Missed a party

Journalist Maja Beckers is constantly stressing out because she does not want to miss an evening out with colleagues, or a friend’s party, or the latest movie or play that everyone is talking about. She wonders how to change this.

It happened again just recently. I had bought a great vegetable curry, was curled up on the couch and looking forward to watching a movie. One last quick look on Facebook and then I could safely retreat, I thought. But on Facebook I saw a picture of my sister camping out by a lake, a post from a friend about a movie that was “too good to miss” and a photograph of my friends toasting me with red cocktails from the opening night of an art show. Wow, I thought, my sister is really enjoying herself, and that art show, I would have liked to have gone, too. Suddenly I wasn’t looking forward to my evening at home anymore. I felt restless and had lost my appetite for curry. Wouldn’t it have been better to go out? I was besieged by a feeling I know all too well: the fear of missing out.