Recently, I have been skateboarding a lot more than I usually do, although skating is a daily occurrence. I’ve been going out for hours at a time with nothing but the ride on my mind. Just getting lost within the next turn or the next carve. I have been pushing everything behind me including the asphalt. The wind, the rush, and the feel of being out of control has been something I can't live without on a daily basis.

I’ve seen people go out and completely lock up on the board, just freeze, and feel completely uncomfortable. That couldn’t be more opposite of what I feel. When I stand on that 30-inch board and I am zooming down a parking garage, I couldn’t be more at ease. When I drop down and run my hand along the ground going about 20 miles per hour around a turn that’s when I feel alive. Being in touch with that feeling of death is what drives me to do one more ride.

I think it’s my personality or my mindset on life. To be brutality honest not one of us knows if we are going to make it to tomorrow. I could die in the next hour, the next day, or the next month not one of us knows when our time is up. So why not live like you’re dying. Go all out every day because you never know when your final run is going to be. That’s why I drop in on parking garages or skate parks that I have no business being around. I would regret not getting one last ride in.

I hope none of us look back on life thinking of that ride we wish we had taken. For most of us, it’s not about skateboarding but it’s the idea that we all have, that rush in our lives, we should capture that as much as possible. You’re not alive unless you’re living is what I say. So live it up, go do what you want to do because at the end of the day it’s your life. When your head hits the pillow at night, you’re the one who has to be content with the decisions you have made, no one else.

I have no idea where my life will go past my undergraduate degree in college. Supposedly, I should go into political writing since that’s what I am studying. All I know is that I’m going to move out west and live a lifestyle of freedom. I’m sure I’ll be accompanied by some of best friends, that is something I know for a fact. I can’t imagine my life being dominated by a nine-to-five job. All I know is my day will most likely consist of more skating and surfing than politics and writing. Am I going to make this all work out? I don’t know but that’s okay. I find excitement in the gray area, in the unknown. I live from moment to moment and that’s what keeps me going. I know that scares people and it pushes people away. But if that pushes you away then it’s best that you stay away. I’m having a lot of fun living my life and all I hope is that everyone else finds the same joy in life that I do, that’s all. And with that, ride on kids.