We've both spent time away from skating and have come back. I know there are things that I really appreciate about it when I'm not around it and things I really hate about it when I am. Maybe hate is too strong, let's say really find great discomfort in. Did you find this to be true when you started skating a lot again?
Yes I agree. It's like a love / hate relationship. When I was away from skating I would only wish to be in a 10 hour van ride to some random town going to battle a trick just to end up not getting it and then being so sore the next day it would hurt to walk. People might think that's the bad part but to me that's the love. People might think that it's all about the money, the contracts, and the fame but that's the part that I find discomforting. That's the stuff that will pull you away.
This reinforces what Drake Jones told me about ducking out of professional skateboarding: "it feels like a job." For most of us, what this means is 'it sucked having to do stuff and deal with stuff I don't want to do, based off the feeling in my gut.' It's just amazing that this can happen even in careers where the employee is doing exactly what he wants to do, what he's passionate about, he just doesn't like the forum or context he has to do it in as a pro. This has everything to do with how freedom, can be so frail a concept (and how it is an addiction).
