Since one of my main passions is learning, accessing information, and finding out what other people know that I don’t in areas I’m curious about, I came face to face with my fear of missing out (FOMO) recently. It was sparked by an opportunity to get a package of information from people who teach about things like intuition, Akashic cosmic records, kicking bad habits and addictions out of your life, and many other ways to improve your mind, body and soul. Some of them were one-time only access, many of them offered lifetime access. And this whole bundle was being offered at 90% off!

It was very tempting. And, despite my fear of missing out, I chose not to purchase it.

Here’s why. The work I’ve been doing in identifying and facing my fears helped me recognize that I was indeed afraid of missing out on some nugget of information that would transform my world and make my life magically easier. I chose to say “no” because: 1. I’ve already spent a bundle on improvement programs and lessons this year. They have been helpful, and I have appreciated the information. And my budget for purchasing programs is already used up for this year; 2. And then I also remembered that there are already programs, classes, and ebooks on my computer that I have purchased in the past that I have not yet accessed, used, or studied.

What if the nuggets I’m looking for are in one of those resources I have not yet accessed? What if everything I want to know for sure is in one of those unused programs, or even – here’s a concept – already within me?

How can I can I balance this passion for learning new things with my pocketbook, with my backlog of information, with my internal wisdom? Do I want to? Isn’t the new, unknown possibility more exciting than the known, “old” probability? Yes, yes it is.

So what can I do to balance things, to keep from chasing after the new thing that becomes “old” as soon as I acquire it? And is there anything truly new under the sun? Isn’t there wisdom in old books that still applies today? Has human nature changed at all since we’ve been paying attention to it?

When I think about it, the answer that pops up is – “Take your time to figure out what works best for you. Accept that you will always miss out on something. Let it be OK to still have new things to learn and experience. You don’t have to know everything.”

Maybe that’s my internal wisdom speaking.