Olympic Champ Recalls Mindset Shift That Won Gold and Changed Her Life
By Movieguide® Contributor
Former Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East opened up about the moment she decided to find joy in the things she loves and not feel burdened by others’ expectations.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, East took home silver in three events. She shifted her mindset when it came to her final event, though, and that decision changed her life.
“It was the first time at the Olympics,” East explained in a video with Dr. Josh Axe. “I was kind of like, I don’t care anymore, like I don’t care what you think, I’m going to get a silver medal again. It was kind of comic, like a joke that we had going on, and I was like, I don’t care I’m just going to do this for myself.”
“Then I ended up winning,” she recalled, “and I remember getting that gold medal and thinking to myself, ‘If only I had felt this way the whole time. I think I could have enjoyed it more because I put so much weight of other people’s expectations.’ So, going outside of the Olympics, I had kind of just taken that with me. From this moment forward, I don’t care what you think of me. I’m going to go do what I love.”
That perspective has carried through to the rest of her life as she now enjoys being a mom, YouTuber and influencer.
“It’s definitely a pinch-me moment for so many different reasons. It’s a pinch-me moment because I can’t believe I was at the Olympics. I almost don’t even remember being a gymnast, which is crazy,” East told Olympics.com of her life now. “It feels like a lifetime ago. We’ve now worked so long within this world of social media that I catch myself being like, ‘I’m a YouTuber.’
“That’s like, no, no, you’re a gymnast. Like, you’re that’s where you got your beginning,” she added. “But it’s also a pinch me moment because I’m a mom and I’m married and there’s just so many different things.”
While gymnastics will always be part of East’s story, she knows that her identity will never be in what she does. Movieguide® reported:
Johnson began to train for 40 hours a week to return to the 2012 Olympic games in London.
“I was hitting probably my all-time low, I was spending probably over 40 hours a week training. I was constantly trying to lose weight, but it wasn’t happening. My parents wanted me to go see a psychologist or go see a doctor because they thought I was clinically depressed. I remember I was losing hair. I wasn’t able to sleep,” Johnson said.
Despite her declining health, Johnson said to herself that “if this is what will make the sponsors happy and my parents happy and my coach happy and the team and the USA National Team happy, and if this is what is right for everybody then this is what’s right for me. I can just push through it.”
However, Johnson credits God for intervening and showing her where her true identity should rest.
Johnson finally found peace one practice when she was preparing to practice a routine. She says that at that moment, she “felt like God was telling me, ‘You’ve been so distraught over this decision. And you’ve been putting yourself through all of this and your family through all of this. And you’ve been afraid of disappointing a lot of people and not been yourself, but it’s okay to follow your heart and to put it behind you.’”