20+ Skaters, How do you guys balance skateboarding with a career?

[Dr-Feelgood]

To be honest it is easier to find a balance between work and skateboarding than girlfriend and skateboarding...

Ahhh dude this is tough. Most girls have been chill when i go out skating but some have been really lame, they dont look at it as me skating and doing something i love, they lump it in with "hanging with your friends over me" its like we are friends who skate, we arent just crushing beers at the bar or something.

[fs overkrook]

I’m 23 work 40+ hours a week, play in a gigging band that practices 3 times a week and have a wife and kid at home. I still manage to skate 2-3 times a week.

Sometimes instead of sleeping I skate. When I go to work I’ll park a mile away and skate there instead of parking close by. I’m still learning new tricks. You can still do it too.

[Fart Sounds]

"it's ok to be a weekend warrior," i keep telling myself

[coyote2425]

Get a cruiser and take it places. I used to do the park far from work and skate thing, too.

I'm 30, moved from Tampa to NYC (no skate friends up here), married, career. Skating is nice to think about, but fitting it in is tough.

^^^Those are my excuses. In reality, I've hardly made an effort. Plenty of parks, plenty of spots. I'm just fucking lazy and my knees don't work like they used to. So if I do go skate, I suck, and it'll be at least a week before my body lets me do it again.

I agree with so many posts before this: You just have to decide how much you want to do it, and then make it happen.

[nopes]

the older i got the more self conscious i get about getting run out of spots. very rarely am i willing to go anywhere that i may have to run from cops or deal with security guards. its weird when guards or whoever are like "arent you a little old for this?" At the same time you definitely get a little more leeway when it comes to getting kicked out.

[Sick Duck]

Just go to the same skatepark one time a week for an hour and don't ever fall

[Burton Ernie]

i'm 39, married for 10 years, baby on the way, full time IT job.

If you really want to skate, you can skate. If you make excuses, you must not really want it.

[RollingThunder]

My two year old is obsessed with my leaf blower. I just make sure it's fully charged up and we hit up the driveway together. Funbox, small quarter, flat. Every once in a while I'll bomb a hill that leads to a couple of decent street spots downtown. I've been able to maintain a decent level of comfort on the board with this even with long hours (tech), travel, family, etc. Just fit it in, doesn't have to be a 6 hour session to be fun.

[VHS ERA]

Generally skate 1-2 times a week. No hiatus. Sometimes if everything sucks I go 3 weeks or a
month without skating but that’s just if I have bad luck and it keeps raining/snowing on my off days.

[VHS ERA]

Instead of going to the bar, skate. Instead of going to the movies, skate. Instead of sitting on the couch, skate. Even if it's for 30 minutes, skate as much as possible. Cruiser run, thats skating. Some flat ground, thats skating. I've managed to hold down full time jobs, sometimes 2 jobs, going to school, the whole deal. If you want to skate bad enough you'll figure it out.

This

[Thomas]

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To be honest it is easier to find a balance between work and skateboarding than girlfriend and skateboarding...

[close]

Ahhh dude this is tough. Most girls have been chill when i go out skating but some have been really lame, they dont look at it as me skating and doing something i love, they lump it in with "hanging with your friends over me" its like we are friends who skate, we arent just crushing beers at the bar or something.

That's exactly that.
"You should live with your skate friends instead of me"

[Chapingro]

I'm 34 and better than I was as a kid, which isn't saying much but it's at least another small example of the progression that's possible as a middle aged person.

I was a HS english teacher for the past 8 years and skated after work and on weekends.

Agree with everyone who mentioned being ok with skating alone. Though, I must say that I've met a ton of people skating - including people my age - and definitely like to skate in a social atmosphere. The more I hit up consistent spots - parks, plazas, etc - the more I meet people who become skate homies. This definitely helps keep the stoke alive and the learning moving forward.

Just prioritize skating as you might going to gym, as people have mentioned.

[KoRnholio8]

you'll need to skate alone, because skating with many friends you are very likely going to get sidetracked by chatting too much. since your sessions may happen once a week only, you need to skate hard to keep skating at the current level. when you start slipping, skating will become less fun and getting back on track can be very hard

also, try to schedule at least one session on a particular day or just per week, so that you SO knows when you'll be gone. if you don't have the luxury, do some basic sport activities like jogging or cycling for 30 mins a few times per week - STAYING IN SHAPE IS THE HARD PART, YOUR FEET WILL REMEMBER HOW TO DO TRICKS

skateboarders in their 20ties skate pretty much everyday and consume shit and neglect their bodies and are still in great shape. but once your sessions dwindle down to one or a few times per week, that shit will catch up with you fast

[SodaJerk]

If your girlfriend has an issue with you going skating, hanging out with your friends, or generally doing things that don't involve her you should dump her.

