I took off my jeans and saw these new bruises on my legs, not very ladylike! But the pain was all worth it I guess. Finally, I was doing something that made me feel really alive...

This is the second chapter of my longboarding saga:

Longboarding Days: The Birth of Painful Pleasure

I just recounted how I got into longboarding during those boring months in Cusco, Peru. I was traveling in South America and stopped in Peru for a couple of months to get that much-needed rest from this non-stop traveling and hitchhiking. I found a job in a ‘Machu Picchu’ travel agency, they were looking for someone who speaks English. However, during those times I found myself working for long hours in front of the computer instead of getting to know more about the country. Longboarding was introduced to me to somehow cure this boredom and room confinement, that I found a reason to go down from the hill (my place was at the top of a hill in Cusco with a beautiful view of the city, pretty common in the Andean mountain cities).

I had enough of the cruising around the town so one time, I was brave enough to try the downhill part of the neighborhood. So I rode the board and man, I was going downhill too fast! Being new to this sport, and without proper orientation and skills, I went totally out of control. The next thing I knew, I was flying to the ground falling flat on my face. Then I couldn’t get up. I just wanted to lie there for a while and feel the warm loving pavement. Then there was a “señora” passing by who came to my rescue, and she told me “Tienes sangre en tu cara!”, which means you have blood on your face! Really? I thought. But fuck where’s the board? So I glanced around to look for it and saw my longboard down the road. I was worried that my new board will be smashed again by a car (like what I recounted in my previous post). So I panicked, and asked the señora in my voice full of pain, “Could you please get my longboard?”, “Tienes sangre en tu cara!”, she exclaimed again, I repeated “Could you please get my longboard?”, pointing my hand to the direction where the longboard rolled by itself without me. I was like a dying person on the ground begging someone to save... well, the longboard first.

Of course, my face looked like it was hit multiple times by an abusive Peruvian partner, at least that was how everyone perceived it. In this country of “Machismo”, it might be normal to see a battered woman. Every time I was telling them, “I fell off my longboard”, nobody really believed me. My friends would jokingly ask “Who did it?”.

After this epic accident, I started looking at youtube videos about downhill longboarding, how to break, controlling the speed, slides, etc.. So I started buying protective gear like helmet, knee pads, gloves, and elbow pads. I also found a small longboarding community of young Peruvians. So my weekends were spent in some hilly part of Cusco with the boys. It was a fun brotherhood. They taught me about downhill tricks, proper break or sliding to prevent that kind of accident happening again.

The slide was so difficult for me to learn, considering my ADHD. I was kind of forcing myself to try new things. There was this young guy who was trying to teach me downhill longboarding around his neighborhood. He’s a pro! All those attempts to learn to slide just lead to pain, and more pain. But as I practiced more, I saw myself at least learning one of the basic slides, which is the backslide. It looked easy but it’s not!

When this:

Turned into this:

My long distance friend started judging me for not protecting myself and started lecturing me about beauty and stuff. I was like ok, I am alone here in Peru, and you are far away. I’m bored as fuck. I know this is not how a woman should look like, but anyway I didn’t care. I found something that made me happy. One thing that made get out of my cold room in Cusco. To enjoy the fresh breeze and the surrounding Andes mountain view outside, and to have fun with my new friends from Peru.

Longboarding taught me the following lessons in life.

Live in the Present Moment

You are so consumed by the routine of everyday life that you forget to stop and smell the roses, to dance to the music of life. You felt like no matter what you do, nothing is ever going to change. Happiness is something that only needs to be awakened, and that can happen by appreciating what you have right now. Learn how to live in the present moment because this is all you have. You only have one take in life so you might as well do it right. It is time to stop waiting to start living, living is right here, right now.

One thing I really love about longboarding is that it takes me to the present moment. Before hitting the road, I was always filled with worries and other things I had to do. But once I was there pushing and riding the concrete pavement, I was more focused on what I was doing that suddenly I forgot what I was worried about. I was not overthinking anymore but instead, I was focusing on the present moment - feeling the air, seeing the views and enjoying the speed. Now that’s what I called ‘really living’, forgetting the past and not worrying about the future, it’s all about taking pleasure in the details.

