Author Topic: Skating is mentally draining  (Read 9780 times)

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BlueBlurSpeedsBy

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Skating is mentally draining
« on: August 16, 2013, 04:09:48 PM »
As I get older, I find skateboarding to be more and more mentally exhausting.  Let me explain.

Most of my old skate buddies have either stopped skating, or moved away.  I see some of my old friends from time to time, and we skate about once a month or so during the summer together.  For the most part though, I skate alone.  I'll either go skate flat at this chilled spot that I know, or I'll hit the local park as they have a nice ledge that I like.  I have varying degrees of stoke.  Some days I'll go out and be okay with skating alone.  Other days I'll feel like I should be skating, it's a nice day out, but I can't bring myself to go out and skate alone.  It's tough.

 Some days, I can bang off all these tricks no problem, and it's honestly the best feeling ever.  Those are just days that I'm on.  But then I'll come out a couple days later, and some of the tricks I KNOW I CAN DO and have done MANY times, will give me problems.  It's like I'm constantly fighting to keep my tricks.  Have them all one day, lose a couple the next session.  Gain them back that same session, only to come back next time and I've lost some.  I used to be really consistent when I skated everyday as a child, but as an adult with a job, a girl, and other such things, I can't skate every day. 

It comes to the point where I'll be skating a parking lot alone at like midnight, just struggling to do a certain trick or a few tricks that I know I can do, and I just stop and I'm like, what the fuck am I doing?  Why do I care so much about this plank of wood with wheels?  And why does not landing my stock tricks put in me in such a bad mood?  It's like some sessions are just the best, and some sessions you just feel defeated by skateboarding.  I can never seem to gain any kind of PERMANENT consistency with some of my tricks and it pisses me off to no end.  It's not a throw your board at the wall anger, it's more like a mixture of depression and anger, knowing that I've been skating for about 6 years and some of the easier tricks give me more trouble than the harder ones and I don't fucking get it sometimes.  Despite all this, I would never quit skating.

Anyways, does anyone else kinda feel like this about skateboarding sometimes?  I think I might be taking skating a little too seriously, but it's hard not to when you're always skating alone.

BALT

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2013, 08:16:47 PM »
Find new friends, as hard as that may be.

Spitfire4life

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2013, 06:02:18 PM »
I'm the same way. I swear I've gotten worse (i'm still pretty young) and it's really been bugging me lately. If I got back and look at my old footage I just get bummed that I couldn't ever do that again. Fucking blows.
If you take medical advice from this puddle of retards you are going to die.

Shredsledder

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2013, 10:59:06 PM »
I wrote this out kind of train of thought style cause I'm tired and writing cohesively is too much. didn't plan on posting but hey why not



I'm the same way with being off/on doing tricks I've done hundreds of times.

the only thing you can really do is not get stressed about it,

it's not just a plank of wood, you know that.

don't be hesitant to assign value to things,

because at the base level what the fuck is anything?

(energy)

just choose well i guess.


I doubt it's skating that is draining you.

You gotta find something that gets you excited to do anything,

like how skating made you feel in the beginning.

get juiced

I like to read and watch things about how (for lack of a better word) fucked the world/universe/existence is

then I get juiced that I am somehow conscious and can do things like ride a skateboard or play music.

shit is hard because everything around us is fucking insanely complicated (as we see it now). 


Once in a blue moon I skate with others, but even less often the moment. 

BeardyBeard

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2013, 11:06:04 PM »
You've only been skating for 6 years and it's already come to this?

Will Easley

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2013, 11:33:18 PM »
Yall just need to stop psyching yourself out and just have fun. if you're not having fun anymore, stop for a while until you get that craving to go skate again. if you're forcing yourself to go out and skate for whatever reason, just stop for a while. also, figure out new ways to make some skate buddies. if you've got a local skatepark or whatever its super easy

iSk84thechicas

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2013, 09:52:20 AM »
Even Professionals have bad days. Skateboarding can be like this. Just say you had a bad day or night.  Try again Tomorrow. Sometimes it may take 3-5 tries to land a trick. So what?  Also don't tie 100% of your self esteem into your skateboarding.  Unless you want to be on a professional level, don't worry about so much consistency. bUT IF YOU WANT  CONSISTENCY you need to motivate yourself. You don't need other people to skate with. But if you want that then you need to reach out.r

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layzieyez

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2013, 01:54:28 PM »
If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.  I'm still learning new tricks after skating for 26 years.  I miss heelflipping thigh high off of flat, but I don't lose any sleep about it even though I struggle just to land any heelflip now.  Appreciate whatever bag of tricks you have at any point in skateboarding.  Nothing stays the same and the only thing that is really consistent through the years is change.  I started relearning tricks I seriously hadn't done in over 5 years.  I've missed them and I'm glad I can do them, but if I lost them tomorrow, oh well.

