By Heather Havrilesky — 2018
Recently, after years of being afraid to confront this reality, I accepted that I want to be a writer.
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CLEAR ALL
The Strong Black Women Syndrome demands that Black women never buckle, never feel vulnerable and, most important, never, ever put their own needs above anyone else’s—not their children’s, not their community’s, not the people for whom they work—no matter how detrimental it is to their...
Osaka’s mental health challenges are nothing new in her isolating sport. What is new is the acceptance she’ll face—and the paths back—if she takes a prolonged break.
In the past few weeks, my journey took an unexpected path but one that has taught me so much and helped me grow. I learned a couple of key lessons.
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Through the size of her platform, however, and her decision to choose well-being over pursuit of a Grand Slam title, Osaka offers the promise of bringing mental health awareness—both inside and outside of sports—to an entirely new level.
By withdrawing from competition citing concerns over her mental health, Biles showed that resisting expectations can be more powerful than persisting through them.
It can’t be about “empowerment” any longer. To make real progress, it has to be about power—using and growing the power we women already have.