Simone Biles: The heart of an Olympian
It beats just like yours and mine
This is the Kindness Magnet newsletter — useful kindness habits you can use to attract more opportunities, better health, relationships, and happiness. I’m Heather Johnston Brebaugh, author and kindness advocate.
When Simone Biles withdrew from the team competition at the Tokyo Olympics, my first thought was, she must be injured. I hope she is ok.
Turns out, she was injured, just not in the way that you and I, and the rest of civilization would have anticipated. The ongoing stress of competition, the expectations of an entire world on her shoulders, the constant media exposure, injured Simone in a way that we can’t see, but is just as real as a broken arm or leg.
After Team USA moved into the finals in second place, Biles was quoted on social media:
“I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times.”
“At the end of the day, we’re human, too. We have to protect our mind and our body rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do.”
Biles is just 24.
Kerri Strug
When Biles announced her decision to withdraw, I immediately thought of Kerri Strug, the 1996 US Olympic gymnast who broke her ankle on her first vault. She continued in the competition and vaulted again, to help her team win an Olympic gold medal. Her painful efforts cost her. Her gymnastic career was finished. She was 18 at the time.
At the high stakes level of the Olympics we see how young most of the competitors are, how much pressure there is on them (from coaches, fans, family, press, themselves) to perform and perform well. We should remember that they are, after all, human.
It’s Not Just Olympians
Reflecting on Biles’ very public decision made me start to wonder, how many others are out there who feel overwhelming pressure to perform, without knowing where to turn for help? Not just world class athletes. In fact, not just athletes at all. Anyone. Our children. Our partners. Our co-workers.
Is it time to pause and think about those around us who may be feeling an overwhelming weight of pressure, yet they remain silent? These ‘overachievers’ may show one face to the world, while another fragile person lives inside. Are we allowing others to put too much pressure on us? What is the price?
We may not know an Olympian (I certainly don’t), but we probably know people who are in stressful, pressure filled situations (maybe it’s you), in athletics, at work, in our social circles. Last week I talked about the value of empathy for humanity. Thanks to Simone Biles, I am going to try to be more focused on listening for those cries for help. Even if I can’t hear them, they will be evident on a person’s face, in their demeanor, in their mood, and in their attempts to act in control.
May your week be filled with kindness. 💜
Heather
It's shocking how many people have died in silence which underscores the importance of Empathy in serving as a microscope to discern the innermost pains of others even from a distance and offer possible succour.