Wednesday; June 24

When I was working out at the gym the other day I happened to look up and see an interesting story about being a sports “fan”.  The essence of the story is that we feel good when our team(s) win and we feel bad when they lose.  Now, for me, that was a no-brainer; but what got my attention was the fact that there was science behind my ups and downs.  Prompted by the blip I saw on the TV, I went back to my office and found there actually was an article in Psychology Today written by Dr. Patrick McElwaine (a self proclaimed lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan) entitled "The Psychology of Sports Fandom:  Balancing Wins and Losses”.  I will not attempt to summarize his work here, but if you are more than a casual sports fan, I would encourage you to read it.  However, what I will say is that his research prompted me to wonder if we are taking casual things too seriously?  Whether it is our sports, entertainment, politics … or whatever else we follow passionately … are we guilty of investing too much of ourselves in our “hobbies”? I guess a case could be made that there are some things that are considered pastimes that impact us in a significant way, but there aren’t as many as we’d like to believe.  Our teams losing 2-1 (or even 10-1) or some executive cancelling our favorite TV show might place a small bump in our roads but they shouldn’t derail us!

Periodically, especially when we are feeling down, let’s do an internal evaluation to determine if we are overreacting to things that really aren’t all that important.  Finding a higher level equilibrium in life might not help our teams end the slump or generate a sequel to our favorite movie franchise, but it might help us find joy and contentment in our lives on a daily basis.

Think About It! 

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