The first plateau I hit when I started skating sucked. Everything suddenly felt harder, and even stuff that I thought was simple the week before suddenly felt so complicated. I was stuck in my head, and all I could do was compare myself to other skaters. I felt like I was falling behind, and that people that started skating after me were doing so much better. Before I knew it I got past the plateau, but it wasn’t an easy wall to hit.
Overtime, you notice that plateaus will just be part of the journey. At first they're extremely frustrating, but over time the plateaus got less and less annoying. You kinda quickly learn that they’re inevitable, and you quite literally need to just roll through them.
Right now I’m hitting yet another wall. Physically, I’m just not doing as well as I used to be. I had a pretty bad injury a few weeks ago, and my tailbone is really taking it’s time to recover. I’ve been taking it a little easy, but I can feel that I’m definitely skating longer than I probably should be. It sucks when all you want to skate and your body says no, but you need to let your body rest as much as it needs too. I've also noticed that I can’t really jump anymore without feeling pain, and jumps were definitely my favorite trick while skating. It’s hard accepting that I need to take a break from them for a while. Maybe even forever, but hopefully that’s not the case.
Of course, I’m starting to compare myself to other skaters again. This is something I really hate doing, because I am genuinely so happy to see other people in this community doing so well. I’ve learnt that the best way to fight envy is through appreciation. So I try to focus on admiring other people’s talents rather than let myself get lost in thoughts of negativity. I also find that it’s better to take extra precaution when it comes to over consumption of social media. If I’m feeling bad about myself everytime I use Instagram, I’ll take some extra time away from the app. It’s really pointless going on there if the only thing I take away from it is that I feel like shit.
Next, you need to figure out what works best for you when you’re hitting a wall. Does it help to move onto something that you have practiced in a while? or would you prefer focusing on some basic things you know well?I personally do a mixture of the two. I spend some extra time on drills like crossovers and spins. But I also might attempt the crazy legs a little bit, which is something I don’t often practice. Roller skating on trails is also a great option to take your mind off of progressing at all!
I’m also letting myself take plenty of days off, if I don’t feel like skating there’s no point in forcing myself to go. Especially now that I have an injury, I really need to listen to what my body wants me to do. If I exhaust myself, I'm probably going to injure myself again, and that's the last thing that I want to happen.
When it comes to fighting against plateaus the answer is to not fight against them at all. Instead, just ride it out and try to focus on the things that make you happiest when you’re skating. Stop being so hard on yourself, and remember that progress is never linear!