JOMO – The Joy of Missing Out

Guilty Mother - 29 Jul 17

Festival season is upon us. I really enjoyed watching Glastonbury on the television but now we are in late July, which means it is festival time for all the family. It is time for Camp Bestival.

Set in the majestic grounds of Lulworth Castle, on Dorset’s dramatic Jurassic coastline, Camp Bestival is jam-packed with entertainment, music, attractions and lashings of family fun. I received a free family pass to attend, but unfortunately we couldn’t go as we were returning from holiday on the same day.

We had a fantastic family holiday but as we returned, I remembered Camp Bestival was on and I will admit it, I felt a pang of FOMO, the fear of missing out. For a short moment, it seemed as if everyone (well, the blogging community anyway), were all are heading off to Lulworth Castle…without me.

It looked set to be a great event with live music, dancing, booze, food and fun (with kids). What’s not to like? A music line up included All Saints, Becky Hill, Louisa Johnson and many more. Even the famous Mr. Tumble was planning on making an appearance. I know. Right? The build-up seemed to have gone on for months, mostly from fashion bloggers on Instagram, deciding on their fantastic, festival attire. And they looked just as you would imagine. Brilliant, colourful, sequined and fabulous. Oh, what fun. FOMO again.

So, should I sit and ponder on what I am missing? The first thing that put me off was the sheer amount of ‘stuff’ that needed to be organised. Unless you are a camping pro (which I am not), I would be seriously stressing on what to take! Soooo much stuff.

Camping can be wonderful on sunny, glorious, carefree days which make you feel like you are ‘at one’ with nature. But, as the summer weather starts to change and autumn looms, the sun shines a little less and the rain falls a little more. Shall we talk about the rain? Is a festival still fun in the pouring rain? Something I am definitely not missing. This is fine if you are snuggled up in a nice warm house, but what if you’re camping …in a tent? With small children? Give me strength, or some gin.

Some of the photos on Instagram I saw earlier today looked really fun, but honestly, how fun is it? When I see photos of friends hauling themselves around in their wet weather gear with equally wet children, I can only imagine the toddler meltdowns that could be occurring. Or, it could be the opposite. Peppa Pig fans could believe the vast array of muddy puddles available, have indeed, made all their dreams come true. Winning.

So, in summary. I am not at Camp Bestival. I am at home. I am not in a poncho in the rain. I am instead, dancing in my kitchen to All Saints and pretending to be at Camp Bestival.

This article has made me reflect on how I need to pay a little less attention to what’s happening through my screen and focus a little more attention on what’s happening right now. So that’s it. I have found my JOMO (the joy is missing out).

When I was researching JOMO earlier today and stumbled across a wellness book by Christina Crook called The Joy of Missing Out: Finding Balance in a Wired World. Christina is sharing her voice on a more human relationship with modern technology. The award-winning author and TEDx speaker has appeared in the New York Times, Psychology Today, Women’s Health and many more. In 2012 she disabled the data on her smartphone, turned off her email and said goodbye to the Internet for 31 days. Yes, 31 days. This experience, chronicled as the project, Letters from a Luddite, garnered international media attention and fuelled Christina’s passion for exploring the intersection of technology, relationships and joy.

According to Christina Cook, taking a break from social media for a little while won’t do us any harm. In fact, it is probably more likely to do us good. Even the fabulous Selfish Mother herself, Molly Gunn is on an Instagram detox for a month. Do we think she feels any FOMO? I doubt it.

Well done Molly for leading the way.

Guilty Mother

Guilty Mother is an honest and (sometimes funny) blog for mums who feel guilty about juggling work, kids and home-life. Here's to feeling less guilty!

View profile for posts, events and more info