Why I travel less and feel better: Getting over the FOMO complex

As much as I love to travel, I've become more cautious about my carbon footprint after spending a couple of years in Australia. While dusting sand off on one of the atolls on the spectacular Great Barrier Reef, I wondered if the reef would miss my presence. And then I hoped, not. A similar feeling crept into me while I entered a scuba diving school in the Andamans in 2017 with a bunch of friends. I sat out while they dived. The instructor coaxed me to give it a shot. I feigned issues with ear pressure (it wasn't untrue) but I have resisted scuba, banana boat rides, parasailing and water-bikes around Indian coastlines, as much as I can. Snorkeling, I do, sometimes. But, I'd rather let the reefs and glaciers be. Travel for leisure is a privilege. Most people who are forced to travel do it out of starvation, war, destitution, violence, calamities (natural and man-made), epidemics and to escape from home. It's those of us who can return to our homes and lives, need to be more responsible about what we leave behind in the places we have travelled.