- Simone Biles appeared virtually at the Child Mind Institute's Child Advocacy Award dinner on Tuesday to talk about mental health.
- The Olympics gold medalist spoke about how she manages anxiety, sharing that writes in a "worry journal."
- She also mentioned that she gives herself a one-hour time slot (from 12 to 1 p.m.) each day to worry about what she's written in her journal. "Anything I've written down in my worry journal, I use that hour to worry about the things then," Simone said.
Simone Biles has been more than open about her mental health over the past few months. And, FYI, she just dropped some serious knowledge with a genius hack she relies on to help her manage her anxiety.
The Olympics G.O.A.T appeared virtually at the Child Mind Institute's Child Advocacy Award dinner on Tuesday and spoke about how she's been dealing with anxiety with the help of her therapist. Besides being in “close contact” with her therapist, Simone said that she writes in a “worry journal” regularly.
"I have pretty bad anxiety sometimes so she tells me in my worry journal to put from 12 to 1 p.m.—that's the time I've selected—and anything I've written down in my worry journal, I use that hour to worry about the things then," Simone said. “Usually by the time 12 or 1 [p.m.] comes, I've already forgotten about all my worries so that kind of is a tool that helps me.”
Simone also said that she’s learned not to give up and “to move forward and keep pushing.” She even spoke about what happiness looks like to her, pointing out that it’s “just waking up and having a positive outlook on life in general and to know that you're blessed with another day.”
Simone became an advocate for mental health awareness during the Tokyo Olympics, where she had to bow out of several events after she developed the “twisties,” a mental health performance issue that’s common in gymnastics. Simone said in her Instagram Story at the time that she “literally can not tell up from down. It's the craziest feeling ever. Not having an inch of control over your body. What's even scarier is since I have no idea where I am in the air I also have NO idea how I'm going to land. Or what I'm going to land on."
Simone also said on the Today show in October that she's still mentally battling the twisties. "I don't twist. I do...my signature moves on the floor, but that's never affected me. Everything else just, like, weighs so heavy, and I watch the girls do it and it's just, it's not the same," she said. “I don't think people understand the magnitude of what I go through, but for so many years to go through everything that I’ve gone through, having a front, I’m proud of myself."
In a New York Magazine profile, Simone said that she’s trying to focus more on herself these days—including on her mental health. “It does mean sacrificing some of that stardom,” she said. “But at the end of the day, you can’t have it all. And if you take care of your mental well-being first, the rest will fall into place.”
