Damn during Indian festivals honestly Instagram becomes even more FOMO-inducing. What should I even do?
So I have noticed one thing that during Indian festivals, opening Instagram gives me far more FOMO(Fear of Missing Out). Like today is Holi which is the festival of color and a major festival in India and seeing other real life 20 something peers(mostly 21-27/28 age range) enjoying in their Instagram stories gave me so much FOMO. Same thing happened too during 2025 Durga Puja(our Bengali festival), Navratri and Diwali. I saw multiple peers in mixed gender groups(both men and women) enjoying and it made me feel as if I was missing out for real. Thats because many of these festivals are celebrated collectively here. As I am freshly done with my MBA and still job seeking, I don't really have a structured setting and no one to hang out with or play Holi. I just went out yesterday to the Centra parts of our city Bangalore in India but today even after some socializing with women, I have been feeling the FOMO viewing their Instagram stories. It just feels more amplified during festivals.
Sadly I didn't play Holi this year simply because there is no one in our neighborhood Munnekolala to play Holi with. Yeah as a child I used to play Holi sooooo much, spraying colored waters using pichkari, throwing colors, filling balloons with water etc and also as Bangalore is in South India, Holi isn't played as wildly here in South India like they do in other parts of India especially in Northern states like UP, Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi etc. Most people who play here are the migrants from North India, Bengal, Odisha etc. But in the Instagram stories, I see my peers playing Holi with their MBA classmates, colleagues, friends etc and many are mixed gender groups too. These makes me feel as if everyone has someone to hang out with except me. Same feeling happened during Navratri and Diwali too. Even though I am confident enough to talk to any women now, I still feel FOMO especially seeing men and women both enjoying together as thats what I missed out for years as I was bullied in school a lot which created low self esteem and shyness in me.
Even though I overcome the shyness in mid 2024 at 23, it was roughly only 1.5 years ago and now I am 25 which means I was still shy for the significant part of my life so far without much female interactions (roughly from age 11 to 22) so its just 1.5 years of proper and lots of female interactions vs 11-12 years of shyness and very low female interactions. But one thing is at least in Holi its not annoying like Diwali when people bursts firecrackers and OMG thats so annoying. I feel worse in almost Diwali in general as its near the end of the year and my mind doesn't feel good. I can't enjoy it like Durga puja or Dussehra time. Holi is fine but this year I didn't play it so yeah the Instagram stories give FOMO now.
Sadly I didn't play Holi this year simply because there is no one in our neighborhood Munnekolala to play Holi with. Yeah as a child I used to play Holi sooooo much, spraying colored waters using pichkari, throwing colors, filling balloons with water etc and also as Bangalore is in South India, Holi isn't played as wildly here in South India like they do in other parts of India especially in Northern states like UP, Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi etc. Most people who play here are the migrants from North India, Bengal, Odisha etc. But in the Instagram stories, I see my peers playing Holi with their MBA classmates, colleagues, friends etc and many are mixed gender groups too. These makes me feel as if everyone has someone to hang out with except me. Same feeling happened during Navratri and Diwali too. Even though I am confident enough to talk to any women now, I still feel FOMO especially seeing men and women both enjoying together as thats what I missed out for years as I was bullied in school a lot which created low self esteem and shyness in me.
Even though I overcome the shyness in mid 2024 at 23, it was roughly only 1.5 years ago and now I am 25 which means I was still shy for the significant part of my life so far without much female interactions (roughly from age 11 to 22) so its just 1.5 years of proper and lots of female interactions vs 11-12 years of shyness and very low female interactions. But one thing is at least in Holi its not annoying like Diwali when people bursts firecrackers and OMG thats so annoying. I feel worse in almost Diwali in general as its near the end of the year and my mind doesn't feel good. I can't enjoy it like Durga puja or Dussehra time. Holi is fine but this year I didn't play it so yeah the Instagram stories give FOMO now.
22-25, M