BlueBlurSpeedsBy

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2013, 06:13:03 PM »
Had a good session today.  I'm kind of embarrassed I even posted this now.  I think I just needed to have a good whine session, needed to get it off my back.

Keirabug

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2013, 09:36:19 PM »
i feel you on a bunch of levels. i've been skating for about 6 years too and a bunch of my friends either gave it up or got into drugs so i skated over half a year by myself at a park. i eventually made friends with some randoms but then they turned to chilling instead of skating and just stopped skating altogether. now i've finally made some new ones that are really down for it. i think thats key its what really keeps me going is seeing them progress and working on stuff. you know doing shit i can't it really makes me want to try shit. it's like a healthy form of competition imo. we also talk about skating and trying to film shit which gets us amped. think about this what kind of skater ever got really fucking good skating alone? most dudes who are pro now have had crews even if its only a few dudes in it. having one definitely pushes you to another level of skating.

also i've noticed that you don't need to keep skating and doing the same tricks to have them down. sometimes doing the same stock tricks over and over is going to hinder your progression. this one guy i know would do his stock tricks every time he skated. i and many others eventually surpassed him in switch/nollie and a bunch of other shit on the sheer fact he felt like he needed to always do certain tricks before trying others. so if you want to progress more try and work on your weaknesses. that alone should help with your stock tricks and you'll figure out what tricks to learn next or surprise yourself with random ones. for example my stock trick is usually a back tail so i've stopped doing them as much and now i'm working on switch bs 180s to get switch back tails. its funny i learned to switch fs nose slide from that and my fs noseslides got even better.

pretty much i've sort of learned when i should really try hard at skating and when to chill. when to stop trying and chill out while still progressing on certain aspects so that way i'm never bored and always feel like i'm just getting that much better.

happenstance

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2013, 09:46:11 PM »
2 points I will address:

1. Get used to losing skate friends. I have spent 20 years on the board and have had a million groups of people I skate with. Most give up and move on.

2. Rodney Mullen was the best freestyle skater in the world at a time when he lived completely secluded from all other skaters. I actually wonder how many times he went skating with other people outside of a contest before he went pro. I'm sure he can count the number on both of his hands.

JB

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2013, 08:25:04 AM »
wait until your 13 years in and start getting fat, losing your pop, and have to deal with kids 10 years younger than you casually killing the park as you struggle to do tricks you could do in your sleep 3 years ago. getting older sucks man. you really have to try hard to keep up the skills you have skating, and you have to keep thinking of ways to keep it fun even when all your friends quit and youre out by yourself skating a parking lot. its hard, and ive thought about it a lot too. asking myself "why do i even do this anymore if i was never very good to begin with and now im getting worse and worse?" but it comes down to the fact that skating has been something ive loved and cared about for half my life, and i still spend more time thinking about skating than i do about anything else. i think you just have to give up trying to be "good" or do "good" tricks and just do whats fun. dont judge yourself based on what you could do when you were younger. just because you cant do the kind of tricks you used to be able to do doesnt mean you cant learn new things and find new ways to have fun. skate different stuff. watch dorky videos and get inspired to go do something weird. do whatever you can to keep it fun, because when it stops being fun, thats when people quit.

skate361

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2013, 07:43:07 PM »
move to NY and you know the rest.

camel filters

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2013, 08:25:04 PM »
Watch westgate clips. for some reason, his footage gets me stoked when I'm in a rut. Maybe its because hes not too tech but still exciting.

neko

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #14 on: August 27, 2013, 11:40:54 PM »
This sounds like some hippy bullshit, but: just let go, man. Stop clinging to some perception you have of a level of consistency or skill that you "should" be at. Accept how you skate, strive to be better, but just fucking HAVE FUN. If you're not having fun, you're on some jock shit. Like MJ said, there's always another day. You can come back and get that trick. Life's way too short to stress over something as insignificant as skateboarding.

And if you can't have fun skating, then do yourself and the rest of us a favor and quit. No one needs Bad Times McGee harshin' the spot. It's just skateboarding.

ThugWaffle

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #15 on: September 28, 2013, 01:01:30 PM »
Right now I'm on a weird place, skate wise... hell I'm on a weird place life wise. Skating to me is one of he most importants things in my life, even if i dont stand a chance to do it for a living, but right now I'm jaded... the people i skate with dont have a passion for it like i do, watching all the Static videos and such, makes me sad cause i want to experience that, i wanna know whats it like to go on a mission and  light up a spot at night, not in a serious manner like filming for a deadline or anything but just enjoying every aspect of skating and right now i feel im just going in circles, one day im stoked to get out and skate then i realize this and i get bummed, maybe I just expect too much from others. All i know is i'm gonna get out of here some day and just skate and work. Its gonna be great.

