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I rarely experience FOMO (fear of missing out), I am more a JOMO (joy of missing out) kind of girl.
I have a bit of a tradition around this time of the year. I start to get out all my goodie bags from previous ROSA conferences, I reread some books, look and buy the latest books for my favorite authors. I go through all my former notes and I hype myself up – hoping that the conference doesn’t disappoint.
It never does.
The minute I’ve registered at the conference, it feels like the first time I attended ROSA. Equal measures nerves and excitement, happy to be surrounded by a tribe of romance lovers and inspired (and proud) by what my fellow attendees have accomplished in a year.
On Monday, 16 September, I spoke to Didi Potgieter and she said she was preparing for #ROSACon2019 and whoa, for the first time I experienced FOMO.
Yes, I will follow the conference on social media. Yes, I could google all the topics these women talk about. Yes, I will read blog posts afterward – but it won’t be the same.
I won’t see everyone’s sincerity. I won’t listen to Rae Rivers voicing my (and I suspect everyone else’s) fears in a manner that makes them more manageable and carries me through the last stretch of 2019. I won’t experience Elsa Winckler and Marie Dry’s warmth when they speak to me. Or Romy Sommer’s genuine pleasure that everyone is enjoying the conference, even though she is running on little to no sleep.
I am experiencing real FOMO and the one benefit it has had; is that it has given me a kick under the butt. Because I want to be there next year and it should be with a manuscript!
Enjoy everyone!
