I am an extrovert who loves to talk to people.  I find conversation with people rewarding.  I usually call my colleagues to meet at lunch.  I get three rejections a week from people being busy, and they have to work during lunch.  It is very rare for me to work during lunch.  I consider lunch to be a great breathing time for my mind and a time to indulge in personal interests.   As I don’t have the time to meet people after working hours — I work one hour far from my work, I usually miss talking and meeting people. My time after work is usually filled with writing and going to the gym. During the weekend, my wife and I go to eat sushi and watch a movie.  Once in a while,  I want to go alone — pretty hard for an extrovert. I usually go to walk or visit a bookstore.  Lately, I like to sit in the backyard of our house reading and just being alone.  When I am alone, I like to release my thoughts like horses in the wild, no limits with complete freedom.  Lately, I discovered that I like to be alone more than I had expected. I like to feel that I am free with what I do and not restricted by going somewhere or doing something.  As I discovered sadly, I usually check my cell phone during these lonely times multiple times. I decided that when I go to be alone, I will not look at my cell phone.  I will only read or write and observe my thoughts without checking emails.

Recently, I was in a mall and I found that most of the people are not looking at mall shops–they are only looking at their cell phones. I always wonder why they came to the mall to begin with.  The fear of missing out is the new term for this phenomenon FOMO.  FOMO makes us feel that we are in a constant anxious mood of whether we are missing something.  I found the new term JOMO — the Joy of missing out — to be really something we need to enjoy.  As a human, we have limited time for our brain to see and process information.  Our mind is not designed to have this constant stimulation.  Sooner or later this constant stimulation will fire back and affect our way of life and make us less happy and less satisfied with our lives.

JOMO created brain muscles allowing me not to worry about whatever I am missing.  This is my new habit which I will start cultivating.  More time to be alone and less time to use a cell phone.

I recently read a post where the writer encouraged people to travel alone.  I have never done this except for business travel.  I am planning to do this very soon, but I am really worried.  Travel has so many loose ends, and I always rely on my wife for these details.

Thank you for reading my post. I would love to hear from you. (sufalkhaldi@futureandsciencehacks.com)