What we can learn from Simone Biles about Mental Health
If we learn one thing from Simone Biles this year,
it should be that nothing is more important than your mental health.
Your Mental Health is worth more than gold.
This house includes some of the biggest cheerleaders for Simone.
Not only is she a local Houston girl, with her champion making gym right down the road, but she embodies strength, grace and determination with an audience that stretches the globe. We read her book Flying High at least once a week!
The news of her withdrawal from the Olympic Finals in Japan is heart breaking.
In reaction to what she must be going through, I can only imagine - the pressure to be the GOAT coupled with a nation counting on you must be crippling. After an intense year filled with uncertainty, it feels like we had more time to build up expectations.
We have been touting the excitement of the Olympics with our girls since quarantine. They are now at an age to remember such events and I distinctly remember witnessing the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team winning the gold in Atlanta in 1996.
I can still hear Bela Karolyi telling Kerri Strug to “shake it off” as she prepared for her final vault which would seal the win! Now that our girls are also active in gymnastics classes, they have grown in their love for the sport as well as for Simone.
Yet watching Simone warm up before the Team Competition and the look in her eyes, you could tell something was wrong. Even the announcers were commenting on her uncharacteristic aura. It only took her one recorded vault to realize that her mind was not going to compete.
Understanding the pressure of perfection and the importance of self love has created a teaching moment for our family.
Understanding the pressure of perfection and the importance of self love has created a teaching moment for our family.
I sit here on my own mental health day writing this blog!
For me, writing is a stress relieving outlet and a break from the pressures I feel as CEO of my full time gig.
To be clear - I LOVE my job. I love the work I do, the impact we make, I love the team and clients we work with. But, damn, some days are HARD.
There’s a lot of balls juggling in the air at once,
the constantly present mom duties
and all my aspirations as an entrepreneur calling my name.
Don’t get me wrong, I wake up and choose this life everyday.
But that doesn’t negate the constant strain on my mental health to balance allthethingsallthetime.
I have to actively put myself first and sometimes that means ignoring my clients or my kids.
My hat goes off to Simone for making the incredibly difficult decision to choose her mental health over everything else.
Could she have powered through and performed to the best of her ability?
When you factor how dangerous that could be and the risk of severe injury, it’s just not worth it.
I hope we can give Simone Biles the space, the grace and the PRAISE this girl deserves for already being a champion!
As for the rest of us? Make no apologies for putting yourself first.
And stop making excuses mamacita!
Find a therapist, there are so many options in person and online!
Take time for your physical health, which can be a huge influence on your mental game.
Schedule meetings with yourself to take a walk, do some meditation from an app or connect with a friend!
Put that sh*t in your calendar as if it were a meeting with the president and you can’t reschedule! You are THAT important!
Click here to donate in support of providing therapy to black women and girls.
Cheers mi amiga,
