Too young to be too old to start skateboarding
I started skateboarding two weeks ago at 46 years young. And I’m loving it.
This was unexpected.
My 12-year-old son started skating a month ago and got pretty excited about it. I got him a lesson at a local skate shop. He was working on his ollie with the instructor, fell backward, and shot his board into the nearby bowl. The instructor dropped into the bowl, carved around it, crouched low, grabbed my son’s board, and popped back out, handing my son’s board back to him. It looked kinda like this.
Wow, I thought. That looks fun.
For the next few days, I was fixated on helping my son learn. I watched YouTube tutorials, studied Reddit threads, found and ranked all the local skateparks, planned a DIY quarter pipe. My son would get home from school and I’d start telling him all the things I’d learned and what he should try next. I’m sure he was thinking, dude, dad, chill.
But it was too late. The flame had been lit. The flame is what got me into computers, guitar, whitewater kayaking, knife sharpening. The flame is probably my particular brand of ADHD-driven hyperfocus.
The flame burns hot. It makes me feel alive, man. And it makes my wife’s eyes roll. After 13 years of marriage, she is familiar with the flame and the obsessive tendencies that follow it.
At first I assumed I was too old to start skateboarding, and I set out on the web to find confirming advice. What I found instead was a wealth of encouragement for people my age getting started. For example, this Reddit thread, this blog post, this Youtube video.
I found several common sentiments: that skateboarding gets you out of the house and moving, makes you feel young again, and perhaps due to both of those, can be great for mental health in middle age.
One guy said, “Don’t just sit on your couch and wait to die.” That struck me. Now, I’m not doing that couch thing — I’m lifting weights, riding my bike, etc. — but I realized I had assumed, half-consciously, that I was too old for something like skateboarding. At my age, I should play it safe and get the exercise that’s typical and appropriate for middle age. Skateboarding was too risky, too ... unnecessary.
Only after I started skateboarding did I realize that, by resigning myself to those safe and appropriate activities, I had given up on exhilaration. And boy did I miss it.
Two months ago, skateboarding was not anywhere near my radar. Fast forward a few weeks, and now I’m trying to get on my board at least once every day. It’s improving my strength and balance. It’s restoring a lost sense of adventure and youthfulness. It’s giving me a wonderful way to connect and have fun with both my kids.
And if this turns out to be just a mini midlife crisis, well hey, it’s a cheap one.