OTD || FOMO

Last year, Facebook introduced a wonderful feature which they appropriately called "On This Day."  It's a pretty interesting feature in a couple of different ways.  Let's take a look shall we:

1) The Good: It brings up good memories from years past.

Last summer I had the opportunity to travel/study in Europe via this incredible program called IES Abroad.  This summer I am working in Jacksonville doing a couple of different things and going to the gym/blogging/etc. in my free time.  When I was writing this post I came across my own "On This Day" and was brought back in time to my experience in Rome, Italy when my roommates and I met our teacher at the Vatican for class.  In the same weekend I traveled to Florence and got to see some pretty incredible buildings and works of art.  I still cannot believe that it has already been a full year.

2) The Bad: It gives you some serious FOMO.

While yes, it is indeed nice to be reminded of my incredible time in Europe, I was forewarned by a friend that the On This Day feature can bring back some serious FOMO (fear of missing out).  While I do love being at home and having a rather "lax" summer, there are days that I find myself missing my days abroad and being able to see the view of monuments from my bedroom window.  Some days are better than others: I know that a part of me will miss going back to Miami when I see my undergrad friends post their pictures or when mine show up again; the same will be true for other occasions during the year.  All this aside, the FOMO is only as powerful as you make it out to be.  It is so much better to look at all of the great stuff (ugh- I hate that word but nothing else fit) going on all around you in the moment and the future than look back and wonder what if.

3) The Ugly: Reminiscence of your younger, less mature days.

In some ways this can be construed as a positive...but only if you look really hard.  When the "backstalking" urge hit my sorority sisters during syllabus week this past semester, I was able to use On This Day to clean up some of my social media from waaaaaaay back when.  To the days when I started all of my statuses with is (i.e. is getting my haircut, is excited for camp, etc.), or even worse, gave extra consonants to words that did not need them at all ("is going swimmingggg!!!").  Sometimes I let myself look back on these posts and laugh because, hey, I was a high schooler when I got a Facebook and didn't really know better.  Also, looking at that picture I clearly didn't know better considering what college team's sweatshirt I am wearing there (not even going to say), how I did my makeup, or the length of my hair.  Thanks, On This Day, for showing me that I have indeed changed over time and look much less like a high schooler now than I did back then.