FOMO ... are you suffering?

If ever there was a time for sufferers of FOMO at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), that month is August …

With so much on the go, staff and students fear they may be missing out as they struggle to make choices. Yes, FOMO, or the Fear of Missing Out, is alive and well at NMMU this month since Diversity Month means diaries are sagging under the weight of choices.

Add the now-controversial Talking Walls, Women’s Month and all the usual study and sporting commitments into the mix and you have a smorgasbord of epic event happenings.

It’s hard to keep pace, let alone make choices:

Do you listen to the sports girls or a lunch musical interlude? Do you check out the scientists of the future at the Eskom Science Expo or admire the photographic work of NMMU’s own students at an off-campus exhibition? Or do you challenge yourself on the question of fracking in the Karoo or celebrate “the curves of humanity” at a Women’s Day celebration.

It is happenings overload at NMMU right now.

That’s a good thing, right?

It’s good that the university is exposing its staff and student to a multitude of interesting things – showcasing the very diversity that it is celebrating this month.

For good measure, and for those who want to try to get their FOMO under control, here’s a list of what is known to this office:

· The Richmond Hill Music Festival Photographic Exhibition at Alliance Francais’s premises at 17 Mackay Street, Richmond Hill, until 29 August.

· NMMU conversations – Women’s Month discussion – at Senate Hall, on 21 August from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

· Vocalensemble proton from Austria at South Campus Auditorium from midday on 21 August. Entry free.

· Eskom Expo for Young Scientists at the NMMU Indoor Sports Centre today and tomorrow.

· Unity through Diversity at Student Counselling (on all NMMU campuses) from 12 to 1pm today and tomorrow.

· CANRAD seminar by Prof Allison Drew from the University of York in the United Kingdom from 2pm to 4pm at the Executive Seminar Room, North Campus on 21 August.

· Inaugural lecture of Prof Ncedile Saule at North Campus Conference Centre on 26 August.

· Food for all women in agricultural talk by Prof Edith Vries at George Campus Lecture Theatre from 5.30pm to 7pm on 21 August.

· The Raymond Mhlaba Memorial Lecture with Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform as the keynote speaker from 6pm on 21 August.

And then there’s the country’s most popular music group, Mi Casa, who will be performing on Wednesday 27 August to close off Diversity Month. But more on them soon …

In the interim, if FOMO is getting to you, you can always pop into the special sessions at Student Counselling. We’re sure they’ll oblige in between refreshments and some exploratory thought on sayings and music on unity through diversity …