Simone Biles and the Debate of Wisdom vs. Toughness

When I learned that Simone Biles, likely the greatest gymnast of all time, withdrew from an Olympic event because of a mental health concern, I was blown away. I honestly never thought I would see the day when a world class athlete on the biggest stage would have the courage to do this. I could almost hear the collective cheer resonating from fellow mental health professionals, physical therapists, and kinesiologists.

You see Simone Biles did what experts have been clamoring for top performers to do for years. She listened to her body and her emotions and made the wise choice. Historically, this has not been the path taken. When faced with the possibility of winning glory, people almost always choose toughness over wisdom. Don’t get me wrong, I love these stories. When it works out, choosing toughness can create legendary moments, but when it doesn’t work, people get hurt.

Toughness is certainly not a worthless value. There are times when it is essential to be able to persevere through adversity, but the times when we need to forsake wisdom entirely in favor of toughness are extremely rare, and this should never be done in the context of entertainment or for optics. I love sports, and I think the Olympics are special, but it is important to remember that these are entertainment products, and while they should be taken seriously, it is ridiculous to expect someone to sacrifice or risk longterm health just to entertain us and give us good feelings.

I am hoping that the impact of Simone’s act will reach beyond sports into all areas of life. Every day I speak with individuals who strain themselves beyond their capacity because of a perceived obligation, expectation, or to manage the opinions of others. This is unhealthy and leads to a number of health problems both mental and physical. It is good to work hard and to invest fully in things that matter to us, but we cannot and should not try to exceed our capacity, and some days, our capacity is going to be much lower than we want it to be. Pushing ourselves beyond our limits comes with a cost and risks doing harm. The parent who keeps pressing to be supermom despite exhaustion is likely to lash out at a child, the employee who is working overtime to impress the boss is likely to make a critical mistake, and the athlete who’s mind is not fully connected to the body is likely to injure themself or someone else.

It is time to elevate our admiration of self awareness and wisdom over toughness. It is true that a person needs both to succeed, but decision making requires one to trump the other, and, with the exception of life or death situations, wisdom should always triumph over toughness.