Be a mental health warrior Like Naomi Osaka
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka made the news last week for standing up for her mental health.
Reports say she clashed with officials over her desire to skip media interviews to prioritise her mental health – but she stood firm in her choice. Her decision to speak publicly has once again put the importance of caring for our mental health in the spotlight.
“The more I read about Naomi, it became apparent that as a society we have a long way to go but I like to think that we are moving in the right direction”
Naomi posted her statement on Twitter, writing that she was pulling out of the tournament so that "everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris." In the effort of self-care, Osaka said she’d "take some time away from the court." The tennis player shared with her followers that she had "suffered long bouts of depression" since winning her first Grand Slam title in 2018. The decision was based on helping maintain her mental health, as these press conferences induce a great deal of unhealthy stress and anxiety, especially as she says she’s uncomfortable with public speaking.
Naomi said she found some of the tournament rules for players "outdated" and "thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences."
She was open and unashamedly honest about her struggles; something we applaud and admire here at VIPASA. And if ever we feel anything gets too much, that we need to take some time to reset, we’re going to take a leaf out of Naomi’s book and put ourselves – and most importantly, our mental health – first.
We hope you’ll do the same too.
xoxo
