THE CHOICE YOU NEVER REGRET: PRIORITIZING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

Simone Biles’ recent announcement that she is putting her mental health first and withdrawing from the team gymnastics competition in the olympics opened a lot of discussion about the importance of boldly advocating for our personal mental health. And it got me thinking about how much of what we all put up with in our work life is detrimental to our health.

A recent 2020 survey revealed that 80% of workers would quit their jobs to work somewhere that supported their mental health.

It seems we have all hit a wall. And people are starting to finally put their foot down. 

Biles decided that she would no longer pay the very high price of her mental health in order to win. I don’t know what Simone Biles (or all the other athletes taking similar steps away from their highly competitive lifestyle) had to mentally and emotionally wrestle with before making that decision, but I would bet it wasn’t that easy. Which is precisely what makes this decision so admirable.

As I have discussed in previous posts, our hustle culture has been perpetuated for decades, as people show their exhaustion and lack of sleep as a badge of honor. Well, it looks like it took a global pandemic to wake us up from this Stockholm Syndrome trance, and encourage us to take a long hard look at the way we are living our lives.

Let’s do a quick exercise... 

Imagine you are sitting in a rocking chair on a quiet porch and you are much older, near the end of your life. When you look back and review how your life unfolded, all that matters is whether you are proud of the actions you took and the decisions that you made.

Would your life up until this current moment make you proud?

Or is there something you wish you had done differently or more of?

Perhaps Simone Biles used the Rocking Chair Test when she was grappling with the decision to step away from the Olympics. This simple test can help you reach clarity around big life decisions quickly and efficiently, and also help you see what your REAL VALUES are. 

Simone clearly realized that her mental health was of higher value to her than competing at the Olympics.

So what is the “Olympics” in your life  that isn’t really what you value?