I haven’t painted anything for a little while, as my mind and heart have been very busy processing a truckload of clutter… and to be honest, I didn’t want all that mess to invade my artwork. Perhaps that’s not a very “Artist-y” thing to admit, as many artists prefer their artwork to be unfiltered expressions of their whole being – but that’s not me.
Instead, I’ve been pushing my comfort zones in other ways – I was so incredibly inspired to see the women skateboarding at the Paris Olympics last month, and I felt a little sad that I’m too old to skateboard now. At 46, I felt like I really missed the boat with that skill, and I would just have to live vicariously through my children (who weren’t that fussed about skateboarding, unfortunately). But then I remembered this infographic my sister sent me years and years ago – I’m going to share it with you on this post, while acknowledging that unfortunately I don’t know who drew it and I can’t find out because it’s so old. It’s too good not to share, so if this post is ever read by the artist, please let me know who you are and I will credit your talent immediately!!
Reminded that my self-imposed age-based limitation was pretty arbitrary, as long as I could adjust my expectations to suit my physiological age-based limitations (ie. that my bones are no longer rubbery, and concrete-splat healing time is many times worse and longer than someone half my age…), I picked up my skateboard and safety gear and decided to have another go. (I learned how to stand on the board during Covid lockdowns, but then gave up once life got back to normal.) As I explained to my knitting buddies, if I’m going to injure myself, at least it will sound cool and exciting if it’s from crashing off a skateboard (as opposed to weeding the garden, or tripping over the kids’ shoes)!
Well, holy crap, it’s fun! I’m not going to pretend I can do much more than just scoot around and go down small ramps, but I’m setting myself little goals all the time and challenging myself to push through (unreasonable) fears. And of course, the kids saw me having fun and wanted to join me on their skateboards, so now the three of us can encourage each other and enjoy a shared interest. I can see my kids progressing a million times faster and more easily than me, without feeling like I should just give up already. And I find myself wondering if that’s the secret to living a full life – if I can let go of my ego’s desire to be ‘special’, ‘amazing’, ‘super-accomplished’, ‘the best’, I can truly enjoy the processes of learning, growing, practising, failing and succeeding, and be authentically, completely ‘me’.
Esther
