Be Still
I have FOMO Syndrome. I know, it sounds terrible, right? How do you know if you have FOMO Syndrome?
Well, here is a list of symptoms:
- You can’t pass by anything that is shiny.
- You have so many things on your to-do list and you are so overwhelmed that you don’t to-do anything.
- You want to do it all because, well, you are just a really passionate person, right?
- You don’t finish anything. In fact, you have a walk-in closet for all of your unfinished projects.
- Sidetracked is a state you often find yourself in.
- You have a hard time focusing.
- Your husband often shakes his head at you when you are telling him about your “latest new thing”.
- As a child, you stayed awake at night trying to listen to the adults’ conversations because you just might miss out on something.
If you have one or more of these symptoms, you may suffer from FOMO Syndrome, commonly known as Fear of Missing Out Disease. Yes, it is a terrible thing but don’t despair, there is a cure.
Here are some home remedies:
- Clear your calendar
- Stop glorifying busy
- Believe you are enough without the fuss
- Take time to be quiet and listen – to yourself, to your body and to God
- Slow down and take the time to heal
- Create daily rituals to incorporate quiet space into your life, put them into your calendar and make them non-negotiable
- Let go and just trust
- Be still in mind, body and spirit
Do you feel like you have to be constantly doing in order to keep your head above water? Paradoxically, the opposite is true.
You can’t move forward until you take the time to be still.
This does not mean that you should stop trying new things and doing what makes your heart happy. It just means that it would be helpful to recognize when it is time to fold in and become still and listen.
Take five minutes today to just be.
Life Tracks – Helen Reddy… Grateful
You can bend but never break me ’cause it only serves to make me more determined to achieve my final goal. And I come back even stronger. Not a novice any longer. ‘Cause you’ve deepened the conviction in my soul.
“I am grateful for my struggle.”
“Say it again,” she said.
“I am grateful for my struggle, ” I said through my tears… and at that moment, I truly meant it.
I am grateful for the way it has broken me wide open allowing me to see things from a depth that I didn’t have before. I am grateful that I know the darkness so that I can truly appreciate the light. And the light is so, so bright after the darkness. I am grateful for my lessons that have threatened to break me… but haven’t.
My son is an addict. There. I said it out loud. More people need to say these words without the fear of shame. There are so many of us affected by this deadly disease but no one wants to talk about it for fear of being judged. You must have been a bad parent to allow this to happen. Right? Wrong. Addiction is a disease that doesn’t discriminate – whether you come from dysfunction or harmony, it doesn’t matter. Unlike cancer or any other horrific disease, we have to show our support by not helping… not in the usual sense of the word. This is counter-intuitive because as a mother, it is deeply instinctive to want to protect our children and to try to ease their pain. Addiction is the only disease where saying no is the antidote and turning away from the ailing is the only hope for a cure. It is a disease that magnifies the pain that the addict is so desperately trying to numb and all you can do is hope that they will finally hurt badly enough to want to help themselves… because helping themselves is the only way out.
Oh, oh, yes I am wise but it’s wisdom borne of pain. Yes, I’ve paid the price but look how much I’ve gained. If I have to, I can face anything. I am strong. I am invincible. I am woman.
So… yes, I am grateful for my struggle because it has made me stronger than I have ever been before. It takes a lot of strength to give up the need to control and to just trust. Trust that everything is as it should be even if it seems so. totally. messed. up. Just trust.
I will not let my struggle define me but I will allow the growth that has occurred as a result of it, to shine from me and through me, beautifully.