A tribute to the G.O.A.T

Serena Williams is the epitome of a powerful woman. She owns her talent, strength, and opinions. In short-she is an icon. Last month she talked about the U.S. Open being her final tournament. Yesterday was the second round of the U.S. Open. Serena, currently ranked 605 in the women’s singles standing, beat Anna Kontaveit, the player ranked second. That in itself is impressive as is the fact that Serena is 14 years older than Anna. 40 year old bodies do not move and work like 26 year old bodies…

But here’s what I think is even more significant. Serena returned to tennis time and time again when people counted her out.* She came back from injuries, mental health struggles, and having a child. I can’t pretend to know what it is like to get back in Grand Slam shape after any of these issues. 

I do think it’s important to acknowledge my own illustrious tennis career. As a high school freshman I played third singles. In theory that was because I was the third best player on the team. In reality it was because the team just started that year and there were about five players total. My sophomore year I was “demoted” to the first doubles team. I am not a team player. I do not trust people to do things the way I do. I have control issues. I am working on them in therapy. So we had a doubles team consisting of one player who wasn’t happy to have to be a teammate and another who thought she was too good for doubles. It wasn’t good. We didn’t work together. We didn’t like each other. And then one day she didn’t run for any shots and I threatened to hit her in the head with my racquet. I was demoted to third singles. We were terrible. I switched to track the next year and that is a story for another day (#longjump). The end. 

In her on-court interview after the match yesterday there was a moment that was spectacular. Here’s how it went:

Interviewer: Are you surprised at yourself with your level (of play)?

Serena: Literally CHUCKLES

Interviewer (apparently just  realizing who she’s talking to-the damn G.O.A.T.): No. I know.

Serena: I’m mean, I’m just Serena, you know.

Just Serena. Just the greatest tennis player (and maybe athlete) of all time. Just a barrier breaking, African American woman who is a role model to millions of women and girls. Just a player who rocked a catsuit in protest of gendered dress codes in tennis. Legendary. Her comment in that interview is a lesson to us all. We can’t be shy about owning our accomplishments, ladies! Serena knows she is good. It’s not a fluke. It’s because she works hard. We do too. We have to own our accomplishments (this isn’t bragging!) because if we don’t someone else will take credit for our amazing work. 

Here are some tips on how to claim credit without being insufferable. If you still aren’t ready to toot your own horn, have someone else do it for you. Maybe even get together with a few women and decide to form a group (coven?) where you purposely highlight each other’s work. Don’t fly under the radar. Be like Serena. Be the G.O.A.T. in your office!

*Let’s be honest, people were counting her and Venus out for years. Until they started kicking everyone’s asses.

Chunky love

I just opened a jar of peanut butter, realized it was chunky and actually said “Oh, FUCK* yeah!” out loud. Is it ridiculous to be this excited about something so mundane? I don’t think so. If something so small makes you happy why not embrace it? There is a lot of research out there that shows that appreciation or gratitude (even for the small things) leads to greater overall satisfaction with life, improved mental health, and a bunch of other useful stuff. The consensus is that we should write down what we are grateful for. This way, rather than just being forced to talk about what you are thankful for at the Thanksgiving table it becomes part of your daily routine.

I do not want to do that.

The idea of adding anything to a daily routine is a hard pass for me. When people say they wake up, journal, meditate, and do some stretching all before their first coffee I have thoughts. I assume either they live alone and have no kids, or they wake up at 4.30 to fit all this into their day, or they are a zillionaire with no job. I do not fall into any of these categories so I looked for other options and I found some great suggestions. 

These aren’t hard to do. Asking someone what’s awesome in their life is a pretty great way to bring gratitude into normal conversations without being over the top. Genuinely thanking someone for their efforts isn’t hard and it makes people so happy to know that you see them. Speaking of being happy, it turns out that the best way to make yourself happy is to do stuff for other people. From what I can tell, a big component of gratitude is just getting out of your own head and actually paying attention to the people and things around. I can do that. 

 * I was going to change this to “hell” because I was worried that people may not like swearing but then I remembered the ENTIRE POINT OF WHAT I AM TRYING TO DO!! Not going to tightrope my own damn website.