Career FOMO

By now we know the definition of FOMO as a society -- the fear of missing out. Social media showed us a glimpse into people's lives that was not present before. It gave visuals to what was read or heard in the past tense. Social media shows what is; what is present and lasting, a true moment in time. And with that came FOMO. There was a time, in those early days of Instagram, that I had the feeling of FOMO as I watched people party, travel and have romantic get-aways. As I have gotten older, those do not give me FOMO anymore. My particular FOMO has grown in ways that only real adulthood can grow. Career FOMO.

My career desires have expanded into various industries: making music, makeup artistry, photography, cybersecurity, software engineer, author. I have always had some form of interest in each career, but what would start as a genuine interest to learn more would turn into a soft obsession. As I watched video after video of "day in the life" content, that soft obsession turned into full-on Career FOMO. My digital world would be flooded with whatever career I desired at the time, only to change my scope 3 weeks later.

What Causes Career FOMO?

It was not just about the career itself but also about the type of lifestyles those careers could afford me. My career goals have less to do with the actual daily work and more to do with the freedoms that it would provide. Time freedom. Financial freedom. Creative freedom.

My career FOMO can be linked to perfectionism, fear and spiritual disobedience. The desire to be perfect in performance and purpose has caused me to not only be stagnant in progress but also premature in movement when it does not look right or make sense. The fear of missing out on my purpose has caused me to jump from idea to idea without acknowledging my God given gift. Each time, I was running from something instead of running to what God kept whispering: WRITE. I was practicing spiritual disobedience every time I said no to God's calling and yes to things that only looked good.

What Has Helped Me?

I was not aware of how bad my career FOMO had gotten until I had my baby. Building my relationship with God has been breakthrough after breakthrough. With that alignment came the understanding of what was affecting my lack of career focus: my lack of trust in God, unintentional social media time and deflecting from reflection.

Every time I looked for a better career and did not pursue what God told me to focus on, I was showing him that I did not trust him or his promises. The information overload turned into doomscrolling. Without taking time to reflect on my gifts and talents, I was led down the path of running from idea to idea, career to career.

Conclusion

I am not completely over my career FOMO. I still have work to do. I have books I bought about other careers. I have DJ equipment collecting dust. And I have TikTok videos of me discussing these other careers.

I am able to pin the pain point of my Career FOMO and that was the first step. Beyond the acknowledgement, I am actively working on listening to God, reading his word and sitting still when the itch of career scrolling hits. I have leaned into my focus of writing and erased the grandiose ideas of too big a picture, focusing on the day to day for now.

Reminding myself daily that I will not miss what is for me. That obedience is better than perfection. God's plan does not have to make sense to everyone else or even to me, it just has to make sense to Him.

And for the first time in a long time, I am not scrolling for the next career. I am showing up for this one.