Serena Williams reminds us that it’s okay not to be okay.
On Tuesday, the tennis champ and mother of two Xformerly known as Twitter, to express her emotional struggles.
“I’m not feeling well today,” she said in the post. “It doesn’t matter if it’s not great. “Nobody has a great life every day. ”
She added: “If you’re not feeling well today, I’m here with you. There’s always tomorrow. “Love you. “
The post received widespread support from fans and followers. Sympathetic commenters thanked Williams, who has always been open about her mental health struggles, including a previous experience with postpartum depression, for always being open and urging her to take care of herself.
Later that day, Williams followed up Second articlea photo of her hugging her newborn daughter Adira with the caption, “This makes me so happy.”
Williams chose to spend some time with her daughter to cope with the issue, which is consistent with the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s previous statements about how to manage his mental health. In Selena Gomez’s Wondermind’s August 2022 cover story, Williams said she prioritizes taking a break.
“Mental health, for me, is really about learning to shut down,” she said. “You know, I did this years ago, before mental health became a topic on everyone’s radar.”
She added, “Now that I know how important it is to put myself first – especially mentally – I always have moments of shutdown. “I have strict boundaries and I won’t let anyone get in my way. These boundaries are crossed in time. ”
Around the same time, Williams announced in Vogue’s September 2022 cover story that she might give up tennis to make way for other things in life, like Serena Ventures, her clothing line S by Serena, and expanding her family.
Although Williams has adopted a “shutdown” approach, she admitted to Wondermind that she’s still learning how to master coping strategies, especially prioritizing herself.
“I’m terrible at this! I’ve said it time and time again: I’m working on it,” she said. “But, more or less, at least prioritize what I need to do, and then when I shut down, I shut down.”
Never miss a beat: Get our daily stories delivered straight to your inbox with theGrio’s newsletter.