[KoRnholio8]

once you have shared responsibilities, you need to put some effort in planing, unless you spend you whole time off-work being catered-to

[Just Giver]

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Have you considered teaching?  I've been substitute teaching since I graduated two years ago, and I'm about to get my certification to become a real teacher.  If you mainly work at high schools it will be just like skating after school back then.  I have plenty of planning periods through out the day to accomplish work so I am usually pretty free after getting off.  I know several teachers who skate most days out of the week.  Also the health insurance is usually pretty good in most school systems.

[close]

Only partially true. Plenty of planning periods throughout the day? Where the fuck do you work? I literally have to treat my day like I have no planning periods, because despite having one, more than half of my days I have to do what is called "period subbing" to make up for missing teachers and a shortage of subs. Along with that, even if I don't have to period sub, the amount of work I have to do means that I take home and work on a bunch of things every single day.
Summers are fucking sick though, aside from the fact that none of the rest of your adult skate friends will be off.

I work in Montgomery County Maryland, we have it pretty good here.  Pay is extraordinary, period subbing is very rare, you never have to do any sort of lunch duty.  I'm currently a long term substitute for the entire semester for a high school social studies teacher who is very sick with cancer.  I work 5/8 periods every day so if I use my time well I have plenty of time to plan.  Also since I'm a substitute I usually am excused from the "team meetings," with all the other teachers.  Obviously there are still some things that I have to bring home, but I can skate for a few hours immediately after work before attending to those things.  There's a skatepark in-between my school and my apartment.  I know when I get hired as an actual teacher after my certification it will be a lot different than my current situation.  Teaching still seems better for finding skate time than some of my friend's careers though. 

[coyote2425]

If your girlfriend has an issue with you going skating, hanging out with your friends, or generally doing things that don't involve her you should dump her.

I'm sure these perfect "cool" chicks exist in the wild somewhere, but I can't help but be curious about your current relationship status.

[Mark Renton]

I'm fresh out of uni. Currently pushing away responsibilities (not looking for jobs) for this specific issue. I'm in engineering and my mates already working tell me it's fucked. Most work M-F 9-19.
For now I'm trying to build a mindset where I'll force myself to go out and skate even when fried-brain/insomnia would keep me from it. If you don't feel like being around people go to the isolated spot, things then change.
Quitting weed/alcohol/shitty people was also so beneficial for the brain.
Maybe start with a part-time and build from it. For the dude who suggested teaching, lots of people told me that as well.

[piledout]

40+ club hit it every day after work . helps that both my kids skate , we have a half pipe in the garage and rails and a bank in the backyard.

Just keep moving . once you stop your done

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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To be honest it is easier to find a balance between work and skateboarding than girlfriend and skateboarding...

[close]

Ahhh dude this is tough. Most girls have been chill when i go out skating but some have been really lame, they dont look at it as me skating and doing something i love, they lump it in with "hanging with your friends over me" its like we are friends who skate, we arent just crushing beers at the bar or something.

I got lucky because my girlfriend really "gets it."  Not only does she not mind if I go skating, she encourages me to do it because she knows that its good for my soul. If I'm stressed out from work or some other aspect of my life she'll tell me to go skate and work out the stress, and is a great confidant when I complain about my other friends whose lame ass possessive girlfriends won't let them go skating. When we go on a trip, she'll tell me to pack my board in case there is something I want to skate where we are going. The interesting thing is it puts the pressure on me to balance things myself. Anytime I skate, she'll be down, but obviously I don't want to take advantage of that or ignore her for my skateboard, so it puts the obligation of balancing my time between her and my skateboard on me. So I still have to figure out the balance, which definitely is tough, but I don't have to deal with her cutting into my skating or guilting me for it...she was smart enough to figure out a way to make me do that to myself.
 I have a couple friends who are clearly in the opposite position right now that have basically quit, and it fucking sucks. They pretend like their girlfriends' possessiveness is actually love, like "if your girlfriend actually loved you she'd want to spend time with you instead of you skating too!" which is insanely immature for a 30+ year old to say, especially because if a girl really loves you she'd accept the things that separate you but make you who you are, but I let it slide because I get the perspective they are coming from. At this point those guys are cut from the Saturday morning skate plans group text though until they can figure out the balance.

