Despite her elite status, things haven’t been easy for Simone Biles. The 7x Olympic champ had to traverse mountains to reach where she is now. And yet, despite her revered position within the community, Biles can’t help but remember the mental toil she had to go through. With her personal experience still fresh in her memory, Biles continues to help others navigate through the maze.

Mental health continues to be a relatively less talked about topic in the world of athletics. Despite many stars suffering from its impacts, the issue is yet to garner widespread attention, but Biles wants to change the narrative.

The Texan recently received a special shoutout from the Child Mind Institute for taking off the lids on discussing mental health. This also provided the most decorated gymnast of all time to once again highlight how standing together is the best way to overcome such troubles. Sharing the original news via a recent Instagram story, Simone Biles underscored the necessity of sticking together. “On this journey together,” wrote the Olympic icon in her IG update. And it looks like setting quite an example on how to handle the inner turmoil.

“In a recent survey of 1,000 women by @femalequotient, 63% said they felt more inspired to prioritize their mental health after Simone Biles openly discussed taking time off for her well-being,” reads the original IG post by Child Mind Institute. The post also clarifies that more women are now comfortable talking about their stress as a way to initiate measures to help them cope with the same.

For athletes, being at their peak conditions is a fundamental necessity for success. However, in most cases, the discussion ends with their physical attributes, but Biles is here to change the notion altogether. And she knows where to look at to fathom its depth comprehensively.

Simone Biles looks at her own life to realize the importance of mental health

The 2021 Tokyo Olympics was an event that Simone would rather forget. After a shaky performance at the Japanese capital in the early phases, Simone Biles ultimately pulled out of the team finals, citing her run-in with mental troubles. Attributing her ordeal to “the twisties”, she decided to sit it out. While her family and coach supported her decision, the gymnast was met with severe backlash from the community, who swiftly labeled her a “quitter“.

The experience was harrowing, and Biles still struggles to look at her leotard from the event. “Even touching it is like ugh,” she was heard saying in her Netflix documentary Simone Biles: RISING. Paris was a resounding success, on the other hand, for both Team USA and Simone. But the bitter aftertaste still lingers in her mouth. “I think that was the hardest part after Tokyo – I didn’t trust myself to do gymnastics,” she revealed, acknowledging how the trauma still makes its presence felt.

With that, Simone Biles now wants to ensure others get by with a little help from their close ones. “We think we can do it on our own, but sometimes we just can’t. So use every outlet given to you,” she told Olympics.com right after her fumble in Tokyo. But will her efforts be enough to remove the stigma? Only time will tell.