That’s So Simone
You know the scene - a kid is sitting in front of a tv screen, watching someone do something extraordinary. And the look on the child’s face, seeing them dreaming of the day when they could be that person with their name in lights, famous for doing something wonderful, something very few have done before them.
Today, I feel like I’m that kid.
Simone Biles suffered an injury. One that you can’t see, one that too many of us ignore.
She even tried to push past it herself until she realized, mid-air, mid-competition, on the biggest stage the world has ever seen, that she was hurt and needed time to assess the damage. And the only way to save her health from further harm was to give up one of the things she loved almost more than breathing.
Do you know how much vitriol she could have avoided by claiming a back muscle issue or a groin pull or some other injury you can see on the body to avoid the shitstorm going on around her right now? How she could have pushed through it, attempted one of the moves she normally can do in her sleep and twisted an ankle or worse? Y’all would be none the wiser. And yet, she was honest. She still came out and simply said, “I can’t do this right now”.
Because a mental injury is still an INJURY.
You don’t think she didn’t consider the cacophony of voices clamoring to tell her how she’s wrecked her life and the lives of her teammates? You don’t think she knew how much she would’ve heard how she’s ruined the games for her country? It can be so difficult to do what is best and not what is popular.
She didn’t have “it” and she knew it. She searched herself, her soul and knew that if she attempted to continue, she could drag her team down or worse, physically harm herself.
We claim we understand, saying all the right things to act like we give equal weight and value to our physicality and emotionality. When actually, we keep forgetting that mental health IS health. We have lost so many people that tried to push past the pain and failed. I’m glad we didn’t have to lose one more.
And unintentionally, she’s doing it again. She’s being greater and better than ten of us put together by putting the world on her shoulders and showing us how to be better to ourselves, helping the rest of us understand what limits to push and which ones to sit with.
Thank god Simone chose to dig deep and be an adult.
She took a chance on herself to say out loud that the quality of her life mattered as much as her ability to perform an athletic act. She bravely let us, the whole, wide world in on one of the secrets of her success: knowing herself, inside and out. That understanding when to quit is just as important as knowing when to continue. She focused on doing what was best for her and her team because she’s the GOAT and that’s what real winners do.
Today, I wanna be like Simone.
Stefanie B.