[Firebert]

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If your girlfriend has an issue with you going skating, hanging out with your friends, or generally doing things that don't involve her you should dump her.

[close]

I'm sure these perfect "cool" chicks exist in the wild somewhere, but I can't help but be curious about your current relationship status.

Married here, I can confirm you should dump girls that have issues with you having and enjoying hobbies.

[shannamal]

Sessions turn into 1-2 hours instead of 5+ hours. I hit less spots now, more parks. I try less new stuff now, I have more to lose if I get hurt.

[SodaJerk]

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If your girlfriend has an issue with you going skating, hanging out with your friends, or generally doing things that don't involve her you should dump her.

[close]

I'm sure these perfect "cool" chicks exist in the wild somewhere, but I can't help but be curious about your current relationship status.

Married, no kids. My wife tells me to go skate all the time. She likes it when I come home happy and tired. Never once has she complained about me skating or any other activity I do outside of the house.

[VHS ERA]

Sessions turn into 1-2 hours instead of 5+ hours. I hit less spots now, more parks. I try less new stuff now, I have more to lose if I get hurt.

I’m kinda the opposite. I’m 30, working full time. I like to try to push myself to film new tricks I haven’t done before. I have limited time for skating so a skatepark seems like a waste of time and I almost never skate them. Warm up on flat then hit the streets. And that may well be my only skate day that week so skate for as many hours as I can before I tire out. Low impact. After work sesh might be short though because I’m already tired.

Whatever is fun for you though. I kinda miss aimlessly fuckin around in skateparks but I skate like I’m on a mission. Progression is what makes it fun for me.

Trying to sync up schedules with the few other homies who work and still skate sucks too so skating alone is often a thing. If it’s my day off I’m not waiting around for people if no one wants to skate. Sucks because I like to film tricks and my self cam footy is probably wack.

[max power]

As long as you aren't shirking an actual responsibility to skate/do whatever your significant other shouldn't give a shit. Different interests are great for relationships. Working a 9-5 and trying to skate only gets rough in winter months.

[fang]

Generally skate 3 times a week due to job, wife, kid, knees (42). Usually I wait until 9 pm and skate the elementary school around the corner. The more rusty I get , the more I prefer to skate at night, alone! It also became this way, as I moved away for 5 years and my whole "crew" pretty much quit or moved away. This past year my longest skate friend died unexpectedly at 40. Skated with that guy since 1987 (11 years old). The loss of my longest pal still has me pretty shook cuz that reality that we will never skate together again is hard. Skated with him more tgan anyone else. I also like to be out at night cuz it's cooler and when I'm taking a break I can just think about life or whatever.

[morningcommute]

don't commit to any relationship that lasts more than a few months and make a conscious effort to hop from basic minimum wage job to basic minimum wage job. you can skate all you want until your early/mid 30s then realise your a fucking loser.

but not just any fucking loser. you're a fucking lonely loser with no money.

[nopes]

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If your girlfriend has an issue with you going skating, hanging out with your friends, or generally doing things that don't involve her you should dump her.

[close]

I'm sure these perfect "cool" chicks exist in the wild somewhere, but I can't help but be curious about your current relationship status.

ive been with my wife for 20 years. right from the beginning we tried to be realistic on who we are and how we werent expecting either side to change. ive never understood people that have relationships where they are expected to change once they get married or whatever. the way we looked at is we liked each other for who we are not who we could be. expecting someone to change their interests or hobbies for them is a disaster waiting to happen.

i can understand how having kids can fuck with this but fortunately im not in that situation.

[Thomas]

Skateboarding is often a spicy subject between my girl and I because I skate almost everyday after work and on weekends too.
In the end she is just bored because when I'm not skating I'm tired, editing videos, watching skate videos, or chilling at the skateshop...
I often let her alone at home for a week while I'm on a trip with my friends to skate/film.
So yeah, maybe I should just spend more time with her if I don't want to end alone in my bed...

[gsosa]

Skateboarding is often a spicy subject between my girl and I because I skate almost everyday after work and on weekends too.
In the end she is just bored because when I'm not skating I'm tired, editing videos, watching skate videos, or chilling at the skateshop...
I often let her alone at home for a week while I'm on a trip with my friends to skate/film.
So yeah, maybe I should just spend more time with her if I don't want to end alone in my bed...

Or if you dont want someone else taking your place in bed with her