Quitting

[DrNewton]

Has anyone here ever done it successfully for a long period of time? Do you still have the mindset of a skater, driving down the road and seeing a set of stairs or whatever? I've never tried, and only know a very small group of people who have completely quit and withdrawn from the skate scene. It seems like once you have the psychology of a skater, it's there forever.

[boobtube]

The only friends I know who have successfully quit and completely don't care about it anymore are friends who became addicted to hard drugs.

Really bums me out for them.

[johnok]

Yea, excessive usage of drugs usually plays a hand in quitting...or at least thats what I've observed around here...either that or getting a girlfriend.

I don't think you can completely get away from it though.

[Penis_Monster]

i asked my friend the other day if he wanted to skate and he said to me: "nah, i quit"

i quickly corrected him by saying: "taking a break isn't the same thing as quitting"




The only people that are successful at quitting are the one's who had no business doing it at all.

[A-Bo]

my friend quit, hes very good at some other things that could possibly lead to a professional career and he didnt want to get hurt skateboarding and ruin that. Once in awhile he'll pop a kickflip though. I realized during times ive stopped for awhile like a couple months you really dont lose much skill at all, like nothing you cant get back in less than a week which is wierd. It kind of explains the whole Guy Mariano thing. I sometimes even feel like I will learn trick when not skating, like one winter I couldnt skate for a couple weeks got back on my board when the snow melted and i was nearly ambidexterous it was awesome.

[bothersome]

my friend quit, hes very good at some other things that could possibly lead to a professional career and he didnt want to get hurt skateboarding and ruin that.

this kinda talk bums me out.
fucking life throws a million curve balls, making up excuses because of earning potential is weak.
do what you want or roll up in a ball and die.

[Penis_Monster]

when someone says "i'm gonna quit skating," that's almost like saying "i hate having fun"

How can you turn you back on fun? ? ? ! ! ? ?

fun is FUN!

[johnok]

This reminds me of some kids that would leave myspace bulletins that were like, "Today...i quit skateboarding," trying to be totally serious about it.  I guess they were expecting people to respond and be like, "oh no man! don't quit! you're so good!"  Stupid. 

I think if you ever really skated, then you never really quit.

[boobtube]

when someone says "i'm gonna quit skating," that's almost like saying "i hate having fun"

How can you turn you back on fun? ? ? ! ! ? ?

fun is FUN!

From the way I see my friends act there drug addiction is way more fun to them now.  It fucking sucks!   (Herbs not involved)

[A-Bo]

skating is fun but its not the only thing that is fun, some people find other things to suit them better and persue those things. Different strokes for different folks.Im not bummed at all that my friend quit skating and it's sick that he might make tons of money as a pro athlete and it would have been dumb of him to fuck that up from breakin his leg on a rail or something, I mean its doubtful any of us will go pro skating. He has fun with what hes doing. I would quit skating for 100 million dollars no question, less than that would take a lot of thought though.

well it depends on the definition of quitting skating, I mean if never riding a board again counted but I could still watch skate videos, go to demo's etc. I would probably do it for less, because thats half of skating for me is the culture/lifestyle (<---- two of my least favorite words, fuck, i couldnt thing of a synonym)

[boobtube]

skating is fun but its not the only thing that is fun, some people find other things to suit them better and persue those things. Different strokes for different folks.Im not bummed at all that my friend quit skating and it's sick that he might make tons of money as a pro athlete and it would have been dumb of him to fuck that up from breakin his leg on a rail or something, I mean its doubtful any of us will go pro skating. He has fun with what hes doing. I would quit skating for 100 million dollars no question, less than that would take a lot of thought though.

100,000,000 to quit having fun.  If you make 100 million doing anything besides being Bill Gates then I salute you.

[A-Bo]

There are lots of people I know that have 100,000,000 and none of them are Bill Gates. I just picked that number because it seemed like an amount of money where you can go anywhere you want, do anything you want (except skate), and get anything you want without worrying about going broke in your life time, just the interest alone makes you more than you would probably spend each day. Who here honestly wouldn't quit for that kind of money? Think of al the fun you could have.

[j....soy.....]

it's so easy to say...'i wouldn't quit for anything!' 

[johnok]

If I ever had a bunch of money, I'd use it to build the sickest park and travel around the world to skate.

I seriously can't think of anything I would do with that money that didn't involve skateboarding.

I mean, yea you can buy a bunch of cool shit...but then what?

[boobtube]

There are lots of people I know that have 100,000,000 and none of them are Bill Gates. I just picked that number because it seemed like an amount of money where you can go anywhere you want, do anything you want (except skate), and get anything you want without worrying about going broke in your life time, just the interest alone makes you more than you would probably spend each day. Who here honestly wouldn't quit for that kind of money? Think of al the fun you could have.

My hats of to your "LOTS" of people you know with 100,000,000.

 

[A-Bo]

I meant "know of", douchebag

[jack sandwich]

skating is fun but its not the only thing that is fun, some people find other things to suit them better and persue those things. Different strokes for different folks.Im not bummed at all that my friend quit skating and it's sick that he might make tons of money as a pro athlete and it would have been dumb of him to fuck that up from breakin his leg on a rail or something, I mean its doubtful any of us will go pro skating. He has fun with what hes doing. I would quit skating for 100 million dollars no question, less than that would take a lot of thought though.

well it depends on the definition of quitting skating, I mean if never riding a board again counted but I could still watch skate videos, go to demo's etc. I would probably do it for less, because thats half of skating for me is the culture/lifestyle (<---- two of my least favorite words, fuck, i couldnt thing of a synonym)

you're 50% shecks.
gotta be yakked...   

