Hi, my name is Kraston and I'm a skataholic. Have you ever felt like you've got a problem? I know when I was around 13 years old after skating a couple years that I was an addict. I lived, breathed, ate, slept skateboarding. It was always and I mean always on my mind. I remember Rodney Mullen in a skate video....probably Public Domain where he talks about education and your mind and how skateboarding helped him focus so he wouldn't go crazy. After seeing that, I thought, yeah, that's right...skateboarding is good for you, good for school and my grades will get better because I skateboard. Wrong! I never did my homework, I just wanted to skate and when I was in school, I looked at skate mags, played with my finger board and dreamed about skateboarding once the bell rang. It totally consumed me and I never could imagine quitting...well, at some point in the early 90s, alot of my skater friends quit skating as much and looking back now, it was a slow time in skateboarding history. I wanted to hang out with girls more and drive and skateboarding just faded a little for me...I didn't have time for it anymore. So 12 years later, I get the spark again and I start skating again at 30 years old. Guess what happens? The addict in me comes out again, only now I am a responsible 30 year old adult with a wife of 7 years, a mortgage and 2 young children. Well, I didn't think I would be so consumed with it at first, I just knew I wanted to skate again...there were free parks I could skate at now that were not around when I was in my teens and all sorts of fun opportunities, plus I got on my board and I could still do all my old tricks and now I've even learned new ones. When I first started up again, I was nervous, embarrassed because I was the only old guy I saw at the park. Once I got over that, I just wanted to skate all the time, so my skate on my 30 min lunch break got to be much much more and soon I was skateboarding when I shouldn't be and lying to my wife and sneaking off somewhere to skate on trips to the grocery store even. I would get upset at myself if I didn't skate every single day, I was obsessed with getting better and learning and landing more flip tricks....it was crazy. It was just like when I was a kid, except now I was suppose to be more mature about things like this, but no, it took over...a song comes to mind...ST...."beware, he's possessed to skate!" Yep, that was me. You know, sometimes you can get too much of a good thing. I didn't want my wife and kids to be part of my skateboarding obsession. I wanted to go by myself to the skatepark....don't get me wrong, I wanted my kids to learn how to skateboard, but they were way to young and I was being selfish, not wanting to have to parent while doing my "stress relief" activity, ya know. Well, I've learned now that I had the wrong attitude. I now have gotten myself into a sticky situation with my family and with my finances and my obsession with having fun on my wooden toy played a part in hurting both my family and my finances. Since breaking my foot and causing a huge financial blow to my family, I have learned that skateboarding in your 30s with a wife and kids needs to done in moderation and you should get your family involved in your hobbies, not keep them hidden to yourself...make a day out of your skateboarding adventures or at least invite your wife and kids to come watch...don't exclude them from your passions in life. I did that and I screwed up. My wife supported my skateboarding and now she doesn't want me to have anything to do with it. I still love skateboarding and always will. I long to get back on my board and to the skatepark to feel the grind on my trucks against the concrete and do some noseslides on my favorite ledge and to knock out some no comply's. I will get to the park ones of these days as I am very rusty now since I haven't skated since March other than a few see if I can still ollie sessions! :) ha! I will do it right this time, I will not blow off other responsibilities to my family or work in order to go skate and I will not be obsessed about it. I will make attempts at involving my family in skateboarding with me and not exclude them like I have in the past. Any of you have a similar experience with being obsessed with skateboarding?Labels: skateboarding