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During the recent Tokyo Olympics, the superstar gymnast Simone Biles launched a crucial global conversation about the need to respect one’s personal limits, even if doing so appears to sacrifice some superficially bright goal. In my view, there was a powerful symbolism to her ability to say no in the face of the single-minded pursuit of Olympic gold with the whole world watching, one comparable to the dilemmas many of us struggle with in an overheated, overworked society that emphasizes personal achievement and success at all costs.
The United States was founded with an ethos of manifest destiny and self-made individualism, the pioneer spirit that created a world superpower within two centuries. But there has always been a dark underbelly to American success: the callous exploitation or annihilation of those deemed less powerful or human than the colonizers, and the valorization of the individual and their power, no matter what the true cost.
Lately, the American dream of bootstrapping brilliance appears to be running aground, as earnest capitalism shifts into plutocracy and oligarchy. Increasing evidence shows that those at the top are rigging the system, profiting off the labor of those beneath them, the vast majority of whom are trying their best to make an honest living. They demand more and more from their workers, while returning less and less. They keep those below them motivated with fantasies of occasional breakthroughs and fame, often while burying the blood, sweat, and tears behind the glamorous headlines.
This is not to say by any means that the use of opportunity, hard work, and success are never to be admired or respected. If anything, there can be a loveable purity to Olympic athletes and competition and their accomplishments, which is likely why many of us watch them in admiration. Their combination of talent and fortitude can be breathtaking. But at top levels, the need to push harder, faster, and stronger can also take a great toll in events where milliseconds and the slightest bobbles divide medalists from the rest. The demands of perfectionism can lead to anxiety and depression, and self-destructive behaviors.
With her once-in-a-century talent, phenomenal drive, and a litany of gold medals already in her cabinet, Simone Biles didn’t have to come back to Tokyo but chose to do so under the inevitable glaring spotlight. She had countless stressors lurking beneath her smile—such as the recent loss of her aunt, maintaining her fitness level after the Olympics were delayed a year due to a global pandemic, and wanting to represent defiant success after the horrific predation she and her fellow team members underwent for decades from Larry Nasser, the team physician, with stunning inaction and indifference for the same period of time by the USA Gymnastics organization.
When she started competing anyway, she knew something was wrong, she now says. She made uncharacteristic errors (although due to the high difficulty of her routines, she still ended up top-ranked for the individual all-around finals). The next day she realized she was endangering herself after losing her crucial body awareness in the air, a known phenomenon nicknamed the "twisties." She made the unprecedented decision to withdraw from most of the finals. She listened to her limits and said enough is enough. She publicly announced she wanted to prioritize her mental health.
As with most high-profile events nowadays, the polarized reactions were telling. A certain (mostly white and male) contingent cried foul, saying she abandoned her team and her country, that she choked, etc., etc. They reiterated many tropes of sacrifice and success at all cost, citing Kerri Strug’s 1996 famous vault—which, when viewed with new eyes, makes one wonder if she could have shattered her ankle forever and ruined her ability to walk normally in doing so. Was that really worth a piece of metal?
But the vast majority of reactions were supportive and newly aware, even awakened to the notion that one can just say no. That one has had enough. In an era where suicides are rising horrifically since the mid-2000s, particularly in adolescents and young adults, and also in certain driven careers such as medicine and the military, we need to say it’s OK to stop when it’s too much.
Doctors Face Similar Pressures
Many in the medical field have expressed understanding the clear analogies between the perfectionist, self-sacrificing mentality of Olympians and their own driven profession, now exhausted beyond the pale after coping with the onslaught of COVID-19 patients. Trying to navigate a medical system increasingly overrun by corporations focused on the bottom line and false, mechanized indices of productivity—while simultaneously berated by oft-neglected patients in overly brief visits and revved up by Googled info and meme-driven rhetoric—physicians are caught between a rock and a hard place.
Even worse, they are often explicitly discouraged from seeking mental health treatment due to related questions that can lead to dislicensure in several states. Despite these pressures, physicians often continue to help their patients at all costs but can lose sight of their own needs in the process. The tragic loss of Dr. Lorna Breen, an ER director in NYC, during the height of the initial COVID-19 wave epitomized this impossible situation and ultimate sacrifice. But it should have never come to that.
What Can Be Done?
Accordingly, we need to continue to voice concerns with overwork and hold systems accountable whenever possible. The understandable threat of firing and unemployment silences many, and people of course need to protect their own interests; but ultimately, in my view, those who have the privilege to say something should.
Simone Biles’ stepping away was in some ways revolutionary and powerful in her symbolic act; she exercised her autonomy and owed nothing to anyone else but herself and her family. If we also feel trapped in circumstances that are overwhelming, it’s important to feel that we still have a say in our lives too. Changing abusive or exploitative systems is an incremental process, and in the meantime, we shouldn’t hesitate to step back and exit or push back when necessary or possible. Your mental well-being matters, and if you feel you have reached your limit, it’s OK to say so. Everyone else will just have to deal.
