i pick on my buddy ian a lot. ian is one of those uber-social, outgoing guys who is always out on the town - even when he doesn't reeeeally want to be. he'll shmooze and booze, then come home exhausted, inebriated, and wondering why the hell he agreed to go out at all. then he'll do it again the next day.
why does he do this to himself? because ian suffers from FOMO - fear of missing out. according to some article i read online, "FOMO happens when we invalidate the experiences we're having because we're obsessed with the ones we're not having." by keeping up this active social life, ian ensures he's never the guy who missed out on that great party, that great event, that great whatever that everyone's talking about.
lots of people suffer from FOMO on some level. personally, i believe excessive use of facebook has something to do with it. having access to your friends' best versions of their lives can sometimes create a FOMO complex. fortunately, i don't suffer from FOMO and here's why: i know that my friends who constantly post about how amazing their lives are, are the ones who - in person - are usually among the most unhappy, insecure people i know. i certainly don't have fear of missing out on that.
it's silly to me, and i'm quick to tease ian about his FOMO because he's never really missing out on anything at all. but i have a confession to make: today i'm feeling a little FOMO myself.
today marks the beginning of san fermin, better known to americans as "the running of the bulls" festival in spain.
and i'm not there!
WAAAAHHHHHH.
this day last year, i took to the streets of pamplona with one million of my closest friends for spain's most famed festival. for eight days, the whole city was turned upside down in celebration. there was red and white as far as the eye could see. there were parades, fireworks, and yes, some running bulls. but mostly there was music. there was dancing. and there was a LOT of sangria.
san fermin was the very first experience in all my travels in spain, and i would later come to discover that the spanish are always in celebration mode. more than any other culture i experienced in 25+ countries, it's the spanish who wow'd me the most with their passion for life.
festival or no festival, they know how to live.
so yeah. i do feel like i'm missing out. i'm feeling nostalgic about a culture so vastly different from - and yes, one i believe is far superior to - the one i'm in now.
that said, i suppose my FOMOment isn't really about the san fermin festival or the insanely good time i had there. it's about how much i miss traveling; the energy and excitement of life on the road; meeting new people, experiencing different cultures. i've been back in the states for 10 months now and i'm disenchanted. there's a whole world of awesomeness out there and i'm just......here. not to say that "here" isn't exciting. i admit that los angeles has been good to me and has allowed me to have extraordinary experiences on a fairly regular basis (remember my gushing LA lovefest? or the LA fun-cram of '09?). yeah, my world is quite good. but again, there's a world out there that has so much more. and i wanna be a part of it!
this FOMO, man. it's a crap feeling. and it's so unlike me. one of the greatest things i learned about myself from my travels is that i can find joy in anything and in any part of the world. so why the LA funk? i don't know. it might not even be FOMO. maybe it's a delayed case of the post travel blues. maybe withdrawal symptoms of a travel addiction. maybe all the above. all i know for sure is i haven't felt like myself for the last few weeks, and i'm in the process of sorting it all out.
don't be surprised if i start posting diatribes and whiney musings about my non-traveling life. maybe i just need to get it out of my system.
stay tuned. in the meantime, here's my absolute favorite photo i took at san fermin. olé!
Labels: 2011, basque country, fear of missing out, festival, fomo, los angeles, nostalgia, pamplona, running of the bulls, san fermin, san fermines, spain
