I didn’t know how badly I wanted the United States to win the World Cup until it looked like they might actually lose. Then I changed my tune lickety-split; that blasé attitude became a cascade of sports anxiety, first against Spain, and then even more so against France because I had just witnessed how the United States performed against Spain. I figured the game would be a competition to see which team was the least bad, instead of which was the most good, and it kind of did turn out like that.
Anxiety coping mechanisms for the World Cup knockout stages, ranked by effectiveness
Fans of any country are likely to need healthy ways of coping with the final rounds of the 2019 World Cup. Here are a few recommendations — particularly for those who can’t scream and shout during the games.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
For the duration of the United States’ quarterfinal against France, I had to find ways to cope with all the emotions I was keeping bottled up inside my little body, as I was tucked away high in the press box in the very topmost row of the Parc des Princes. Media aren’t allowed to react whether it’s to cheer or to groan, so here are 10 ways my anxiety coping mechanisms manifested instead, ranked in order from least to most effective.
1. Hiding behind my laptop screen — This did nothing but prevent me from watching the game, which only made me more anxious that I would miss something.
2. Not breathing — Extremely unhelpful, as breathing is necessary to live.
3. Zoning out — I was already physically and mentally exhausted like 30 minutes into the game and my body kept trying to shut down. Energy-saving, but useless.
4. Touching my teeth — I don’t know? I just kept touching them? I couldn’t stop doing it because I needed my hands to go somewhere and maybe in this moment of extreme stress I reverted to a primal comfort habit but didn’t actually want to suck my thumb or any other fingers so I just touched my teeth a lot?
5. Licking the sweat off my arms — They were extremely salty from sweating so much and with my hands usually covering my face or my mouth, well ... there they were? I do a lot of stuff with my mouth when I’m nervous, I guess. If only I’d had some gum to chew.
6. Wiggling my toes in inside my shoes — This is actually a coping mechanism that I learned to stop jiggling my legs so much, which I know is annoying to everyone around me. The toes thing lets me fidget without shaking the entire table.
7. Yanking my hair back and forth — I just dig my fingers into my scalp and kind of push it around. It feels nice, like a brain massage.
8. Pushing down on my orbital bones — In the same vein as the scalp massage; it feels nice, particularly if I have any sinus pressure.
9. Drinking water, even if I wasn’t thirsty — I justified this one to myself because I was unbearably sticky and hot, surrounded by a bunch of electrical equipment and other desperately anxious journalists, but it was really just something to do with my hands. Luckily my dehydrated body just absorbed it all instead of sending me to the bathroom in the middle of the game.
10. Covering my mouth with my hands — I would slowly smother myself with my hands over my mouth and nose, which I know seems to contradict my earlier point about breathing being necessary, but I could still kind of breathe. I would only realized I was doing it when I started to get a little lightheaded, and then I would have to focus on mindfully breathing for a little bit, which was actually quite nice and calmed me down.
So as it turns out, I’m not dead inside and the USWNT definitely still makes me super anxious in all the ways, good and bad. Thanks for that, and see you in Lyon.
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