Sacrificing my buddy

Following in the footsteps of the South Korean curling team’s sacrifice

Written by Sunjin Chang 

I live with my phone. I’ve tried giving up social media for a few months for religious purposes but giving up my phone was always tough. As soon as I wake up, to the time I go to bed, one thing stays the same: my phone is always within a few feet from me.

I always thought that if I ever got famous, I would make sure to keep my social media outlets on public and immerse myself in the popularity before it all faded away. But watching the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, one team, in particular, caught my attention because they were living my childhood dream of becoming famous but taking it in a completely different way: the South Korean women’s curling team.

All of the team members had voluntarily decided to disconnect themselves from the outside world by powering off their phones since curling, they believed, was a mental sport. They weren’t informed of their international popularity during the games, and in return, they were able to remain mentally stable leading to their silver medal. Now they’ve come into contact with their popularity and shown gratitude for the support they are receiving. However, still more than half of the team has decided to leave their social media accounts on private.

Watching their games, I respected their decision to give up what I personally found the hardest to sacrifice, my phone. The amount of focus they were able to put into their games because they were unaware of what the public was saying about them made me wonder if I should also take out my phone from certain parts of my day to focus on being the best at what’s given to me at the moment.

During the semi-final game against Japan, the players from the South Korean team were welcomed by a large crowd but were unaware that those people were there to see them play; they had thought it was for the other teams playing the same day. Since it hadn’t crossed their minds that everyone’s eyes were on them, they played just like any other game without being affected much by the attention.

What if I could go out and make a difference rather than staying at home on my phone all day? Maybe I won’t bring home the silver medal but I’m sure that if I dedicated at least half of the attention I currently give towards my phone to my ultimate goals, I could become much more successful.

I know it won’t be easy since my phone has already become my best friend but I think it is possible if I am able to find a team like the curling team had to stay accountable. If the curling team took on this challenge alone, I wonder if it would have been successful. I know for a fact if I did this myself, I’d be done in less than 30 minutes. I guess I’m officially asking for help from everyone to keep me accountable. And I guess unofficially I’m challenging all of my friends and peers out there to take on this challenge with me.