Yahoo Finance Simone Biles Candidly Opened Up About Her Reluctance to Try Therapy
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When GOAT and five-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles isn't breaking records, inventing new moves, or standing up and speaking out on behalf of women against USA Gymnastics, she's chilling in her new home in Texas, alongside her two pups, Lilo and Rambo, and NFL player boyfriend Jonathan Owen. The last year in quarantine has challenged Biles to think outside the gym and spend time on herself and her hobbies and interests. But being still is not something she's used to.
"Before I would only focus on the gym," she said in her June 15th cover story for Glamour magazine. "But me being happy outside the gym is just as important as me being happy and doing well in the gym. Now it's like everything's coming together."
Just like so many, Biles says she feels most herself when surrounded by friends, eating piles of Mexican food (queso is her favorite) with a watermelon margarita on the rocks in hand. While cheese enchiladas make the world go round, a margarita, unfortunately, can't solve all our issues and deep-seated worries. This is why Biles has taken to therapy, though she was very reluctant to open up at first.
"One of the very first sessions, I didn't talk at all. I just wouldn't say anything. I was like, 'I'm not crazy. I don't need to be here,'" she admitted.
"I thought I could figure it out on my own, but that's sometimes not the case. And that's not something you should feel guilty or ashamed of," Biles continued. She shared that her therapist encouraged her to view therapy as a safe "outlet" for conversing about whatever it was she wanted to talk about rather than a sign of failure or in her words, a place for "crazy" people. "Once I got over that fact, I actually enjoyed it."
Nowadays, Biles looks forward to sitting down and talking with her therapist: "It's a safe place."
Be sure to cheer on Biles and Team USA this summer as they head to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Depending on her performance and scores, Biles could walk away as the overall most gold medal-decorated Olympian in history.
