Improving ≠ Becoming perfect.

By: A. Hemnani

When we think of sports we tend to think about what athletes have achieved, their prizes and all the world records that have been set. But in reality, athletes have their own imperfections and obstacles they all have to face and overcome.  
One of the clearest examples of this is Michael Phelps. With a total of 28 Olympic medals, and 23 of them gold, Phelps is the most praised Olympian in history. To all his fans and viewers, his career represents almost everything an athlete could dream of: success, fame, and recognition. But behind all of  those medals was a person who struggled in many ways that the cameras could not always see. 
After the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps found himself struggling with depression. For years, his life had revolved around training and competing, with the Olympics providinga goal to work towards. Once the Games were over, he found himself unsure and uncertain  of what came next. The athlete who seemed to have everything suddenly felt lost. His struggles became even more serious in 2014, when he was arrested for driving under the influence for the second time. Michael Phelps later spoke about how he had become depressed over the years, including experiencing thoughts of suicide. Eventually, he entered a treatment facility for 45 days and began confronting the problems he had been avoiding for so long. 
Phelps' story is not simply that he struggled, but that he was willing to admit that he needed help. The same person who had stood on Olympic podiums 28 times was also someone dealing with depression and anxiety. His medals did not make him perfect and his difficulties any different to the difficulties that ordinary people face. Since then, Phelps has become an advocate for mental-health awareness, particularly for athletes, as he knows what it is like to feel alone in a world of fame. He has spoken about the importance of athletes having somewhere safe to turn when they are struggling.  
Sport teaches us to chase improvement, to train harder and to constantly try to become better than we were yesterday. But becoming better does not mean becoming perfect. Even the greatest athletes have moments when they struggle, fail or simply do not have everything figured out. 
It is okay not to have everything together. It is okay to struggle, to make mistakes and to ask for help. We should not expect athletes to be perfect simply because they seem like they have everything figured out. If someone with 28 Olympic medals can struggle, then perhaps imperfection is not something we should be ashamed of, maybe it’s just part of life.