Last week, I watched incredulously as the incomparable Simone Biles did something many of us haven’t seen before.

Struggle.

As a fan, it was confusing.

The evening unfolded and as the world watched her leave the arena, then come back, and then finally withdraw from competition.

I sat back and wondered, “why”?

Enter…the “twisties”.

It’s a term most of us hadn’t heard before, but now understand how it is quite common for those who have competed in gymnastics at an elite level.

Once I started to understand what it was— the disorientation that ensues when your mind cannot process what your body is doing, losing “air awareness”, not knowing how and where you might land, and how it erodes confidence and in an gymnast’s ability to perform… well, it got my wheels turning.

~ imagine the aforementioned wheels turning ~

Here’s where I’ve landed (no pun intended)…

Gymnasts are not the only ones who get twisties.
We all get them.
We just don’t have a cute name for it— and while we may not be risking breaking our necks…. doesn’t the rest of it sound familiar?

Losing confidence in your abilities? Check.

Confusion. Check.

Doubting your ability to land on your feet. What seemed so natural and deeply embedded into your muscle memory over years, decades of work & experience— seem to evaporate overnight. Double Check.

Forget imposter syndrome, comparisons, or even competition— the twisties are so more fundamental and difficult because it is all about you.

This morning, I was catching up with my friend and former colleague, Emily, (who is a brilliant HR professional), who also left corporate life to do some independent consulting as well, in order to spend with her young boys.

I said, “you know, I think we all get the twisties. I don’t think it matters what you do or who you are. “

She replied, “yes…. you’re right—I got them as a stay-at-home-mom, too!”

The self-doubt, the questioning… that was an eye-opener for me too.

Do I feed them too much mac and cheese? Was it organic?
They are watching too much tv…
Did I have enough 1:1 time with each kid?
Was I present enough?
Did I need to start potty training earlier? (yes on that one)

The mom within went into spin mode… and the realization that indeed, I have suffered from “mom twisties.” ALOT.

Professionally, it is those times when you unable to process everything coming at you…

When you walk (or zoom) into a meeting where you had absolutely no clue what you were doing there?
When you lose your train of thought and cannot remember where you left off.
The realization that you just said something that completely contradicted something you said earlier?

Sound familiar???

Enter … “office twisties.”

So naturally, I started to think about how does one overcome a case of the twisties?

I started to read articles about Biles’ days after she withdrew from the team finals. What was her process, I wondered? How did she manage to compete on the last day? I’m sure she did much more behind the scenes, but a couple of things I read:

She went back to the basics and tried to recalibrate a little bit at a time.
She went to a safe environment (in her case, a small gym an hour away from the competition venue and away from prying eyes) and flipped and twisted into foam pits where she could literally and figuratively have a soft landing.
She surrounded herself with a tight support team, her coach, a trainer.

So while the debate rages on about if Biles is tough enough or good enough (that have mostly come from folks who’ve never done so much as a cartwheel in their life)… I’m choosing gratitude for the lesson.

Not just for the light she shines on the importance of mental health, but also how to work through it.

Over my career, I have so many conversations with employees, clients, close friends, fantastic leaders—about stress and burnout. People who needed a break. People who needed to rest. People who needed to reset.

We have all been there. I have been there.

And my great learning this week is that you don’t have to be the GOAT of anything to experience them, it is inevitable that we ALL will.

What matters most is that we recognize it— in the hopes that we are able to take the right actions to move forward.

That is strength. That is courage.

Here’s to fighting off our twisties, together.

Be well & stay well,