Marble 269
All I wanted to do was ride skateboards - I wanted to be a professional skateboarder. But I had this problem. I kept breaking half of my body skateboarding.
Travis Barker
I was just talking to a friend who is an avid skateboarder. She was describing what she learned from being on the edge of the hard cement bowl before “dropping in”. Her first lesson was in facing fear. She realized that she had to embrace fear and know that it was okay for it to be there and that it wouldn’t stop her from doing what she set out to do. This may sound easy but think about it: most of our earliest memories about falling are from abrasive gray cement coming up against our pristine skin. Most of us grow up acquiring an aversion to the type of pain involved in the showdown of flesh vs. concrete. I remember my first scrapes as shattering the naive presumption that I was somewhat immune to pain - I was in a body and sometimes a body can smart - so the idea of battling pavement goes against natural sensibilities.
My friend told me that one of the ingredients needed to overcome fear of the bowl is doing it on faith that she would learn not to fall so often. She said she wouldn’t entertain the idea of skateboarding if she thought she would fall every time -that would be foolish. The idea is that you get better and that the falls are fewer and farther between. The process becomes more fun and less of a lesson in humility and perseverance.
The next part of her becoming an avid skateboarder was to learn how to fall better so she wasn’t getting hurt - eg. Instead of falling on her knees, she would fall on her hips (a little more padded with flesh). She committed to getting hurt without letting it hold her back and in the process she learned to choose how to fall.
I’m not sure why her story fascinates me so. Perhaps it’s because she was a mother of two in her mid-thirties when she started skating. Perhaps it is because I can respect skating as a metaphor for life: part of me can relate to being on the edge of the bowl before dropping in, wondering what fears are holding me back? I know this breakup has shattered my comfort zone and brought me to a different type of edge. What would it take for me to "drop in" to my life more fearlessly?
There’s a Chinese Proverb that says, “Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” Do you have fears that keep you from dropping in to life? What would it take to let go of some of the fears?
All I wanted to do was ride skateboards - I wanted to be a professional skateboarder. But I had this problem. I kept breaking half of my body skateboarding.
Travis Barker
I was just talking to a friend who is an avid skateboarder. She was describing what she learned from being on the edge of the hard cement bowl before “dropping in”. Her first lesson was in facing fear. She realized that she had to embrace fear and know that it was okay for it to be there and that it wouldn’t stop her from doing what she set out to do. This may sound easy but think about it: most of our earliest memories about falling are from abrasive gray cement coming up against our pristine skin. Most of us grow up acquiring an aversion to the type of pain involved in the showdown of flesh vs. concrete. I remember my first scrapes as shattering the naive presumption that I was somewhat immune to pain - I was in a body and sometimes a body can smart - so the idea of battling pavement goes against natural sensibilities.
My friend told me that one of the ingredients needed to overcome fear of the bowl is doing it on faith that she would learn not to fall so often. She said she wouldn’t entertain the idea of skateboarding if she thought she would fall every time -that would be foolish. The idea is that you get better and that the falls are fewer and farther between. The process becomes more fun and less of a lesson in humility and perseverance.
The next part of her becoming an avid skateboarder was to learn how to fall better so she wasn’t getting hurt - eg. Instead of falling on her knees, she would fall on her hips (a little more padded with flesh). She committed to getting hurt without letting it hold her back and in the process she learned to choose how to fall.
I’m not sure why her story fascinates me so. Perhaps it’s because she was a mother of two in her mid-thirties when she started skating. Perhaps it is because I can respect skating as a metaphor for life: part of me can relate to being on the edge of the bowl before dropping in, wondering what fears are holding me back? I know this breakup has shattered my comfort zone and brought me to a different type of edge. What would it take for me to "drop in" to my life more fearlessly?
There’s a Chinese Proverb that says, “Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” Do you have fears that keep you from dropping in to life? What would it take to let go of some of the fears?
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