Tip one: You will need a pair or roller-skates.
Tip two: You should make room because soon you will have several pairs.
Tip three: Put your skates on.
I started roller-skating during COVID when the ice rink was closed most of the time, and very limited when it did reopen.
I had always dreamed about figure skating down a frozen river, or what it would feel like to be free of a rink. Roller-skating was all that I had dreamed and it was quickly a daily activity.
It's FREE to skate most places!
Sure, you CAN go to the roller rink, or pay to skate at a park, but there are many, many, free places to skate. You can go to a local park, you can step outside your doorway, you can bring your skates on vacation and experience new places in new ways.
YOU set your own pace.
Want to go every day twice a day? Absolutely! Just feel like skating every other weekend or so? Absolutely! Want to drop in at your local skatepark and cartwheel across the concrete? Absolutely. Skating belongs to you. Your progress is your own. All you have to do is show up and tie your laces and you will see things happen. Skating builds an intuition that you can rely on. You will know what's right for you, and you will learn how to listen to your body and connect with yourself. The only rule is that you have to do it. That's it. There is no "bad". There is only you and (unless you decide to) you are never in a competition with anyone else.
Doing your best means NEVER STOP TRYING. --- Benjamin Franklin
Oh the places you will go. . .
I have gotten so many gifts from roller-skating. I feel sometimes like the things I have learned are life tools that I get to carry around in an invisible backpack. The belief that "I can't do that" is washed away in the tiny successes of suddenly unlocking a new skill. I have now added the word "YET" to everything I used to think wasn't possible.
Safety is SEXY
Wear your protective gear! There are honestly sooo many cute options for pads and helmets. My favorite safety gear is leopard print pads and my gold glitter helmet. Roller-skating actually requires a particular type of helmet, and it's important to learn about CPSC certification. Only 4 states require all helmets sold be certified, so do your research and make sure you are protected.
Don't give up. But also, give up.
Sometimes it can feel like you hit a plateau. Things you want to do can seem forever out of reach. If you are stuck in a rut and it feels simply impossible to get to a certain place, then stop. Try other things. Can't drop in? Just practice some 180's on the flat. Can't get on that rail? Spend time doing other kinds of skating. Crazy legs driving you crazy? Try the park! It's totally fine, to leave something alone for awhile. Sometimes when you let go and then try in a few weeks later magic happens. Your brain clears up the connections while you let it rest and suddenly you can do the thing!
If I could tell myself one thing 3 years ago . . .
I would say "you have no idea how this is going to change your life". And I would be right. I am forever grateful to have picked up skating. It's so much fun, and it has spilled over into so many other parts of my life, creating new possibilities and new friendships. It's given me a confidence in myself I could never have imagined could be cultivated just from rolling around. So. . . to sum it up. . . just get rolling and the rest will follow.