Blog #571: I’ve Been Thinking Scared

Spending half my days in southern California…
I’ve undoubtedly seen 10,000 skateboarders.

But rarely…

Do I see anybody over the age of 50 riding a board…

especially if they’re just learning to ride.

Today…

I did.

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It was an interesting sight.

I was crossing a vacant parking lot when I saw HER.

She had picked an extra safe zone to learn to ride.

There were no cars.

But she wasn’t just trying to learn to ride…

She was also trying to teach herself to do simple skateboard tricks.

With one foot, she’d put extra weight on the back of the board…and with the front of the board lifted up…she’d try and wiggle the board back and forth.

She’d consistently fall.

She’d consistently laugh.

I like stories in the making.

This was one.

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I walked up to her.

She stopped practicing…and smiled big. She knew I had been watching, and I think she liked having had an audience.

She was an older, Asian woman…and she spoke in broken English.

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I said: “You’re teaching yourself to ride a skateboard…wow!”

She didn’t understand me, so I rephrased, spoke slower, and became animated with pointing back-and-forth to her and the skateboard.

She…kinda’…got it.

She said: “You teach me to ride skateboard?”

I laughed: “No…no…no! I do not ride! You do!”

She then said: “Me teach you?”

That definitely wasn’t happening.

I said: “No! I like that YOU learn! You motivate me!”

I asked: “How old are you?”

She tried to answer with words…and I couldn’t understand…so she used her hands and fingers. I counted out loud as she went.

“Ten. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. Fifty. THREE!”

“You’re FIFTY-THREE!” I said with shock in my voice.

With her head moving up and down hard, she laughed happily.

I could feel she loved her age.

Nodding my head in exaggerated fashion to match hers…

I pointed to her and then the skateboard: “You are good!”

She said: “I brand new!”

She then tried to show me a trick.

She fell soft.

She laughed hard.

I chuckled the rest of the way home.

Not at her falling, of course…

But at her “I’m NOT too freakin’ old to learn to ride a skateboard!” attitude.

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I needed to feel her attitude.

I’ve caught myself thinking “scared” more lately.

I used THAT moment of seeing her to trigger an “I’m not scared!” decision when I got home.

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I see them a lot.

Triggers.

If something inspires me extra…

I use the moment to create a bigger vision.

If I have a great exercise…

I use the moment to remind myself “I love this feeling!”

If I have a bad day…

I use the feeling to consciously decide to kick ass tomorrow.

Triggers.

Life doesn’t have to lead us.

We can lead it.

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It’s good to ask…

Is life shaping me…or am I shaping it?

We all have challenges and struggles and responsibilities to deal with. But in having them, does that mean our circumstances 100% become the “shaper” of our lives?

Unfortunately…

They easily can.

If we let them.

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Are you consciously shaping your life…

or is life unconsciously shaping you?

It’s your question to consider.

Today…

A 53-year-old, new skateboarding, trick artist in-the-making reminded me…

I can do a better job of shaping mine.

☺️

S.