My very first passion was gymnastics-I started at 3 and competing at 6. I dedicated my life to that sport. Even though only regional the pressure was HUGE. I was very competitive and it hurt to lose - I gained many life lessons from the sport and learned to be graceful in defeat
But the immense pressure and anxiety never went away. I remember lying awake in bed for months after meets going through every single mistake I made and getting so angry at myself - reliving the moment and tormenting myself. As I neared the end of my “career” at 12 the fear of
what I was doing caught up to me. I started to become afraid of tumbling lines, or of specific vaults. Things I’d done for years were now scary. One time in practice mid tumble I had a split sec of doubt and fear and ended up landing on my head. But I still felt the pressure to
compete - to win. I went so far as to fake an injury to get out of a competition- I just didn’t trust myself, I was in my head. Anyway all this to say…that was 0.00000001% of the pressure #SimoneBiles is under. Don’t judge something you know abso-fucking-lutely nothing about.
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