FOMO & the sense of “Existential Overwhelm”

"Existential Overwhelm".

Even before I dug into what this term truly meant, I felt a sense within me that connected with this term. It spoke to me as a term that defined what I've felt many times over the past year. But, what does it mean?

I came across this term in the book "Four thousand weeks" by Oliver Burkeman. The book talks about how on average human beings have 4000 weeks to live, and while that might seem morbid, it details out how we all get time management wrong. Life isn't about managing to do more in the time we have. It's about using the time we have to treat it like the finite commodity that it is. And then came "Existential overwhelm"! Here's how the author describes it,

"The modern world provides an inexhaustible supply of things that seem worth doing, and so there arises an inevitable and unbridgeable gap between what you'd ideally like to do and what you actually can do."

And that is, in essence, all our realities. The modern world shows us a sea of possibilities. We can supposedly do, consume, create, build, and explore so much. It's a set of infinite opportunities, and we're all constantly overwhelmed because we don't want to miss out on any of them. Our FOMO leads to us being in a state of "Existential Overwhelm".

So, what is the solution? Choosing one over the other? Choosing less or doing as much as possible? Is there an option where we can pick right and do as much as possible and not feel overwhelmed? The truth is that no matter how much we try to do, there is always something we will miss out on. We need to accept that we will miss opportunities, and we shouldn't try to do everything. The fact that we aren't really missing out. Instead, we're just choosing one option over an other is in its simplest form the path to losing this feeling. You will always have a sense of missing out. You just need not fear it.. it is a normal part of being human.

Weekly recommendations

- Part 1 of Rich Roll’s annual “best of “ Podcast episode is out and its a Gem.

- Letting go as a concept simplified by Nietzsche

- Nathaniel Drew digs into making friends as Adults ( I love this video so much I’ve seen it thrice)

Stuff from me

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