Just read through this whole thread and wanted to add my perspective for people who are having trouble staying motivated while juggling adult life, especially when it’s basically just you and your board and no one else. If you’re used to primarily skating with friends and use skateboarding as a means to socialize, do yourself a favor and forget about that entirely. That shit is out now, unless you’re one of the lucky people with an old head scene that meets up regularly in which case treasure that shit and don’t take it for granted, but for the rest us:
It’s hard to stay hyped when everything hurts, you can’t do some basic shit you did first try when you were younger or maybe you feel excluded when you see groups of people skating around you etc. you really have to learn little ways to trick yourself into not spiraling into self doubt or pity. It’s an ongoing process and it will creep up sometimes like JM said when he was like “wtf am I doing here” at the skatepark when he was struggling to live up to his expectations. Let all that shit go. Don’t have any expectations on those days. Just tell yourself you’re out here in the world with the ability to do what some people even in their physical prime aren’t capable of, which is simply riding on a skateboard.
You have to trick your own mind into not being pessimistic about your experience while you’re experiencing it sometimes. So much of it is mental and when you begin to doubt yourself and look around like “I’m too old/unskilled for this” ask yourself what you’d tell a friend if they said that. We’re too fuckin hard on ourselves and skateboarding is legitimately a privilege that we’ve earned over years of trial and error only to arrive at a place where we feel like we don’t deserve to enjoy it anymore because of all these made up factors that leak in through our experiences in the “real world” outsider friends and family or societies expectations that we should settle down and find a hobby for people our age. Fuck em. Let that shit come into your head and then boot it the fuck out. If you’re legitimately not having fun anymore it’s a great idea to take a break too. Go do some other shit for a week or two and come back to it. Don’t obsess over not having fun either, that can become its own weird self inflicted punishment.
skateboarding to me at this stage in my life is a form of personal meditation and a way for me to set challenges only for me to see how long it takes to overcome them. I will spend 2 hours trying to film a trick I’ve never done before and treat it like a boss in a video game that I can’t beat but only because I haven’t mastered the timing and movement yet. Your motivation will be your own but I promise you if it matters to you then don’t listen to the negative voices in your head. You fuckin got it, dudes. Keep pushing.
Wise words. For me the COVID-19 times improved this, as I started skating by myself again. Prepped some new slappy curbs (rub brick, concrete sealer, wax) for me and skated them. Nowadays I have a group of old heads, but because of work and family, also end up having quick solo sessions. The old prime time expectations hit me every now and then, but I have realized those times and tricks are gone. It's just a blessing to be on board at 46 years of age, aiming to get to the big five-o...
One thing I did was to delete my Instagram account. I can follow some selection of Youtube channels and new skate vids to get hyped (Vans EU anyone?), but it felt like the fast-paced clip firehose of Insta was mainly causing me anxiety and raising expectations unnecessary. It's not about what others do at this point.
I have an old homie in another town, and I film some clips for him, send them over via phone. That feels like a good balance of commitment and challenge, and as we go way back, it can be very simple stuff, just to keep the connection alive.
As I've written before, each second on the board is a blessing, and any session could be the last, so let's enjoy the moment.