Enough has been said about how 2020, as a year, offered far less than what we expected. With every year comes new hopes, goals, resolutions, plans and expectations. If you've been able to acheieve a lot of what you set out to do this year then you my friend are a true goat living amongst us normal people.

The time spent at home quickly went from days, to months and eventually the majority of the year. But as is the case with every grey cloud, there is always a silver lining. All the extra time spent at home gave people opportunities to work on projects, pick up hobbies and find alternate ways to engage themselves. And Me? I picked up skateboarding. Why? Well, firstly skateboarding is pretty cool if we're all being honest, second I could do it alone while respecting social distancing guidlines and lastly I could do it anywhere.

I wouldn't have called myself a beginner prior to starting this journey, but I was practically a noob. I could ride pretty comfortably from years spent using cruisers and longboards to get to and from class, but that was as far as it went. I'd tried the odd ollie here and there but quickly put it aside feeling as if this wasn't meant for me. Skateboarding is difficult; it wasn't just going to come overnight, and that was probably the main reason as to why I stopped trying in the past. But with the year going the way it was going, I figured there would be no better time than now. I was finally going to learn to skateboard, like actually skateboard.

I already owned a cruiser from years gone by, but if I was going to do this for real I had to commit to this and do it right. I had to purchase a skateboard; Not a Walmart complete, but a proper skateboard. After hours of research into decks,skateboard widths, trucks, bearings, wheels, how to apply grip tape and countelss other things I eventually settled on a setup.

And with that the journey began, I've been at it for a couple of months now but for the sake of breivity I'll provide the details of the journey in future posts. What I can say for now is that despite things not going the way you want them to, you can still try to find creative ways to respond to it. Skateboarding has been a great way for me to stay active and challenge myself. I honestly believe it's through challenge and adversity that we grow, so maybe you can try picking up something new too and see what that changes for you?