You get this hour, and then we move on.
In the quiet discipline of a daily hour set aside for worry, Simone Biles has found a way to hold anxiety without being held by it. The world's most decorated gymnast, who stepped back from Olympic competition in Tokyo to protect her mental health, now shares a therapist-guided journaling practice that transforms anxious thought into something finite and manageable. Her openness arrives at a moment when elite sport is slowly learning that the mind, like the body, requires deliberate care — and that vulnerability, spoken aloud, can become a form of leadership.
- Biles schedules a strict noon-to-one window each day to write down every worry, deliberately confining anxiety to a single hour so it cannot colonize the rest of her day.
- The practice gained urgent public weight after her Tokyo withdrawal, when the psychological pressure of elite competition converged with the dangerous physical phenomenon known as 'twisties,' forcing her off the competition floor.
- Her candor cracked open a wider conversation in sports, joining Naomi Osaka's own public stand against the mental toll of elite competition and giving other athletes permission to speak honestly about their struggles.
- Young athletes watching Biles are receiving a new kind of instruction — that managing the mind is not separate from athletic greatness, but inseparable from it.
Every day between noon and one o'clock, Simone Biles writes down everything that worries her. By the time the hour ends, most of it has already begun to fade. The practice, recommended by her therapist, works precisely because of its constraint — anxiety is given a container, a fixed window, and then the day moves on.
Biles has spoken candidly about struggling with anxiety severe enough to disrupt daily life. The worry journal, she explained in an interview with PEOPLE, is not about solving problems but about creating distance from them. Containing anxious thoughts to a single hour strips them of their urgency.
The technique took on larger meaning after Tokyo, where Biles withdrew from Olympic competition citing both mental health concerns and the 'twisties' — a disorienting loss of spatial awareness mid-air that can strike gymnasts without warning. The experience pushed her to redirect her focus beyond gymnastics and toward the broader work of managing her inner life.
She was not alone in speaking out. Tennis player Naomi Osaka had withdrawn from the French Open that same year under the weight of media pressure, and together their openness shifted something in the culture of elite sport — normalizing conversations that had long been dismissed as weakness.
For the young athletes who look to Biles not just for technical brilliance but for how to carry the weight of greatness, her message is quietly radical: that strength includes asking for help, and that a notebook and one honest hour each day can be as essential as any training regimen.
Simone Biles sits down with pen and paper for one hour each day—always between noon and one o'clock—and writes down everything that worries her. By the time that hour ends, she has usually forgotten most of what she wrote. The anxiety that felt urgent in the morning has dissolved. This simple practice, suggested by her therapist, has become one of her most effective tools for managing the stress that comes with being one of the world's greatest athletes.
Biles has spoken openly about her struggles with anxiety, describing it as sometimes severe enough to interfere with her daily life. In an interview with PEOPLE, she explained how the worry journal works: she designates that specific hour—12 to 1 p.m.—as her designated time to worry. Anything that troubles her goes into the journal during those sixty minutes. The constraint is deliberate. By containing her anxious thoughts to a single window, she creates distance from them. When the hour passes, she moves forward. Most days, the worries have already begun to fade.
This coping mechanism took on broader significance after the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, when Biles withdrew from the team artistic gymnastics competition citing mental health concerns. She also experienced what gymnasts call "twisties"—a phenomenon where athletes lose their spatial awareness mid-air, a dangerous disorientation that can strike without warning. The combination of psychological pressure and this physical phenomenon forced her to step back from competition. Since then, the journaling practice has helped her redirect her focus toward other parts of her life beyond gymnastics.
Biles' willingness to discuss her mental health struggles arrived at a moment when other elite athletes were doing the same. Tennis player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open that same year, citing the toll of media scrutiny and pressure. Their openness created permission for a broader conversation in sports about the psychological demands placed on competitors at the highest level. Athletes around the world began speaking more candidly about their own struggles, normalizing what had long been treated as weakness or distraction.
As one of the most recognizable figures in sports, Biles carries particular influence. Young athletes look to her not just for technical mastery but for how she navigates the mental and emotional dimensions of elite competition. By revealing her anxiety and the practical tools she uses to manage it, she models something increasingly important: that strength includes knowing when to ask for help, and that managing your mind is as much a part of athletic preparation as training your body. The worry journal is not a cure. It is a container—a way of saying to anxiety, you get this hour, and then we move on.
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I have pretty bad anxiety sometimes so she tells me in my worry journal to put from 12 to 1 p.m.—that's the time I've selected—and anything I've written down in my worry journal, I use that hour to worry about the things then. And usually by the time 12 or 1 comes, I've already forgotten about all my worries so that kind of is a tool that helps me.— Simone Biles, to PEOPLE magazine
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Why does the one-hour window work? Wouldn't it be better to just not worry at all?
That's the thing—you can't just decide not to worry. The anxiety is there. What the journal does is give it a place and a time. It says: your worries are real, but they don't get to live in your head all day. They get one hour.
And by the time that hour ends, the worries are actually gone?
Usually, yes. Not always. But most days, the urgency has faded. You've written it down, you've sat with it, and then you move on. It's almost like the worry loses its power once you've named it.
That sounds almost too simple for someone dealing with the kind of pressure Biles faces.
Maybe. But sometimes the simplest tools are the ones that work. She's not trying to eliminate anxiety—she's trying to live with it without letting it run her life.
Do you think other athletes are trying this now?
Probably some are. But what matters more is that Biles talking about it makes it okay for others to admit they struggle too. That's the real shift.