The chaos that followed Simone Biles’s announcement last week has been overwhelming. At first, I was shocked and angry about the response. Then, it appeared there was overwhelming support. It was still controversial, and that bothered me a lot.
In case you need a refresher, Simone Biles:
an American artistic gymnast. With a combined total of 31 Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated American gymnast and is regarded as one of the greatest and most dominant gymnasts of all time. (Wikipedia).
Last week, she removed herself from the team final and the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games to focus on her mental health. She was the overwhelming favorite to repeat as individual all-around champion.
And then the world came crashing down online. She was accused of using mental health issues as an excuse for poor performance and accused of quitting in the face of adversity as well as being selfish.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be flying through the air and not being able to focus and concentrate. The danger she put herself into was potentially life-threatening. But the chaos she put herself into after stepping down has been overwhelming, and it is wrong.
[ctt template=”3″ link=”ztnM8″ via=”yes” ]Is mental health enough reason to quit your job?[/ctt]
Check out our Top 10 List to identify when it is time to quit your job.
A few weeks ago, our Top 10 List https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpbjns5v2-Q
focused on when it is time to quit your job. In summary, here are the ten responses:
– When you are no longer challenged or feel that you are making a difference
– When your values no longer align with the values of the company
– When you can’t sleep anymore because your nerves are shot, and you feel like a zombie
– When you dread going to into work the next day as soon as you leave work
– When your work environment is truly toxic
– When you are no longer having fun
– When you leave the office on multiple occasions in tears
– When you are counting down the hours to when you can go home, and you haven’t even started your day yet
– When you are excited about a new job and not afraid of the “what if’s”
– When trust is broken
I’m pretty sure that Simone could have put a check box beside each of those ten answers.
Without us actually identifying this in our Top 10 List, we insinuated many “mental health” symptoms when we identified when it is time to get a new job. In hindsight, we should have had one of those tips clearly state, “When your mental health is suffering.”
The support she has subsequently received has given each one of us permission to prioritize our mental health. Even if your job doesn’t require you to put your physical life at risk, your mental health is your life, and no job is worth putting you at risk.
[ctt template=”3″ link=”5XLRO” via=”yes” ]No job is worth putting you at risk.[/ctt]
I hope you can read this and feel proud of the company you work for because your mental health has never been compromised. If that isn’t the case, I hope you will prioritize your needs so that you can take care of the needs of others.
Stand up for what you need too! Simone smartly put herself first and took a lot of the pressure so that we can put ourselves first, too.
Thanks for a great example, Simone. I hope we can all learn from your example.
