In the summer of 2021, athletes from around the world competed at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. One of these athletes, gymnast Simone Biles, made the decision to withdraw from a competition to focus on her mental health. She shared that she wasn’t in a good mental place to participate in the competition, and she didn’t want to negatively impact her team’s chance at a medal by competing.
Show the following video [3:06].
“I say put mental health first!” | Simone Biles talks
In the months since her courageous choice, important conversations have begun happening about the importance of mental health and well–being for athletes. However, when she first made the decision, Biles received a lot of criticism. People accused her of not being strong and letting her team down.
How do you think it might feel to be criticized or rejected by people who felt disappointed by your actions—even good actions? (Answers will vary; students may say that you might feel unloved—like a failure, hurt, worthless, etc.)
Simone Biles chose to take a break rather than compete poorly and make costly mistakes for her team. She valued her mental health and her team’s success more than her need to compete. Simone chose not to make mistakes in her competition.
Sometimes, though, we all do make mistakes. It’s part of being human. In some situations, when we mess up, it’s because of choices we made even when we knew better. We might feel ashamed or alienated as a result of those poor choices.
- When have you felt unloved or unaccepted because of mistakes or poor choices you made? (It may be difficult to get students to share an answer; you will have a better chance of getting someone to open up if you share your own experience first.)
We are all sinners. We all mess up—sometimes on purpose, sometimes unintentionally. Let’s see what an invitation, a dinner, and a group of tax collectors can show us about Jesus’ response to sinners.
