Yesterday I wrote about the “fear of missing out” (FOMO) and how that seems to be a particular plague to our youth, fueled by social media. Today I want to take a different slant on it in relation to making commitments.

Is it just me, or does our culture seem to have a growing aversion to making and sticking to their commitments?

Obviously, marriage and divorce is a huge category. Still, about 50% of marriages will end in divorce! And although you could argue that the number of divorces is going down, so is the number of marriages.

But let’s set the marriage issue aside.

People have a hard time committing to ANYTHING, it seems.

A job or career, a school, a sport or instrument, a church, a volunteer position, a planned trip or event, a small group, even to friends and family.

Granted, sometimes it is just that life is too busy – and I completely understand that.

For some folks, it’s not a lack of commitment that makes them not commit, they actually need to set boundaries on an already over-committed life.

No, I’m talking about something different.

I’m talking about our reluctance to commit because we are afraid that if we commit to this then we might miss out on that.

In other words, our FOMO paralyzes us from committing to anything!

Because if you go all-in with this, then you might miss out on a better job, event, friendship or even a spouse later on!

I know that I’ve seen this in myself. There’s a lingering hesitation in my mind to commit to something because if I do, and something else comes up, then I’ll be missing out.

Let me just say that I think this is craziness – and I’m trying to banish it from my brain entirely.

Can you relate to what I’m saying?

In the next post I want to elaborate a bit more on why this is not a good life-strategy.