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I live in Austin, Texas, which is a very cool town 50 weeks of the year — and even cooler, some might argue, for the two weeks in mid-March when South By Southwest (SXSW) occurs. During this time, all sorts of interesting folks come out of the woodwork and into town to partake of all the latest from the interactive, music, film and comedy worlds.

SXSW always falls on our school district’s Spring Break, and for the past two years my daughters and I have left town during it. As an advertising/marketing professional and a music and film lover, it’s not an easy thing to do. This year, I was acutely aware of everything I was missing — what with my Twitter, Instagram and now Vine feeds just hoppin’ with the sights and sounds of SouthBy.

I’ll admit that I had brief flashes of the modern problem known as FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out, when I happened to see a Vine of a band performance I’d have loved to attend or Instagrams from my company’s SXSW party. And while heading out of town meant that I didn’t get to go to any free day parties or have any celebrity sightings or see the cool poster art at Flatstock, I’m happy to report there were plenty of things I did experience — including, but not limited to:

• my girls and I singing along to The B-52s, Feist, Simon & Garfunkel, the soundtrack from “Wicked,” and other random CDs as we drove and drove and drove and drove across Texas
• a particularly gorgeous sunset over the dunes of White Sands National Monument
• not worrying about all the sand in the car because it was a rental
• the most amazing chile relleno I’ve ever tasted
• an unbelievably brilliant blue New Mexico sky
• snow!
• incredibly delicious mussels and french fries in Denver
• spotting pelicans and golden eagles at Cherry Creek State Park
• scoring some major buys for my girls and me at a fabulous thrift store in Aurora, Colorado
• vandalizing a work of art in Amarillo, Texas
• sighting bison and riding horses in Caprock Canyons State Park

So, in other words, I didn’t miss out on anything at all.

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Jumping for JOMO

Our “Fear Of Missing Out” keeps us stressed
While “You Only Live Once” is professed.
Between FOMO and YOLO,
Foregoing’s a no-no —
‘Til with “Joy Of Missing Out” we are blessed.

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©2013 Carlotta Eike Stankiewicz

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