When I was in Colorado last summer with my church, The Crossing, I listened to a sermon at the Cottonwood Pass at the peak of a long hike, surrounded by melting snow and the vastness of the world around me. Although the enormity that was the Rocky Mountains threatened to swallow me up and make me feel small and insignificant, the beauty of God’s creation lifted me up instead.

“Don’t post that picture of us until I can edit it first,” I find myself telling my friends. I need to add a filter, adjust the brightness, alter my skin tone and sometimes even whiten my teeth or soften the texture of my skin before it graces the world of social media because, for me, the way I look isn’t perfect until I completely modify my appearance. The photo isn’t good enough for the world to see. The edits will protect my self-confidence as people won’t be able to judge the lonely pimple protruding from the center of my forehead or the stray hair that catches my eye.

As a child I played more sports than the number of fingers on my hands: soccer, swimming, tennis, golf, basketball, horseback riding, track and field, cross country, softball, dance, cheerleading and gymnastics.

Is it possible to be in two places at once? Reasonable physics would completely disregard the idea, but teenagers often relish in the thought. Literally rather than rationally, however, one can stay so busy it feels like their in two places at one time, but only if their willing to suffer the consequences: surrendering their sanity, mental well-being and social state of mind. Often brushed aside, all of these debilitating harms are generally deemed a fear of missing out (FOMO), something I struggle with on the daily.