Letting Judgment Go

The Winter Olympics in Milan provided plenty of sorrow and disappointment. After athletes spend their lifetimes training and sacrificing for their events, watching them fall short of their dreams can be gut-wrenching. Their anguished faces, devastating tears, and broken bodies remind viewers of the stress and perils of elite sport.

What do these amateurs earn for their blood, sweat and tears? “The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s ‘Operation Gold Awards’ will pay athletes $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze at the 2026 Winter Olympics.” There hasn’t been any increases for inflation since the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing either. (source)

And how much revenue do the Olympics generate? “The Olympics are a multibillion-dollar business — one now flirting with private equity, the profit-driven investment firms that are reshaping sports and squeezing every last dollar out of athletes and fans.” (source)

These hard truths about the games may make them difficult to watch at times. But then comes the shining moment of Alysa Liu. Sure she won the gold medal in women’s figure skating, but that’s not what the buzz has been about.

In a goal-driven world of pressure, pushing beyond human limits and broadcasting profit margins, she has become a shining example of healing, confidence, freedom, and self-love. Burnt out at 16-years-old, Liu retired from skating after eleven years of dedicated training, starting at the age of five. (source)

Why did she come back? For the love of the sport — and it showed. Her free skate exuded contagious joy and happiness. She famously said she didn’t need a medal, but just wanted a stage to wear her sparkly, gold dress and show what she could do. (source)

In a fractured and sometimes painful world, Liu modeled how to restore mental, spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being. It’s all about practicing self-care through:

• Dwelling on our strengths instead of flaws

• Letting go of others’ judgment

• Defining success by inner standards

• Knowing our worth

• Comparing ourselves to no one

Novelists and other creatives suffer from their share of doubts and insecurities. Why is it so hard to “show” instead of “tell" the story? How can this meandering plot get fixed? Is the book good enough? Will anyone read it? What happens if it gets scathing reviews?

Publishing a manuscript tends to be a significant milestone for novelists, perhaps a little like winning an Olympic medal. Non-published authors, on the other hand, may feel like imposters or, at best, amateurs. Since writing and editing tend can be lonely and grueling tasks, it’s easy to lose sight of what brought writers to their craft in the first place—a love for story-telling.

Alysa Liu can teach many of us a valuable lesson to not let the world smother our passion. Finding balance in our calling is a noble pursuit, extending well beyond an Olympic medal.