Meet Neal Unger – The 63 Year Old Skateboarder
Tags: opinion
People die twice, once at 80 and once at 25. You might have come across this quote on Facebook.
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In a way, it defines our generation. We study out of fear, we live in fear and we work out of fear. Fear of what you ask?
Nothing but the fear of being poor and helpless.
Welcome to the gig economy my friend; this is where you must take on increased episodes of work or “gigs” and once they are done, you simply move on to another. Rather, you are pushed to do so to keep on living.
In such a scenario, what does one have to do to keep one calm? Some turn to the bottle, some to the weed and some to adventure sports. Out of the three, only the third is a healthy choice. The only adventure sport that can be safely practiced in the city is skateboarding.
It has, over the years, grown into quite a phenomenon with the punk movement.
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If you remember the TV shows of the 90s, you will know that the coolest way to get somewhere was the skateboard and I would not be entirely wrong if I said that nothing is cooler to this date.
If you do not believe me, allow me to tell you the story of Neal Unger, who is also known as the Dude. This is not a The Big Lebowski reference, I assure you.
Neal is in his sixties and has not been a skater all his life but is barely a novice. He took it up a few years ago and since then has been skating his way into happiness and out of his darker thoughts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPR-j6uab8A
There is much to learn from him since he uses something fun and unobtrusive like skating. He says that skating calms him down and helps him think.
He teaches himself new and fun tricks to do on his skateboard and makes the most of the quiet time that skating gives him. The constant motion might help as well since it helps keep the mind free of distractions and enables him to focus on things.
What Neal Unger teaches is that it is never too late to take something up that might calm us- no matter what people say or what the tradition is.
Neal Unger is an example of living life the way it is meant to be lived and not giving up just because you feel like you are not young enough anymore. Not only that, he stands as an inspiration to young people, too, because we are all running around like life has given us an ultimatum. We forget that there will always be time to do the things we have to do so it is okay to take some time off from time to time and do things that make us happy and calm us down. We owe ourselves that much.
Image Credit: Neal Unger
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