When it comes to sports, there is a Mount Rushmore of athletes, specifically in our generation, that houses an elite group of high-caliber players. And although most of this list of who-is-who is debatable, we collectively all have a pretty good sense of who these people generally are (usually Nike-signed athletes: LeBron James, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Serena Williams, Peyton Manning, Mike Tyson...)
I could go on and on.
But people assumed after Tom Brady's recent Super Bowl victory, his seventh to be exact, that the conversation was over—which don't get me wrong, his tenure as an athlete is impressive AF. Buttttttttttttttttttttttt, these same folks have somehow forgot about one little thing: Serena 'Fcking' Williams.
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And listen, I don't know how all this GOAT talk had somehow skipped over our good sis, but um...the internet got all that together real quick when they started slapping down facts like a joker in a spades game. Mostly because Serena isn't the greatest tennis player of all time, she is the greatest athlete of all time. Period.
And if there's any question (and because she loves art and galleries so much), then you can come take a walk into my 'Serena Williams Museum Of Facts,' because I got all that you need--
Exhibit A: 23 Grand Slams, 358 Wins, 4 Olympic Gold Medals, and more:
Serena has accumulated accolades that most athletes can only dream of. Not bad for a sport where you aren't allowed a bad game (which she has translated into winning 358 times. 358).
Exhibit B: Oh, and she has a hella impressive Trophy Room to back it up:
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Recently, Serena gave us a tour of her home for the February issue of Architectural Digest. In the article, written by fellow-GOAT, Elaine Welteroth, she flexes up and down the Miami coast in her amazingly stunning home, which she partnered with sister, Venus Williams' interior design company, V Star, to complete.
Exhibit C: Comparisons that don't...compare:
Twitter
*Files nails*
Exhibit D: Battling racism, hate, disadvantages (and more) in a way that *others* never have:
In an interview with Sirius XM's 'Shade 45" show, Williams shared some of the ways that her and Venus experienced racism early on when one of the hosts asked how she was able to focus on winning, despite constant berating.
"I remember when my sister was playing, I could tell when she would win points and when she would lose. The crowd would be really loud if she lost a point, and then there would be almost silence if she won the game or the point."
She adds that this is how she could sometimes tell how her sister was playing when she wasn't able to watch her matches.
"It's just something I had to grow used to. It had to be normal for me…to realize people weren't gonna root for me because I was different and I looked different."
Exhibit E:...and doing it all, while being a mommy:
By far, more than anything in this world, Serena's favorite role she could ever play, is being a mom to her daughter, Olympia.
"I would never have thought that I would be playing as a mom. The plus is that one day your daughter can say she was there. Whether she remembers or not, I'm always going to have pictures. But other than that, it's all minus. I'm not with her, I'm not around her and it's hard. For me, it's hard because I spend a tremendous amount of time with her."
Be still, my heart.
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Williams is currently playing in the Australian Open, and looking to add another trophy to the case. And now that your 'Serena Williams Museum Of Facts' tour has concluded...anymore questions?
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Featured image by Jimmie48 Photography / Shutterstock.com
The mother of one reached her breaking point after failing to continue her 685-day blue-dot streak on Peleton due to having a busy day with her daughter. Achieving the beloved blue dot was like receiving a gold star for her hard work, and it meant everything to her. So, once she lost it, she literally lost it, breaking down into tears. However, that vulnerable moment helped her to reexamine her life and inspired her to write Stop Waiting For Perfect. While writing the book, she had to face another perfectionist trait: procrastination. As a fellow journalist, I can relate. The term deadline junkie didn’t come from anywhere. L’Oreal explains how procrastination relates to perfectionism.
“I think there were seven different types of perfectionism I read about (you can take a quiz to see what type of perfectionist you are here), and when I found out that procrastination was one of them because, I never thought of myself as a procrastinator. I would just sometimes wait until the last minute, right before the deadline,” she says. “So, I was like, okay, that's not that, but then when I started to think about okay, like, because when you're procrastinating, at least for me, and for a lot of perfectionists, it's like, well, when I sit down in front of this Google Doc like for all the writers out there, I have to know exactly what I'm going to say and I have to say it perfectly. There's no room for error. There's no room for experimentation, and what that does, though, is it prevents us from just putting words on paper.”
Photo courtesy of L'Oreal Thompson Payton
She continues her explanation by sharing a tweet that became her aha moment in her writing process. “There was a tweet that came across as I was writing the first draft of the book that said, ‘you're, or you can edit bad, but you can't edit enough,’ and that really unlocked for me like, okay, my job is to put words on a paper.”
In other words, waiting for the perfect moment is holding you back, but as I mentioned earlier, we are here to help. L’Oreal provides a few tips on letting go of perfectionism while still maintaining success in your life. you can set mini goals and have people you can trust hold you accountable. “If our dream is to launch the podcast in January 2024, what then can you do right now in September 2023, and then October and November, etc., to set yourself up for success because I think that a lot of times we go into it– it has to be perfect on the first one,” she explains.
“I have to come out the gate with this, you know, like masterpiece, and that is just unrealistic, and it's not even holding yourself to a high standard. It's holding yourself to an impossible standard and so giving yourself some grace along the way, allowing for experimentation to try something, and then pivoting when it doesn't work. But first, you have to put it out there, and finding people that you know and trust and who are going to support you along the way is really important.”
What’s on the other side of managing perfectionism? Freedom. Thanks to what she refers to as her “wake-up call,” she now prioritizes rest and no longer beats herself up for not meeting certain standards, and yes, that pertains to receiving a blue dot on Peleton.
“It's been a process and very much progress over perfection because there are moments where I slip, but forgiving myself and then trying again, I think, is like the whole point and purpose of it,” she says. And in the midst of unlearning these unhealthy habits, she’s having healthy conversations with her daughter about boundaries, self-love, and listening to her body.
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Feature image courtesy of Chuck Olu-Alabi
