As Super Bowl Sunday draws closer and closer, many people are spending most of their time getting hyped up for Super Bowl 58 between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. There is a lot on the line here: for one team, it’s the chance to add a sixth Lombardi Trophy and the first since 1994, for the other its a chance to win a third in 5 years and become the NFL Dynasty of the 2020’s. Sure, it brings excitement to the table and all the chatter about whether or not Taylor Swift would show up to the game is enough to generate that exicitement even further.
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But that’s where we sometimes forget that it’s a just a football game and nothing more. That goes the same with any other type of sport or event where we get so hyped up over something that it affects our mental health without even realizing it. Take it from me, I remember that being from New England Patriots country, we were excited to see the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but it got boring and provoked unnecessary anxiety attacks for me.
Remember also that this came at a time where I didn;t have a lot of self-awareness of myself. I thought that something like football was like a matter of life and death and if the Patriots didn’t win, the whole world would come crashing down.
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Now as an adult with some self-awareness built in, I have taken steps to ensure that my mental health is ALWAYS in check, even for the Super Bowl. Perhaps the biggest step I have taken is to limit how much pre-Super Bowl content I take in leading up to the game. In fact, I haven’t even turned on NFL Network, for example, once since the Conference Championships games were played on January 28th because I know its going to give me nothing but anxiety.
The only thing I do is briefly check to see who people are picking and consulting my magic 8 ball to see if the team I want to win will win. So far, it’s been favorable with the magic 8 ball agreeing with me that the 49ers will win the Super Bowl.
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But there is always a contegency plan if things don’t work out with the 49ers and that is in the form of Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, someone whom I have respected a great deal since I first starting watch the NFL in the late 90’s. This is a guy who spent a great deal of success with the Philadelphia Eagles for many years, but never got a chance to win the Super Bowl with them, despite making numerous Conference Championship games and one Super Bowl.
If the Chiefs win, Andy Reid is the only one I will be rooting for and not Patrick Mahomes or Travis Kelce, because sometimes seeing them act fired up does get a bit overwhelming at times. Coach Reid is very humble at what he does and that’s more than enough.
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But getting back to the topic of the blog, I put that in as an example to remind myself that there is going to be something to focus on that doesn’t require you to become obsessive. It’s important to just live in the moment and move on with your life. Obsessing about something like the Super Bowl is bad for you and there are other areas of your life that you need to focus on which is what I am doing right now with three trainings to prepare for at the end of February and the beginning of March.
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Catch you all later!!
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