Fish

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #16 on: October 20, 2013, 06:22:04 AM »
I know your feelings, bro'. I can say I'm in the same situation as you. I don't have skatepark at my city, no cool spots (only flat or impossible to grind ledges) and I 'have' to ride alone. I skate with buddies but they're like: 'oh, this spot is so hard blah blah' and they won't progress at all. I can't find anyone who'd like to search for spots etc.

Switch Boneless

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #17 on: October 22, 2013, 08:53:32 AM »
Go to a skatepark and skate with others if your feeling lonely. And you can leave those parking lots and learn to skate tranny.

spammy

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #18 on: October 29, 2013, 08:43:12 PM »
You've only been skating for 6 years and it's already come to this?

lol i know rite

Jack Strapp

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #19 on: October 30, 2013, 07:02:13 PM »
Maybe you should stop skating alone at whatever spot you go to because you obviously aren't meeting dudes there. Just go explore more and hope you'll run into people.

As you get older and meet people your own age who still skate, those are the dudes who really love it and get it.

Kinch

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #20 on: October 31, 2013, 02:31:42 AM »
Maybe you should stop skating alone at whatever spot you go to because you obviously aren't meeting dudes there. Just go explore more and hope you'll run into people.

As you get older and meet people your own age who still skate, those are the dudes who really love it and get it.

Yep. Not one of the people I started skating with still skated after we all turned 20. Some people are lifers (as most of my friends now are), many are not.

J.R.

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #21 on: October 31, 2013, 02:43:44 PM »
Damn BlueBlur, I'm in the same situation that you are. Getting older, friends that I grew up with no longer skating, solo sessions, the whole works.

I skate at this point to clear my mind of the bullshit that comes with being older, having responsibilities and being amongst older people that have forfeited their pleasures in age. Not landing the tricks that came as easily when you were younger is definitely frustrating, and I can feel your pain on this since I can't flip my board in ways that I used to; it sucks going from feeling invincible in a game of skate to fast forwarding 8 years later and taking half a skate session just to warm up on the basics. However, this is a time I think a lot of people take for granted since it can be frustrating and monotonous. Try some new tricks that you never used to do. I can tell you that all of my go to tricks now are vastly different from what they used to be 10 years ago, and although I do miss being able to flip the board around however I want in whatever stance I've gained an appreciation for the newer tricks that I am now able to do. Skating alone can sometimes be shitty too since a lot of us used to go out and make friends and maintain friendships through skateboarding, but don't let that slow you up. You're obviously still doing it because you still love to do it, simple and plain. I can count the amount of friends that I used to skate with all the time that still skate today on one hand, but those of us that do are now skating with some younger skaters that are down for it all the time. Skating with those guys keeps me feeling like how things used to be when I first picked it up, but either way I spend the majority of my time skating by myself just to get away from the nonsense that comes with real life. Use it as an escape from the usual routine and it'll become a safe haven for your mental well being.

formeitscrazylike

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #22 on: November 02, 2013, 06:33:01 PM »
I'll toss in my own 2 cents.

Who cares what tricks you land, or even if you land any? I used to be very self-aware socially and think about how foolish I looked failing at skating. What changed for me was that I realized that:
1) pretty much no one gives a shit about my skating other than me
2) I'll probably never again see the people that I failed in front of.

And that made skating fun again for me. I used to skate and rifle off tricks (well, "rifle" may be a rather grandiose term for doing the 7 ledge tricks I know how to respectfully do) and mentally cross them off a list. When I skate now, I just feel it out, let the legs and board tell me what to do. Now I never fail to reach any goals skating, cause I don't go out with the intention to do ________, I just got out with the intention of having fun. If I'm skating well, then I ratchet everything up. If I'm skating poorly, then I stick to goofy strings of flatground tricks (bs 180 to immediate fs halfcab has been a favorite as of late).

ANYWAY, go skating with the intention to have fun, not to push boundaries.

Hannity

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #23 on: December 18, 2013, 09:00:22 AM »
some serious wisdom in here, thanks guys. all your points are true. mindset is everything!!

blargalargill

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #24 on: January 22, 2014, 09:42:41 AM »
I've been skating for about 4 years and yea this happens to everyone but what helps me is just riding your skateboard with no goal or purpose and just do what you feel like doing, do what you know you can land and just cruise around chill dont take anything seriously and if you dont land a trick forget about it and try something else (also watching old gonz footage helps)

yungthug

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Re: Skating is mentally draining
« Reply #25 on: January 29, 2014, 03:15:56 PM »
I'm the same way. I swear I've gotten worse (i'm still pretty young) and it's really been bugging me lately. If I got back and look at my old footage I just get bummed that I couldn't ever do that again. Fucking blows.

I know exactly how you feel. Injuries/bad joints make shit worse too.