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Dubai Diaries: Failing for the fun of it

Have you ever tried skateboarding?

In my teens, I spent my free time falling off a skateboard and landing flat on my back — and I loved every second of it. The decision to take up skateboarding was an impulsive one. At the time, Rage Skate Shop had just opened up in Dubai Mall. Every other Friday, I passed by the store and craned my neck to scan the gamut of boards on display.

Some were emblazoned with loud slogans, while others bore dragons so menacing that the Hungarian Horntail in Harry Potter seemed tame by comparison. The board that caught my eye, crossing the threshold from want to need, was purple with a picture of Medusa painted in green.

The uncertainty only struck when I stood in the store and waited for the retail associate to pack up the board. It was a practical purchase, I thought, not an impetuous one. But I had done my research and if WikiHow was to be believed, I was doomed to fail.

Girls apparently have a tougher time learning how to skateboard because they carry more weight on their hips than boys. I can’t attest to the veracity of the statement, but at 14, I memorised the words and took them as gospel.

For a long time, I couldn’t stand on the board without holding on to the walls, which, of course, meant I wasn’t cruising through the city; I was motionless on an expensive plank of maple wood. After a few YouTube tutorials, I managed to stay upright, but still, I wasn’t good at skateboarding.

I never managed to do an ollie, firercracker, staple gun or any of the other “easy” beginner tricks. But being bad at skateboarding had so few real-life repercussions, compared to say getting Ds in all my classes, that I found joy in the failure. A lot has been said about how failure is the cornerstone of success for achieving personal or professional goals.

Bad at playing the piano? Practice for at least two hours a day and you’ll master Beethoven’s Für Elise. Bad at baking? Binge-watch The Great British Bake-Off and pay special attention to Mary Berry’s remarks. Bad at dancing? Sign up for a class, maintain consistency and soon, you’ll be as graceful as Rita Moreno in West Side Story.

The underlying goal in all these scenarios is to get better eventually. But perhaps we need to indulge in the joy of being bad at something just for the heck of it. No vision to become good, no aim, nothing. Many of us are forced to be result-oriented in our daily lives, so why not just take a pause and exist in a space of imperfection every once in a while?

Paint, bake, sing — and do it all for yourself, not to seek external validation or turn it into a career opportunity. Adopt the mindset we had as kids, where we painted outside the lines and sang out of pitch just because it was the fun thing to do. After all, facing fears of inadequacy to try something new and seek enjoyment is more freeing than striving for eternal greatness.