[joto]

I meant "know of", douchebag

It most deff says you "know lots of people who are 100,000,000"  not you know of.   DOUCHEBAG.

[jack sandwich]

Expand Quote

I meant "know of", douchebag

[close]

It most deff says you "know lots of people who are 100,000,000"  not you know of.   DOUCHEBAG.

damn, you fucked it up even worse. 

[carl]

garbl garbl douchebage I am a sandwich mmmmm.........

[jack sandwich]

garbl garbl douchebage I am a sandwich mmmmm.........

[liquid swords]

People who really quit mostly do it before they are 20, after that nobody really quits

[chopper]

This reminds me of some kids that would leave myspace bulletins that were like, "Today...i quit skateboarding," trying to be totally serious about it.  I guess they were expecting people to respond and be like, "oh no man! don't quit! you're so good!"  Stupid. 

I think if you ever really skated, then you never really quit.

I agree there's a difference between quitting and not skating

[Sleazy]

I stopped skating in the early 90s. The scene were I was at was completely dead and every year the age gap between me and the other skaters in town would get greater. seemed like back then you could apply the:

"older i get, they stay the same age"

logic to skating. also wasn't feeling the raver gear and small wheels or the "kids" attitude that was dominating back then and I was struggling to finish school and waited tables so a broken leg would have been pretty devistating at the time. I always kept my board and never stopped noticing skate spots. As soon as I graduated I found myself with more time on my hands, I had moved to a larger city with lots of spots and parks and an injury wouldn't be devistating to my income anymore. so I got back into it and now can't imagine not rolling around everyday.

[A-Bo]

Expand Quote

I meant "know of", douchebag

[close]

It most deff says you "know lots of people who are 100,000,000"  not you know of.   DOUCHEBAG.

i meant, it was a typo. but yeah you caught me I hang out with tons of multi-millionaires, but I wanted to keep it from you guys. You know how we do it in MA.

[SFblah]

I have a friend who quit for about 7 years.  He didn't have the drive to go skate anymore and was going back to school and eventually started a career.  Recently he started skating again and he told me he constantly noticed skate spots that whole time.

Also, I have friends older than me and in their mid 30's now that have families, careers, etc.  They stopped skating in high school but whenever I see them during holidays or anything they will bring up some spot they saw driving somewhere and tell me how sick it looked.  These are guys that maybe only skated for 2-3 years but it changed their view.

I firmly believe it doesn't leave your mindset because it's already altered the way you look at everything and you don't regress back.

It explains why skaters end up in art, design, architecture, and similar fields because we see things outside of the box. 

Oh, yeah. Merry Christmas fuckers!

[A-Bo]

Yeah, I dont think I would ever be able to look at a bench as a place for sitting or not be aware of how many steps are on every stairset wwithin a 2 mile radius of where I am. I mean imagine going to work everyday and being completely unaware of whether you walk up a double set every morning or a regular set or whether it kinks at the bottom or not. Not noticing the runway or landing of every piece of architecture you glance at. Its the best thing. SOmetimes my non-skater friends will show me something they think will be a good place for me to skate and before I even get out of the car I will be able to tell them every reason why I havent skated this yet, "crack right before the set, ledge doesnt slide, kink at the end of the rail, etc." I love the ability to see this entire realm thats invisible to most people. SOunds cliché but its really a 6th sense.

[WonkaBar]

i took a break for a while. i kept getting hurt, my body was beat up, i wasnt getting the same feeling from skating that i did and all my friends quit so i kind of scrapped it, thinking id just do it after i got better. but i never really did and after a month and a half, two months i started getting urges so i went to the shop, got myself a new setup and the feeling was incredible. ollies and hillbombs all day.

[A-Bo]

last year i started skating more and a lot of my friends who had quit for a couple years even if they had only skated for a year or so when they did skate, would ask me what the best shop was these days and all of a sudden they were all wicked into skating it was cool. It seemed like skating was so far in their past and then like overnight they were skaters again, but like skaters circa 2000-2001, they still talk about that little tosh kid and emeric pratt, lincoln ueda and trainwreck. Those were the dudes they knew about, which was a breath of fresh air.

[grimcity]

I've been skating since I was 10, though it wasn't till I was 11 or 12 when I found out about the skateboard world (I was a little ghetto country kid in a ghetto country bubble). I never quit, though I did have to take a break for around 4 or 5 months when I destroyed one of the discs in my back (non skate related injury in high school). Other than that, I've stayed on board and skated whenever I could. Skateboarding practically raised me... it's been the most consistent thing in my life for this amount of time, and there's no way I won't skate if I'm physically able to.

I've known a shitload of people over the past couple of decades that have quit, and for every one of those dudes that I still see on occasion (or talk to on MySpace), they all regret it*. They either tell me "they're gonna be getting a board soon" or "naw man, I'd bust my ass now." The latter of which makes me feel bad for them... I mean, I pay a mortgage, I've been rolling with the same girl for 14 years, I have a career, car payment, blah blah blah, and I bust my ass hard nearly every session I have. I don't like pain, but I'm still able to take it, so I do it gladly. I'm always coming into the office with bandages on my fingers, gashes, swellbow or a limp. I just love the fact that I'm still getting adrenaline rushes and still paying dues outside the office. I know I won't be able to skate forever, but I goddamned sure will while I can.

*I do know some people that got back into riding after our Dreamland park got built, but not enough people.