Proud To Have FOMOS!

Up until yesterday I had never heard of FOMOS, or of having FOMOS but it’s strange how you can go through life until one day something someone says makes sense, they give a name to something that you knew you had but didn’t realise others were the same!

And no FOMOS isn’t another gay thing….. FOMOS suffer from fear of missing out on sunshine.

Yesterday I opened the Evening Standard (article) on my journey home and found an entire article about FOMOS. I have known I was suffering from my time at school, I was last in from any sunny lunch time, I would only sit in the sun and ‘not going out’ on a break was not an option.

Having said that, at the age of 14/15 I was not a fan of sunbathing it was more just the fact that a tan made me look healthy and the more I was out in the sun the more I was likely to tan.

However, it was after I graduated and entered the world of work that my FOMOS got bad. I was a social smoker-hanger-on just so I had a reason to be outside. My Manager at the time actually thought I smoked but no, I just stood outside, face to the sun.

And driving home, to maximise sun exposure I drove home in a bikini – no lie – and not my proudest moment but it’s true. Before leaving work I would put my bikini on and then head out dressed as I had been all day but ready to strip if the sun was hot enough! Hell, I did everything to avoid the FOMOS!

Meeting Laura was the first time I really had to acknowledge I suffered with FOMOS though. Up until that point I had gravitated towards other FOMOS suffers who felt like I did. We’d all be first out the door on a sunny day and I just thought that everyone else was odd. Did they not realise the sun is an unpredictable beast that disappears as quick as it arrives, that it constantly has to try to avoid clouds and give us our vitamin D?!

Laura was baffled by my behaviour every time I saw the sun. She had no concept of why I would happily spend my lunch breaks chasing any patch on sunshine I could find, or how quick I could de-robe to get my tan on. I think she even called me desperate! The cheek!

It wasn’t until we went to Australia to live that I managed to get my FOMOS under control, the desperation subsided and I could relax knowing that day after day I didn't need to chase the sun. It was amazing. 

Right now I think I have my FOMOS under control, that and Laura is now also a mild sufferer (after 6 years of not having a proper Idaho summer) so we are together in our need to get outside most of the time. You may have seen a few garden pics taken in the few hours of sunshine we were lucky enough to have!

In the article it mentions that FOMOS put life on hold as the sun comes out, this is so very true, I have rearranged catch ups that were booked at restaurants to avoid my FOMOS ruining dinner – there is nothing worse that me mournfully looking at the sun through a window!

I have also realised in announcing this that maybe my FOMOS is not that under control…it was only 2 days ago that I found myself stretched out on a ledge of the Bank of England catching rays, ignoring the fact that my hands were placed in dirt- dark grey pollution kind of dirt- just to get as much of my body in the sun as possible.

Oh and I recently found a office that reflects the sun so if I am talking to Laura on a lunch break I can stand in the prime position and catch up with two favourite things – Laura and the sun! J

So I have FOMOS, I don’t deny it but then I know I am not alone. In a city that averages 1481 hours (thats only 62 days) of sunshine a year I have to be or I’d miss it and return to being peely-wally (pale!)!!!!