Hi and

every week I'm your host Dr Ellen Hendrickson and every week I'll help you me life's

challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

Today on the podcast, by request from listener Philip L, will cover five ways to conquer FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out. And Fear of Missing Out isn't new. A generation ago, it was just called, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

But today, social media brings us up close and personal with all of our friends metaphorical grass.

We're privy to pictures of their vacation in the Bahamas,

that artisanal sharkuterie they ordered at the hot new bistro,

and last weekend's home brew tasting party. Enter FOMO, Fear of Missing Out, which in a first of its

kind study on FOMO from 2013 is defined as, quote, a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent.

Now, FOMO comes in different flavors. So to find yours, you can ask yourself, if I did miss

out, what would that mean about me? And here are three of the most common answers. So FOMO flavor number one is I made

the wrong decision. So FOMO causes anxiety by undermining confidence in your life decisions.

The decisions might be as small as what restaurant you last tried,

or as big as what career or lifestyle you've chosen.

And this type of FOMO feeds the unanswerable anxiety-provoking

questions of if only and what if. Indeed, that 2013 study showed that those who experience higher levels of FOMO also reported

lower levels of overall life satisfaction.

FOMO flavor number two. Other people are having a better time than me. So this is essentially

envy, which is a mix of inferiority and resentment. And this type is closest to what the term implies, that you've been left out, either

unthinkingly or deliberately by others, or because you weren't in the know, didn't

have access, or couldn't muster the guts to go. And Fomo flavor number three is I suck or for the

extended version because I wasn't invited didn't know about it couldn't, etc. I suck. You get the idea. So this is essentially

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