2 Years

So if I remember right as of December sometime I hit the 2 year mark for yoyoing.

I have decided to collect my thoughts on that time, it covers a decent amount of stuff yoyoing and not, so if you’re looking for fun/obnoxious me you should leave now. if you’re looking for some kind of meaning to yoyoing or life or a terrible rehash of what your parents tell you as a kid read on and be disappointed. I apologize if it sounds jumbled… so anyways… here it goes…

When I first started yoyoing I did it to stand out, to set myself apart from others and grab people’s attention with oohs and ahhs and it worked. I wowed people in my highschool with my “cool tricks” that were just a collection of rewinds and double or nothings.

Then I got to college. Freshman year I had no friends, and no good way to make any so I yoyoed to my classes ignoring my surroundings and keeping to myself. Unknown to me I had a sort of cult following, everyone recognized me as that “yoyo kid”, so when I finally got around to talking to anyone they knew me…sort of. Because I was known for yoyoing I was able to easily smash out some stats and the like about yoyos, cutting the awkwardness. I even made some friends along the way. =) Things were going pretty good right?
…well not really. I was having a lot of problems with grades and the like. I was a standard lazy, easy 80 getter who never studied a day in his life, a bad combo for a private university student. needless to say I ended up getting a 1.8 average that semester. This led to some personal stuff happening that I wont get into.
Anyways around this time I started to disappear from the message boards, only popping in once in a while to see what had changed.
Anyways second semester rolled around and I had a game plan… sort of… I ended up putting down my yoyo for that semester and pretty much leaving YYE entirely. Fast forward through all the boring stuff and you get the highlights: I got a girlfriend, turned out I almost clocked her in the head first semester with my yoyo. I had other problems. and the biggest thing, I didnt pass the semester. I left worrying about weather I would return.
So that summer was really when I began to formulate the idea about life I go by right now…
I did end up returning to school willing to work, but still unable to fully understand why…
Because of this I ended up messing up again, though this time I had finally gotten a strategy.

As I type this now I am going to community college, making sure that everything is in order when I get back… Retaking classes and hating the school.

Here’s what you’ve been waiting for, the current rules I live by:
First off have a drive, what I mean is have a reason to do something, sometimes simple reasons ore okay, but you should have a true reason that speaks to you, something that pushes you forward with not only love but hatred one without the other is almost useless.
Secondly don’t stop until you get to your goal, no matter what stands in your way, be it a fear of knotting your string, countless failures, or even people’s doubts.
Third, always step back and ask yourself about what you are doing before you start if you aren’t dedicated you won’t get far.
Fourth, time is the only thing that matters. you have a limited time for everything. make every second count because you’ll never get that exact moment back. EVER
Which leads me into my last rule I live by, Try to live with no regrets. Try to live without looking back. Every step you take can never be undone, you wear your shoes, nobody else so when you choose to take a step, own the outcome, good or bad the choice should be yours. if you mess up don’t turn around to fix it, roll with life’s punches, if life comes in with a scummy right hook, learn from it and punch life in the face. And even when life seems all doom and gloom, remember somebody somewhere has gone through the same thing and didn’t give up. Sometimes decisions are hard, and go against everything you’ve ever learned, that doesn’t mean that they’re bad… just different.

…so yeah… this was kinda more for me now that I look back at it but I hope others can take something out of it.

Anyways other than that a lot has changed on forums.
“How High Can We Go?” is gone (which is where this would’ve gone… though I completely respect the moderator’s decisions)
There’s a new board
There’s a ton more yoyos out
There seems to be less bearing questions
Its quieter in general
Cylon and a few others are no longer on IRC (at least when I am)
We’re all older.

The only thing I want to say is I tried to leave as much about my personal problems out as possible so people would see it’s not about me, but a way to live your life or learn something.
(all of which I have probably screwed up on.)

Anyways, feel free to critique me, delete my post, or reflect too.

~Steven

Thank you for sharing this, personal reflection is always a challenge, as is putting yourself out there.

I’m an old man (OK, not old in the grand scheme, but, old enough to compete in over 40 at worlds), you hit the nail on the head realizing TIME is more precious than gold (or titanium or bi metal). Find a passion and live it. Life is too short to spend your work week hating what you do. Good luck to you and remember that on life’s journey, there will be parts of the path you hate, but, you still need to stay on the path to reach the goal. That said, you should try to enjoy the journey as much as you can.

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