunteered at a phone bank for a political campaign. I regret not getting involved sooner beating myself up until I realized to just do something.

3. Take in the deliciousness of the moment. Stop. Savor. See. (repeat) Stop and look around, appreciate the moment you’re in instead of worrying about what could have been.

FYI- Today, I took action. I spent the afternoon doing volunteer phone banking at the local campaign headquarters.

Then I remember a favorite quote to live by: “The greatest risk in life, is not to risk at all.”

-Tracy Pattin

Tags: Adventures, over 40 adventures, over 50 adventures, risk taking