As a young girl, nothing scared me more than roller coasters. The thought of willingly putting myself in a situation where I would be plunging hundreds of feet and gliding at rapid speeds created a fearful image in my mind, which steered me clear of any rides for many years. Despite being scared and not having any plans of going on roller coasters, my friends would always drag me along to amusement parks and fairs. Although they would constantly pester me to join them on the rides, I would immediately decline their offer and opt to hold their bags for them instead. This constant cycle was the norm until a couple of years ago, this past mindset that had been constantly holding me back finally started to lose its grip on me.
Seventh grade is when I finally made the realization that I didn’t want to sit around anymore. As I listened to how my friends would describe the thrill and excitement they felt, I also felt something, but instead of delight, it was something unfamiliar. I felt jealous that I couldn’t share this feeling with my friends but I also knew that I was the only one to blame as I was the one who chose to exclude myself because of my fears. This driving force inside of me is what I soon came to find out was FOMO or the fear of missing out. Although I was scared of roller coasters, FOMO was something that I feared more than any silly rides and this was the ultimate push I needed to finally get in line.
The first ride I ever went on was called the Zipper and was located at my local city fair. The Zipper was undoubtedly the most popular ride at the fair and had a reputation of causing extreme headaches and nausea. While my friends were jumping with excitement in line, I was reluctant but still held my ground because of my new mindset. As more people disappeared in front of me, I soon stood face to face with the ride operator who quickly scanned my wristband, but as he motioned for me to get on, my fear once again caused me to pause. All of the built up nerves in my body were preventing me from going on, but as I looked around and got a grasp of my situation, a new driving force was brewing up inside of me and suddenly I thought, “When else am I going to do this? When am I ever going to be in the situation again where I’m on a ride that sends you into a spinning cage that is then spun on an even large belt?” This new mindset was YOLO, or the saying that you only live once. With FOMO in the back of my mind and YOLO now newly in the front, I finally mustered up the courage to get on the ride. Words truly cannot describe the amount of adrenaline I felt in that moment and all of the past worries taking over my head were gone.
Through the unstoppable duo of FOMO and YOLO, not only was I able to overcome my fears of rides and roller coasters, but they are also techniques that I have used to overcome many other challenges that have gotten in the way of my life. While FOMO tells me to get myself involved and to not miss a moment, YOLO pushes me to remember the fact that I only have one precious life that I need to take advantage of and live fully through. The fact that something could so easily be done through the shift of one’s mindset is extremely important and is something that everyone should be aware of in order to be successful.
Write Our World 