At its heart, FOMO comes from a deeply human fear—the fear that life is slipping past us while we stand still. It is an old, instinctive fear, rooted in our need to belong and not be left behind. In today’s world, it shows up as a constant chase: the next event, the next opportunity, the next possibility that promises everything.

But if everything matters, then nothing truly does. Gary Keller’s The One Thing reminds us of the strength of focus—choosing what matters most and letting it guide us. Essentialism and Marie Kondo’s advice to hold on only to what “sparks joy” echo the same truth: life becomes clearer when it is carefully chosen, not endlessly cluttered.

Yet, life isn’t one-dimensional. Design thinking encourages us to explore, test, and experiment before making decisions. This is also the spirit of Designing Your Life (DYL)—to treat choices as experiments, trying out paths instead of getting stuck. The real art lies in balance: allowing ourselves to explore widely when uncertain, but also narrowing in with conviction when something feels right. Where FOMO keeps us wandering endlessly, afraid to close doors, JOMO lets us close them with ease, knowing what remains is more meaningful.

Social media fuels FOMO further, with endless highlight reels that make us feel like we’re always behind. The remedy is not more scrolling, but more stillness—stepping back, choosing consciously, and resisting the pull of constant comparison.

Like a painting needs blank space to breathe, our lives too need empty moments—not always filled with doing, but simply with being. Choosing less doesn’t mean losing out; it means cherishing fully what we have chosen.

This shift is quiet but transformative: moving from chasing everything out of fear to embracing what fits out of love. JOMO is not emptiness, but abundance—an abundance that comes not from scattering ourselves thin, but from gathering ourselves whole.

(The writer is a Stanford Designing Your Life (DYL) Educator, Coach, and Facilitator)