Learn Skateboarding
Erhua Li / 2023-08-29
I have always wanted to learn how to skateboard, but I never gave myself the opportunity to do so.
In April this year, when I saw my colleague learning skateboarding, I also had the idea to try it out. So I did a lot of research and ended up buying a carver skateboard with PU trucks.
However, for various reasons, I never got around to actually learning. I kept the skateboard at home, collecting dust. I did ask my colleague for advice on how to get started, but I was worried about teaching myself the wrong technique from the beginning and not being able to correct it later. So I always wanted to find a coach to teach me, but this became a barrier for me and I kept delaying it.
I kept saying to myself that I wanted to learn skateboarding, but I always procrastinated and never took action.
It wasn’t until this Monday (August 28), when I told myself that if I didn’t start now, this skateboard might truly go to waste and I would lose all motivation to learn. Originally, I bought an expensive skateboard precisely to force myself to start learning, and not treat it lightly.
Finally, I took the first step. Yingying helped me find instructional videos, and I started learning by watching the videos and imitating the movements on the small road outside my home. I went from being clueless about the basics to being able to ride on the skateboard and finally being able to maneuver myself on the board in less than two hours.
After that, I started practicing in various places in the neighborhood, from the small road in front of the building to the sunken square, and eventually to the deserted main road at midnight.
People often say that expensive stationery encourages studying. For me, having expensive stationery does have its benefits. At least in terms of price, I won’t give up on learning this skill. I had the same thought when I bought my A7M4 camera. People say that cameras often end up collecting dust, and if I had bought a camera worth thousands of dollars, it probably would have collected dust. I felt that I wouldn’t feel too bad about it because of the high price. However, after buying the A7M4, whenever I didn’t want to take it out because it was too much trouble, the price of the camera body and lens, which amounted to over 30,000 RMB, seemed to be telling me: “You better take me out, otherwise you are just wasting your money.” So I started taking it out to take photos and learned a lot about photography theory and practice. Similarly, the skateboard is the same. If I had bought a cheap skateboard, I probably wouldn’t think of learning it again in six months.