Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I've said before, 'gymnastics is abusive,' but now I know it's not the sport that's abusive - it's the culture that was created and accepted and normalized.
As much as you love a sport, I don't think love and joy necessarily go hand in hand. I think you can still be in love with the sport but just not happy in it.
I learned at a young age that my voice was not wanted or heard, so I went silent. I did what I was told and set goals based on what everyone else expected of me.
In life, we are told to do or be so many different things and expected to fit so many different expectations; I think that's something I always had a hard time with.
When picking my original music, Tina Turner was someone I wanted in my routine because of the strong impact she has had on my life. I admire her courage and resilience.
If my Michael Jackson routine left even one person feeling uncomfortable or less joyful, I felt like it was in everyone's best interest to change the music to my routine.
The truth is, gymnastics is a beautiful sport that has allowed me to grow and learn invaluable life lessons: sacrifice, dedication, discipline. Eventually, it led me to my voice.
I was encouraged to use my voice and explore my passions outside of the sport. And when I did that, I was finally able to realize my true self-worth. I was more than that of a gymnast.
Women are 'expected' to have skinny waists yet still be voluptuous. People surrounding us tell us we need to eat but then look at us in disgust if we cross the invisible line of overeating.
I was in the gym seven hours a day, six times a week, and Sunday was my day of rest. So there wasn't a lot of time that I had to myself, and obviously, that kind of ruined the joy of the sport.
I think what I show is joy when I do stuff, so I think always having a love for what you do every single day is something that I hold extremely close to my heart because I know what it's like to not feel that.
Before bed, I just brush my teeth and fall asleep. I don't usually wear makeup, but if I do, I'll wipe it off. Then it's pajamas and falling into bed, no other routine; I'm pretty good at just falling asleep right away.
There are so many things that we have to be grateful for. It gets so easy to get caught up with one thing that, you know, isn't perfect or not going the way you thought it would, but we always need to be grateful for what we have.
You will never have the perfect body, and to sit there and compare yourself to another person or what someone else likes - we're the only people that have control of our body. We're the only people that live inside of our body 24/7.
For dinner, I like to have a protein and veggies again. But because of my ulcerative colitis, really healthy foods are hard on my stomach. Sugars aren't good, and I have to be careful with vegetables. So it can be tough to find food that feels good.
One habit that's important for keeping me mentally healthy is having meaningful conversations with the people around me. That's a habit that fuels my body and my mind. I also like to go to the beach and write, and I've been trying to focus on giving myself time to be alone.
The Olympics were something that was put in my path. I knew I was capable, I worked so hard for it, so I guess it's like, Why wouldn't I want to go to the Olympics? But it was never something that I was really, really dead set on. It was just what my coaches and everyone else forced upon me.
As a gymnast, I've always compartmentalized my life, which is a blessing and a curse. But over time, I've learned that my sport doesn't fully define me, and I think that's where a lot of the joy in my routines comes from now: I'm not compartmentalizing as much, and I know who I am beyond my sport.