Back

You will never walk alone | Day 225 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Aug 14, 2023· 3 minutes

When I was a child, my father taught me to enjoy football. It did not stick so much that I actually care about football now, but I preserved the ability to enjoy it.

Somehow, anyway, I understand the hype.

It was a great pleasure to live in a true football-religion-flat. The house itself was painted very colorfully with the city symbol of a bird holding a leaf; also, the symbol on the football flag and scarfs and directly on the apartment walls were portraits of football stars. The walls were also decorated with the team song, and all pillows had the logo and part of the song - mostly “You will never walk alone” printed on them.

This is the key to football as a religion. The loneliness. Or, more precisely: The human craving for belonging. There has been so much lost in modern society, and football can sometimes mend it: bring people together, makes us feel part of a tribe, part of something bigger.

Communal singing to a symbol or a connectedness used to be part of rites of passage and seasonal celebrations - and done with the tribe, to a community of people with whom you shared everything. I believe there is a deep longing for that in us in modern times (and here, I mean all ages since the Industrial Revolution). We need to feel part of something greater, something shared, with those we know. 

Hyping about a football team can create that and has created that. Sadly so.

Or wait. Not sadly so. It is somehow great.

What is sad is that it has taken over from spirituality and everyday belonging and taken such center stage in some people's lives that it has become an obsession. Because even though football is a lot of fun, and some players are downright amazing at what they do, football can not give you all your eternal soul is looking for and will not create the nuances of a community that has your back in all elements of life.

So here it is: Complex again. Let’s enjoy football and even enjoy supporting “our” team or country's effort to win, but let’s at the same time not forget our eternal soul and the vast greatness of the Universe. There is more to it than football can cover.

Love and light

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our life like this, and we get very happy when we get your feedback. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 

See more images on Facebook

An awe-inspiring day at the Mayan cities of Chichén Itzá & Coba, where history & adventure intertwine. Join us on our journey to these wonders of the…Read more
Subtle changes in our daily habits are shaping our family's journey and connections while traveling in Mexico. Read more
Having TWO little dogs, BOTH on heat while in Mexico, of all places, has proven a challenge that will go down in our personal history. We are at a po…Read more
The adventure is the adventure, and we embrace it. After a day as gringo tourists, laughing while watching the first Die Hard and yelling Yippee-ki-y…Read more
We got a cultural shock. It was a strange thing, the whole thing. How something we expected to be an experience of nature was more like … an amusemen…Read more
We are making peace with the facts of life here. This is not the Mexico we came to see; this is not a place where we will ever go back - yet somehow,…Read more
Sometimes, you just need to take a long walk to uncover life's simple joys. From birdwatching to appreciating local ingenuity, Join me on a journey o…Read more
Explore the depths of self-discovery and the pursuit of balance, inspired by tales from 'Pirates of the Caribbean' to 'Alice in Wonderland'. A person…Read more
I am in no state to write. I feel like I have nothing to say. Equally, I feel like nobody is listening anyway. Who am I even talking to? The rough v…Read more