Compulsion to take on a project simply out of fear of falling out of the loop on the related news, trends, etc. is so common that this “fear of missing out” has its own abbreviation (FOMO). I think this is particularly relevant to photography.
While staying current in one’s niche and continually honing one’s skills is fundamentally important, there are definite advantages of breaking everyday patterns from time to time. For example, Kevin Kelly argues that travelling forces one to break the routine and keeps the mind agile. Likewise, Tara Brach, who recently discussed FOMO in her interview with Tim Ferriss, pointed out that taking sabbaticals helps us identify habits that are normally keeping us from being attuned to the constantly changing reality.
