MENTAL HEALTH

Naomi Osaka Shares Views on Mental Health and Success in New Twitter Post

Naomi Osaka, 4-time Grand-Slam champion and ranked number 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association, turned to Twitter to share her reflection on success in her life and the efforts to better her mental health.
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Naomi Osaka, 4-time Grand-Slam champion and ranked number 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association, turned to Twitter to share her reflection on success in her life and the efforts to better her mental health.

Osaka shared a screenshot of her notes and captured the attention of many with, “Recently I’ve been asking myself why do I feel the way I do, and I realize one of the reasons is because internally I think I’m never good enough.”

This is not the first time Osaka has shared her experience with societal pressure and negative internal struggles since her rise to fame during the 2019 U.S. Open. Netflix gave Osaka a docu-series that followed her journey of becoming a tennis champion. In the series, Osaka shared that her career has been filled with many mental health struggles dealing with public losses and pressure from herself and society to do better than her previous matches. Her main mentor, Kobe Bryant, usually guided Osaka through her struggles, but since Bryant’s passing, Osaka has been navigating through her journey with only the wisdom he left behind.

In her recent Twitter post, she shared that her mental health struggles have held her down long enough, and she is turning a new leaf with a different perspective on life. Instead of second-guessing her success, Osaka explains, “I’m gonna try to celebrate myself and my accomplishments more.” She then encourages her followers to do the same and see life as worth more than what society values. Osaka also explains that society’s expectation of her is no longer her responsibility, and instead, she will continue to believe in herself. 

We should all take note of Osaka’s vulnerable moment as a courageous movement to celebrate life. Let’s count this as a win to mental health awareness.