I’m 17, going into grade 12 next year, I play sports and do well in school, but I’m not very popular, and I’m not very close with the friends that I do have. I don’t often get invited to anything either. Life feels kind of depressing every now and then for a couple of reasons. I have this everlasting feeling that I’m always missing out on things that other people my age would be doing in their spare time, and it feels like I won’t be able to have the freedom that I have now later on when I’m older. The other thing that always gets me a little insecure is my lack of experience in activities that some friends already do. I’ve never drank, gotten high, or had sex, and I know some of these things are considered taboo but they are things I wanted to experience while I have the freedom of being young. I know that it’s probably not worth stressing about but it’s something that always gotten me insecure when my friends talk about it and I feel like a loser for not having experienced it. **Is there a way to get over this insecurity or feeling of missing out on things, or is this normal?** I try to convince myself that the achievements I make playing sports and in school are good enough, but I never feel satisfied.
2 comments
FOMO is real.
The solution is to get in the habit of seeking out things that excite you, then doing them. This doesn’t have to be exciting things per se, and this shouldn’t be things other people think are exciting. What kinda scares you a little bit? What gets your heart racing? Do that.
It’s worth noting high school sucks. Like, everyone I’ve ever met, without exception, who has lived a life worth living did everything awesome *after* leaving school.
Around when I was 12 to 15 I missed out a lot because of how I was and people would think of me as the boring, quiet lose. I have started to get friends when I was 16-17 but then people would reject me because I would do stuff that I don’t mean which crosses their boundaries to ending theirs and my friendship and I couldn’t deal with all the rejection. I feel like friends/hanging out aren’t worth it because of how people treat me as a boring ,quiet, socially weird guy and having a fear or trauma of being rejected and abandoned.
For you, I would just say don’t take this as a huge thing because it is just people hanging out casually with their friends tryna have fun which is normal for anybody younger. Or maybe you could make friends with everyone playing sports and class who accepts you and who knows maybe they can throw a party or a meetup and you could get to know more people from there.