FOMO: A Temporary State of Being
As industry professionals, we are only beginning to learn about “work-life balance.” Very few people talk about balancing work and life when the two are so intertwined. Going out and making connections has always been an expected part of our lives- and while it is a LOT of fun, it can also be draining, both emotionally and financially. So, how do we maintain a relevant industry presence when we aren’t behind our bar or in front of someone else’s?
We feel our relevance slipping away if we aren’t at all the bars all the time. FOMO refers to the never-ending, every single night-of-the-week events that we HAVE to attend, or we might lose further invitations, be forgotten, or (GASP!) no longer be relevant. Then there’s GOMO (Guilt Of Missing Out). Working nights and weekends means we miss important events with our friends and family. There will always be a reason to go out. It is always someone’s birthday, someone’s celebration, someone’s heartache. If there’s anything we are good at, it’s creating reasons to drink, celebrate and commiserate. All we do is take care of others. It becomes second nature. How many times have we started picking up at a party or another bar out of pure habit?
What we should be doing is taking those quiet hours to ourselves. Instead, we need to watch TikTok for 4 hours. We need to put on a facemask and paint our dog’s nails. We need to actually sit down to eat and indulge in a meal that lasts more than the length of smashing cold french fries over a trash can.
When we live our best lives and enjoy the freedom our industry grants us, we get to have hobbies and friends and a seat on our own couch.
On our days off, the customer is not our damn problem. FOMO is a temporary state of being, but our happiness is not.