Conquer Your Fear

Fear limits you to pursue your dreams and live life to the fullest. It may seem safer for you to just follow the routine and sit on the couch and watch TV. But life is too short to have another day of Netflix marathon. If you are living in fear, then you are not really living. You are just a walking dead. Fear is the only thing that makes dream impossible to achieve.

One thing I had to overcome was fear. I was scared to fall down, to have wounds or get hurt. But I had to go through pain if I really want to learn about the sport. Longboarding taught me how to conquer my fear by going towards it. So instead of just giving up, and walking away. I felt fear and did it anyway. I was scared at the beginning but as I rode down the hill, wow what an exhilarating feeling, that adrenaline rush! The fear of falling down suddenly went away and I was more focused on concentrating and feeling the moment. I was happy that finally, I was doing something that scares me. And it made me happy.

Life is Pain

“No guts no glory” may sound cliche, but it’s really true that success does not come without the courage to take risks. Life may be full of pain, but if you try to embrace it all, leaving no path untaken, then it would just be a part of your own growth and learning experience. Learn to face the challenges along the way and you’ll come out as a well-rounded and stronger person in the end.

During those times I was falling down and hitting the pavement again and again in hopes of mastering how to slide, I was really just about to give up. That the sport might not be for me. But in the end, I was able to slide after all the hard practice. The most important thing I learned is to never give up. I embraced pain like a good friend.

Pass the Persistence Test

You will be greatly rewarded if you refused to quit, great men achieved success through persistence. What’s going to happen if you just surrender to the first signs of defeat? Nothing, you will just find another easy way or another escape. But there is really no shortcut and no magic formula to achieving your dreams. The only way is to back your desire with persistence. It may appear that sometimes, there’s a hidden guide whose job is to test you by letting you go through all these discouraging experiences. Those people who learn from the power of persistence will see defeat as only temporary. Those who did not pass the persistence test do not deserve the reward.

I remember telling my friend that I just wanted to stop and go back home. It was late and I was tired. My body hurt like hell. But he was like a being a leader that time, he was telling me to get up and give it another try. He didn’t give up until I learned. He was instructing me the proper angle, approach, and positioning of my feet. He had witnessed me eat dirt and fall down in many ways no one could ever imagine. But I got up again and again like the pain felt good as I saw myself progressing. In the end, I was able to learn how to slide after all those hard attempts. Downhill longboarding gave me a lot of wounds and bruises, but at least I know now how to break at high speed, which will be for my own safety too.

Share the Moment

When you’re in a crowded city you desire solitude, when you had your fill of solitude you desire companionship. The grass is always greener on the other side. Sometimes you get tired of those books and people telling you to learn how to be happy alone, especially if they didn’t really know how to be alone for a long time. Yes, happiness is an inside job and you should learn first how to enjoy your own company. But you need the icing on the cake, by sharing those moments with people who could make you happier. It is one way to heighten happiness to another level, like a perpetuating springboard. Believe me, it’s also nice to tell someone that you are happy being alone.

After traveling and meeting a lot of people non-stop, I decided that I just wanted to stay in one place and isolate myself from everyone else. Sure, this made me happy at some point and I really appreciated the much-needed solitude. But months passed and I wanted what I didn’t have, so I found longboarding as my way to conquer boredom. And not only that, I was also able to meet new friends who taught me about conquering my fear, the power of persistence and how to have fun! I was welcomed and I felt like that I really belonged to the group, where everyone is united by the sport. There’s no "where are you from?", "what language do you speak?", or "what is your cultural background?", nothing matters except the sport. Everyone wants to help you improve and make you part of the brotherhood. Sometimes it’s lonely out there to just ride the concrete wave on your own all the time, the beautiful moments in life are sometimes best shared with good friends.