Here’s the word.
Enjoi.
If you haven’t seen me type it, or say it, or even mention it, then you probably don’t know me very well. This one word has found its way into the very fabric of my being. This one word is the most simple way for me to sum up the way I have tried, and will continue to live my life. It is the one word of advice I can give to you.
The etymology of “enjoi” is not nearly as long as I may have previously portrayed. The reality of it is very simple, the word “enjoi” is the name of a skateboard company that makes clothing and skating decks. The company was founded by and/or is owned by Rodney Mullen, the most influential skateboarder of all time – yes, even moreso than Tony Hawk.
Rodney Mullen is credited with inventing some of the most basic and most complex street tricks in skateboarding. He’s been riding for 30 years or so, and continues to innovate each time his Globe sneaker scratches its sole on the grip tape of his Enjoi deck, held up by his Tensor trucks and polyurethane wheels and Pig ball bearings.
Rodeny is not your typical modern or classic skateboarder, in fact, he’s not your typical extreme sport athlete at all. He hasn’t competed in a highly visible competition in years, but continues to skate and make a living skating. Rodney is also a very intelligent and well rounded athlete. He loves his physics and he loves to learn. In fact, it is these two stepping stones that have lead Rodney to his status of most influential skater of all time.
But it’s his drive for innovation and his meticulous art that really inspires me. Most athletes reach the top of their game and coast on that wave for as long as they can. Rodney never stopped learning, and never stopped inspiring. He had the money he needed to sit back and run a company if he so chose, or to scout and recruit skaters from across the country. Instead, Rodney goes out every single day, and skates. He tries something new every day. He doesn’t do this for the publicity or for the money, if he did, you’d probably already know about him like you know of Tony Hawk.
That’s how I want to live my life. I want to succeed, and continue to succeed, and never settle for anything. I want to achieve a goal and make a new goal. I want to be successful for myself, because it’s who I want to be, not because I need the money for a mortgage or traveling the world or buying sports cars. I want to be successful because it’s exactly what I expect of myself.
“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” – Mary Pickford
I don’t plan on trying to keep myself from falling down, I am focusing on getting back up everytime. Some people are so afraid to fall they’ll never take that foot off the ground. They don’t trust their ability to keep the balance through the transition, so they become complacent. One foot on the grip tape and one foot on the pavement. I refuse to live my life like this.
I snowboard. Both feet tied tightly in a leather boot and then buckled into a binding that is bolted to a board. Falling is inevitable when you snowboard. If you never fall, you’re not trying anything new. With snowboarding, you can’t hesitate, you can’t put one foot back on the ground. You’re strapped in for the ride, literally and figuratively. Snowboarding provides me the freedom that Rodney has found in skating. It is not who I am, or what I do, but something I enjoi.
