Beating the Blahs with Olympic Spirit
We had a whole newsletter planned for you all, but then the Olympics happened and we did a quick pivot because we wanted to share with you all the ways that the Olympics are helping lift us up from our mid-summer blahs and help us access our energy, optimism, and joy again. If you too have been feeling a little extra pep in your step after watching the Olympics, here’s a few reasons why. And if you’ve been in desperate need of a little pick me up, here’s some ways to tap into those happy feelings while engaging in the Olympics this week.
Sympathetic Joy: The sense of joy we experience from witnessing another person’s success has many names—sympathetic joy, appreciative joy, empathic joy, or vicarious reward. There is a Buddhist dharmic concept called Mudita which refers to delighting in others' well-being. Whatever you call it, the Olympics offer a chance to soak it up. This feeling is the enemy of schadenfreude and envy (which let’s face it are much less enjoyable emotional states) and that this emotional state is a muscle we can strengthen with practice. If you’re looking to add a little more sympathetic joy to your day, try watching an Olympic event without taking sides and instead just appreciate the effort, ability, and determination of the competitors and celebrate the achievement of whoever wins.
National Pride: Humans have a deep need for social connectedness, and that is about more than just proximity to others. To access the benefits of patriotism, we need to feel joined with our fellow Americans in a common goal or activity. In a time of increased political and socioeconomic divide, that type of connectedness may be challenging to access. But the Olympics offer all of us a chance to root for the same team regardless of our demographics or politics. We get a chance to celebrate the diversity of America while we all cheer on our athletes as they take the national stage. That type of unity is a breath of fresh air. If you’re looking for some Americans to enjoy here’s just a few who have captured the public imaginations for their athleticism and personalities: Ilona Maher, Simone Biles, Stephen Nedoroscik, Tom Daley, Noah Lyles, just to name a few!
Passion: There is a certain awe and intrigue in watching someone else’s passion. In our non-Olympic lives, we love to listen to someone nerd-out about the intricacies of some niche-interest they have. In the Olympics, we are humbled to watch athletes pursue sports we’ve only ever dabbled in with a single-minded determination. Even more than that, we are fascinated by the glimpse we get into the world of someone who has made more esoteric pursuits their passion like: race-walking, air-pistol, or ribbon-dancing. We get to explore a pocket of joy we would never have stumbled upon on our own. And to see those people have the opportunity to truly celebrate that passion on a global stage with all of us is **chef’s kiss.**
Novelty: Humans have the greatest attention span for things that are new or different—that’s biological because new things might be dangerous. But it also can create some of our most enjoyable experiences because of this heightened state. The fact that most of us don’t regularly get to watch humans at the absolute peak of human ability makes the Olympics extra enjoyable, and because they only happen every four years, the scarcity makes them extra high value.
Storytelling: Humans are hardwired to love stories. When we listen to a story that captivates us, our brains release oxytocin and access our empathic centers to allow us to truly place ourselves inside the story. If you’ve ever had a good cry to the Notebook or even when Olaf melts in Frozen, you’ve experienced the power of story to activate our connection even to imaginary characters in a tangible way. The Olympics take this one step further by telling us endless stories of real humans. We get a chance to feel what it would be like to overcome impossible odds to achieve our goals. We get redemptive arcs of people overcoming hardship and setback to achieve their goals, stories of families rallying to support their athletes, and tales of how teammates support each other. These stories give us hope and inspiration, but they also allow us to feel with them. Then, they give us a second gift—social currency. A story to share with our peers to feel another layer of connectedness. Here’s a few of our favorite stories from these games: love story, parental inspiration, milestone win, and celebrity cameo.
Common Humanity: One reason that we might find the Olympics more emotionally restorative than, for example, the Super Bowl is that the Olympics aims to appeal to our common humanity rather than pure competition. The spirit of the games is one of celebrating the diversity and commonality of human experience and that helps us to feel positive about our place in the world.
Girl Power: The Olympics are one of the few sporting events that reliably has a higher female viewership than male. Some of this is because the gender gap in both participation and coverage of female Olympians has improved vastly over the last few years. Yes, quality of coverage and sexism remain an area of growth, but it is incredibly empowering to see so many women on an international stage completing superhuman feats. It’s been refreshing to hear our role models talking about achieving their goals while pregnant, breastfeeding, menstruating, and postpartum. It’s empowering to see athletes like Ilona Maher address head-on that women don’t need to choose to limit themselves to a stereotype and hear Simone Biles shut down people trying to police Black women’s hair. We’ve been feeling the girl power every time we watch.
Collective Effervescence: Sociologist Emile Durkheim used the phrase collective effervescence to describe the collective feeling of communal emotion, connection, and sense of sacredness that surrounds us when we are part of something bigger than ourselves. These moments can happen at a spiritual gathering, a concert, a protest, or any other space where we are joining together in that way. These moments offer us a sense of joy that comes from escaping ourselves into something more, and the Olympics provides this with their deep commitment to excellence in human achievement, global cooperation, and sportsmanship certainly qualify.
Elevation: This is the word for the emotion humans experience when witnessing acts of remarkable goodness. It can be felt as a warmth or expansion of self that comes to encompass the person we are observing. If you’re stanning a specific Olympian, those warm fuzzies are elevation at work.
Consider this official permission from our office for all the parents out there to take a little time to just relax and watch Olympics, you know, for the health benefits. Make a snack, put your feet up, cheer on your favorite athletes and watch someone else work out for a change. We’re rooting for you.
