The gate is now closing for Flight T8177901, I repeat any passengers boarding Flight T8177901 can you please make your way to Gate 81.
I am on Flight T8177901, although for some reason instead of boarding my flight I am sitting watching my deeply intoxicated friend feed herself a Katsu Curry (It’s 8 o clock in the morning). To my left, is Abi, actually NO to my left is a hyperventilating Abigail who is persistently muttering under her breath ‘I thought Hannah said gate opens at 8:20 not closes’.
I (Hannah Russell) am attempting to make no eye contact whatsoever. In my defence any holiday that begins with ‘So I was running to the board the plane’ is always going to be a tremendously exciting and interesting holiday indeed. Although I didn’t feel now was the right time to point this out to Abi, instead my initial response was... RUN!
So let me explain…
There really isn’t very much to tell, it all started with a few careless text messages exchanged between University friends. Two of my closest friends were finishing their final years at Uni this summer, one who worked extremely hard all year and one who well, she attended almost…nearly…maybe half…She went to the library once…I think.
Anyway it was agreed we needed to go away and celebrate, and obviously with my current condition of FOMO planning was just not plausible. This was to be an impulsive trip to Prague, one which only I had extensively researched. This consisted of me spending approximately 3 maybe 5 minutes on last minute.com- I had to make sure we got the best deal obviously.
So I couldn’t help think, as myself Amy and Abi ran frantically around Gatwick airport, is this why society doesn’t tend to act impulsively? A plan permeates stability and without our plans we would live in a hotbed of chaos.
And as I am having these thoughts I realise Abi has suddenly become an Olympic Gold Medallist, she’s charging passed everyone at the airport. No man woman or child is safe. As I turn behind me I realise
We’ve lost Amy!
Again, no man woman or child is safe but for completely different reasons.
So what do I do? Do I chase after Abi or do I go back for Amy? I’m stuck between a rock and hard place. A drunken Hobo wearing an "I heart Alaska" top, (because she went out till 4am last night despite knowing we were leaving for the airport at 6:00am so when we came to pick her up this morning this was the first thing she found on her floor) and a hyperventilating psycho (who right now is blaming me for all our misfortune)
I think I’ll find Amy.
Only when I eventually see Amy again I realise she isn’t sweating like me, there’s no SOLA (sweaty upper lip) in sight. In fact she looks reasonably calm. She walks towards me in her usual nonchalant manner; I finally catch eye contact and with this she calmly raises one hand and says ‘ Don’t worry, Abi will get it’. “ ABI WILL GET IT? ABI WILL GET IT – I couldn’t believe my ears; AMY IT'S NOT A BLOODY TAXI SERVICE- see this is the problem with the middle class, there’s no sense of urgency.
I grab Amy’s hand and run so fast my lungs could have exploded. I eventually see Gate 81 and with a sweet and carefree smile Abi shouts:
“it’s alright guys, I’ve got it’ “
So why am I telling you all this?
Because I started to think why do FOMOer’s feel the need to do this to themselves? What would happen if I never caught that plane? Well I can’t tell you what would have happened, but I can tell you what wouldn’t.
1. We wouldn’t have seen Charles Bridge
2. Abi wouldn’t have had circus training
3. Amy wouldn’t have become a professional golfer
4. I would never have known a cocktail could be served in a perfume bottle
5. Finally, we would never have stayed over night in a children’s playground at Prague airport when our return flight was cancelled.
Admittedly I didn’t have to go down the slide
Because the reality of the matter is when all is said and done it’s these memories, the ‘happy accident’ that we save for a rainy day. We need these moments to unlock at our saddest times so I can smile at the thought of nearly missing our plane, smirk as I remember my first sip of chocolate beer and laugh at the idea of sleeping in a children’s playground. FOMOer’s are driven to act impulsively because it isn’t just the fear of missing out; it’s the fear of not knowing when your last breath shall be. The fear that runs through us all, if I don’t act right NOW, will I ever get this moment again? Or will it be gone forever? Like a shooting star, extraordinary when you first see it but in a split second gone forever.
To me that’s all an opportunity ever is, so don’t waste it! Act impulsively and create your happy accident’.
#Fomo_is_amongst_us
To me that’s all an opportunity ever is, so don’t waste it! Act impulsively and create your happy accident’.
#Fomo_is_amongst_us