Jarrel De Matas
If you're an avid tennis fan like me, you would not have missed one of the biggest stories to rock the sport. If you're not a tennis fan and could not care less whether Rafael Nadal breaks the record for most Grand Slam titles, you should still be aware of it, because it concerns your life.
Last week, the world number 2 player, Naomi Osaka, withdrew from the current French Open tournament. This followed her initial refusal to give a post-match press conference, citing a need to protect her mental health.
Her decision drew criticism from the tournament organisers, who threatened to fine her as well as possibly expel her. Osaka subsequently withdrew from the tournament.
While I have my own personal and polemic opinions about Osaka's decision to withdraw, I thought one opinion in particular could be agreed upon: the need for greater self-care and protecting our mental health.
Osaka has opened the door for greater attention to how we look after our mental well-being. Given the ongoing pandemic, which at this point reads like its own version of a Zack Snyder Cut, it seems necessary to sit up and take note of why Osaka's decision is important to us, when to detect our mental health is under pressure, and what we can do to protect our own mental health
Mental health is health. As such, it becomes your responsibility to make decisions you think are best. When Osaka withdrew from the French Open she stood up to ideologies that define success, happiness, and labour. Success isn't worth your life.
As the number two seed, Osaka had a lot going for her at this year's French Open. Having won the previous two Grand Slams, the 2020 US Open and the Australian Open earlier this year, she was arguably the player to beat.
Even as one of the tournament favourites, however, she understood that the current state of her mental health determined her success, not the other way around.
Let me repeat: being successful is not going to make you happy. The cliche "money can't buy happiness" does hold core truth, and Osaka knew this. Overworking yourself to the point of physical and mental exhaustion simply isn't worth it. You might be successful, but at what cost?
Osaka gave us a lesson in recognising, communicating and asserting our personal and psychological boundaries. Her brave decision has helped redefine success as not material but mental.
As we power through the pandemic, revising traditional business models, creating new action plans, and attending countless Zoom meetings, spare time to recognise your own boundaries; to be able to say when enough is too much. Because the first step is recognising when our mental health is under threat, it therefore becomes necessary to know, or detect our own boundaries.
While the physical implications of overwork are in some ways recognisable, the insidiousness of mental exhaustion goes under-scrutinised. This makes its adverse effects all the more harmful in the long run. Osaka reve
