Dueling Column: The World Cup strengthens family bonds and brings positivity

Belen Sassone/Staff Writer

With the current state of the country, it’s easy to fall down a rabbit hole of despair and stress. If you’re like me and have Twitter and regular news updates on your phone, it can be almost impossible to go a day without getting worked up and worrying about what’s going to go wrong next.

However, since last month, I’ve had something to keep my mind occupied and overpower the urge to dive head-first into the news cycle. Following the World Cup has allowed me to worry about something much less severe than the future of the United States.

When my team was still in the running, I spent my days reading updates on team lineups, looking up stats on the other teams, and even paying attention to the psychic animals that predict outcomes.

When game day would arrive, I thought of nothing other than that. Instead of hate-reading President Trump’s tweets, I watched inspiring soccer videos and read what sports journalists thought would happen.

I also noticed that my conversations with friends centered much less on politics and they seemed happier as well.

My family bonded over our love for our team and country and we watched every game together enjoying beer and our favorite foods.

Although my team has sadly been eliminated, I’m still invested in the games and feel a lot more relaxed. The World Cup gave me the opportunity calm down and focus on something exciting.

It also made me realize that it’s necessary to unplug once in a while and focus on more positive things. Although the world didn’t stop turning and there’s a lot of unfair things happening around us, becoming drained by the news makes us less powerful.

With the final game coming up, I’m prepared to have a lot more time on my hands. Still, I don’t want to fall back into the same cycle as before. From these games and experiences, I’ve learned that I should ingest in moderation in order to prevent myself from getting overwhelmed and overly upset.

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The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

Photo by Fauzan Saari on Unsplash.