I understand Jordyn Wieber more than most.

No, I haven’t won an Olympic gold medal or been the head coach of a prominent SEC gymnastics program. Where Jordyn and I align is in the indescribable ways motherhood reshapes work, life, and identity.

Let me explain.

I also work in gymnastics, albeit running a news outlet, and I also have a 10-month-old.

You see, the day Jordyn and her husband, Chris Brooks, announced the birth of their daughter, Gigi, I was waddling around the labor & delivery floor of our hospital, holding my husband’s hand and trying to kick-start active labor so I wouldn’t have to be induced.

We were less than 24 hours from meeting our first child, and I was posting on social media about Wieber and Brooks’ new arrival.

In the ebb and flow of those early hours of labor, I was alternating between laps around L&D and bouncing on an exercise ball while finishing up some last minute work before maternity leave.

One moment I was posting about how to watch rhythmic Worlds and Simone Biles, the next my water was breaking… and then my life really changed forever.

We welcomed our son into the world three days after Jordyn and Chris welcomed their daughter. We were blessed to have a relatively quick and safe delivery, and truly, it was the most magical day of our lives.

In that moment – and for many weeks after – I could not have cared less about gymnastics.

Those first few months were a blur, as they are for many parents. They are also very, very emotional.

I remember looking at my husband in tears a few days after coming home and telling him I cared about nothing besides him and our little boy. All the while, I wasn’t worried I wouldn’t want to return to work. I knew I was experiencing powerful but normal emotions and believed, in time, my passion and love for covering gymnastics and other sports would return.

Jordyn said on Tuesday that it wasn’t an easy decision to step away, but she is focusing on her family and other passions. While I can’t speak for her, I can speak from my own experience when I say the pull to quit my job and focus on my own family over the past 10 months has been overwhelming.

I have had many long conversations with my husband about finding the right balance for my life and work. I’ve sat under a magnolia tree playing with our baby without a care in the world. I’ve rocked him to sleep thinking there is nothing more important than this.

And I still have the itch.

The itch to tell stories, to keep creating, to keep growing the business I started six years ago.

Things have changed, yes. I’ve had to reset and refocus, adjusting how I approach my work to accommodate my shifting priorities. So far, that has worked for us, and I believe I’m the best version of myself – and a better mom – when I’m still pursuing what I love in tandem with raising my son.

I’ve covered meets while pumping every three hours at the venue. I’ve driven to Auburn to cover a press conference and turned around to come home and chase my crawling, squealing baby around the house (literally yesterday).

Every mom finds a different balance. The most important thing is that we have the choice.

Having a child is one of the most life-altering things that happens to us as humans. You can talk about kids for years and be the most prepared person on the planet. (My husband and I are those people.) But nothing prepares you for when it actually happens.

Parenthood, especially motherhood, changes you on a molecular level. The transformation that happens to a woman who becomes a mom actually has a name: matrescence.

That transformation is so overwhelming and powerful that women grapple with it for years.

I submit that part of the reason it is such a challenge for women to get their pink back is because we think that we should continue on as we were before – “bounce back” as some call it. But we are forever changed.

Embracing the change and recognizing that you are no longer the person you were before becoming a parent is the way you unlock who you are meant to be in this completely new chapter of your life.

Maybe Jordyn is doing just that.

Unfortunately, instead of being 100% supported in her decision, there are some questioning why she would step down to focus on her family and let her husband take her place, acting like she is being forced to relegate herself to traditional gender roles.

Like she hasn’t been a barrier-breaker herself.

She is a world all-around champion and Olympic gold medalist. She couldn’t compete in NCAA gymnastics due to accepting sponsorship money, so she was a manager and then volunteer assistant coach at UCLA. At just 23 years old, Jordyn became the head coach at Arkansas – the youngest head coach in NCAA gymnastics at the time. She has spent seven seasons with the Razorbacks – nearly a decade – and she’s still only 30.

Jordyn has dedicated her life to gymnastics, and now she gets the choice to explore life beyond it.

And because of her hard work and success, she has created exceptional opportunities for herself and her family, including paving the way for her husband to become the next head coach of the Gymbacks.

I don’t know what conversations Jordyn and Chris had, but unless she says otherwise, I’m choosing to believe Jordyn has embraced the profound changes of motherhood and chosen to step away from her job because that is what is best for her.

She is exchanging long hours of coaching and recruiting for being there when Gigi takes her first steps and says “mama” for the first time… or for when she simply looks up at Jordyn with wonder in her eyes and the biggest gummy smile on her face, just because she’s happy her mom is there.

Balancing out the barrage of rude comments about her decision are numerous women commending Jordyn and saying what I agree with wholeheartedly:

There is nothing more empowering than choosing to do the thing you love most.

Somewhere along the way, some people began confusing equality with demanding women make the same choices men do, rather than empowering women to make the choices best for their own lives.

It is believing in – and advocating for – equality in all areas of life.

While Chris could be a stay-at-home dad, maybe he is the best version of himself – and the best dad he can be – by pursuing his own passions as an Olympic athlete-turned-coach.

Instead of harping on which of the Wieber-Brooks is running the show at Arkansas, we should celebrate Jordyn and send her off to a life (somewhat) outside of gymnastics with respect for what she has done for the Razorbacks and the sport.

If you think Jordyn’s decision single-handedly flushes equality down the toilet, you’re seeing it all wrong.

Jordyn’s decision – as the head coach of a top 10 program in a powerhouse conference in a still-male-dominated field – is the result of substantial progress made by women over the past 100 years.

Conversations about societal pressure on mothers are valid and necessary, but projecting those assumptions onto Wieber without evidence helps no one.

Wasting breath bashing a woman for choosing her family over her job is just that – wasteful. Those efforts would be better suited advocating for moms by way of paid family leave, workplace protections, and mental health support.

And maybe just have some humanity.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past year since my little boy was born, it’s that there is more to life than gymnastics and work.

It seems Jordyn Wieber agrees.