Fall Like A Pro
- Q.G. Pennyworth
FALL LIKE A PRO –
I was watching a video of Tony Hawk doing a 900 at
48 years old, and, no lie I am super into the fact that
when he puts these things out he always includes a
bunch of attempts where he just *fails.* Miserably.
Board falls out from under him, tumbling on the
pipe, sliding on his knees, just fucking *going
limp on the pipe and letting the momentum
die down before attempting to sit up* failure.
One important lesson, and the overt one he is trying
to teach, is that you keep failing until you get there.
Nobody is born fully formed, we all get banged and
bruised in the process, and failing is not something to
be ashamed of. Get up, get back to it til you get it right.
OK but also, I can’t help but noticing as I watch this
that he FALLS like a pro. Some random 48 year old
is going to break themselves in half doing this, not
because they mess it up the first time but because
when they mess up they will fall in an unsafe way.
Obviously there will always be some risk involved,
but this is someone who has dedicated his life to
falling *so that he can get back up.* He positions
himself to land in the pipe and not on the edge,
he relies on his pads, he goes limp at all the right
times, sliding with it instead of fighting it. None
of that is instinct. That’s decades of training.
When we talk about resilience we often
only talk about the strength to get back up
no matter the odds, but *learning to fail sustainably is a skill, too.*
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