Why do you Yo?

Seems as meaningful as any to me :slight_smile:.

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Honestly your reason is so much more meaningful. When my father unexpectedly killed himself due to health reasons, I simultaneously sunk myself heavier into drugs and college work (weird combo I know, but it helped me and I still got good grades). It probably would have been better for me if I found something like yoyo back then to help me cope emotionally. A good fresh hobby really can be a great therapeutic for the soul; something to invest your emotional time, frustration, satisfaction, and gratification in all at the same time.

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I Yo.
Therefore I am.

Many years ago, the Warden said I needed some sort of diversionary tactic to help me keep my promise to Never Kill again. I told him I don’t have the time… But he suggested I calculate all the time I had spent over the years trying to wash the blood out of my clothes.

So the correct solution was a ‘no brainer’. Which was great for me not having to go to the trouble of locating the necessary tools for thinking.

I was told to use something Made of wood and equipped with string. But when I tried 4A with a guitar, the first time it came down and smacked me in the head… I knew I had to downsize.

Moving ahead… to 1998 or so>>> I bought my first yoyo(I’m being serious now🙀) at Golden Apple Comics.

The exact moment I threw it down the string. I knew I would always yoyo.

People have said that sleeping and dreaming allow one to escape from reality.

To me, throwing yoyos allows me to ‘escape’ within reality. To do something that I can consciously attempt to control. Something that generates determination of a positive nature.
Something that exercises the mind and polishes the edges right off your negativity.

A simple toy/tool that can be a solo event. Or a great communication tool to: share with others, learn from or teach to others. Yoyos can be so useful to helping throwers recognize that even though yoyos rotate. That everything doesn’t rotate around ‘you’.

Yoyos cross barriers. Your religion, your ethnicity, your place in the World; can be put aside and bring us all together as we are right now. At this moment. On this Forum. ‘We’ are from all over the Planet. And would most likely never have met without sharing this pastime.

Who I have met and things I have come to understand in the last 22 years are the direct result of passing through the portal known as yoyo.

As I have stated in a few posts over the years> whether a person plays with yoing or stays with yoing. I’d like to think that even those just passing through the yoyo portal, will be better people as they go on to other things.

In my life; there are always room for two things: Jello and yoyos.

Being the very best at yoyoing does not have to be your endgame.

Yoyos are not my life. They don’t control my life. But they are part of my life. And I will spend a little time each day; trying to control one for my personal enjoyment or with others.

Yup…

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Nah, but it was a blast filming it… Even if I hate hearing myself talk on video :slight_smile:

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I throw because I love it. I love it because it helps calm my restless, overly active, anxious mind. It requires mindfulness, it’s meditative, it’s relaxing, it’s escaping all the chaos in and of life. It helps battle depression, it allows me to remain active when my body betrays me and won’t allow me to do the more strenuous activities I once did and miss sorely. It’s been nothing short of a godsend at this time in my life. I love the challenge, I love the dopamine I get when I finally nail the element or trick, it’s bliss, plain and simple, and I don’t have much of that in my life right now. As someone else stated, it’s a coping mechanism, and indeed it is, but it’s also so much more than that for me. It’s survival. As dramatic as that sounds, it’s the truth. It’s a reason to get up in the mornings, to keep on going and not give in or give up during this incredibly difficult and challenging period of my life. If ever I shall have great health as I once had, I will continue to throw, even if my body has the capacity to do my former activities, for the only thing I have loved as much as this is riding (bicycles). I can appreciate twitch’s reasons as well and only wish I would have had discovered throwing more than a decade plus ago when my mother died. It would have been a much healthier coping mechanism.
I hope you share your paper on here once completed. I’m curious to read what you write. :wink:

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that’s the same for me, i get bored, or worked up easily (because i have 8 siblings, and live with 14 people), so yoyoing is a huge get-away for me. and i’ve found it brought other people, who share the hobby, into my life, and that’s kinda what i needed. just someone to talk to.

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I think it was brave of you to type this up and thank you for sharing.

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That is absolutely true. Another hobby can be very therapeutic and serve as an excellent coping mechanism. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!

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That is an amazing explanation! It’s almost as if you can just escape from the drastic world we live in into a tranquil state of mind. I will certainly show the paper once I finish it!

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Thanks for sharing your experience! I’ve also started one here at school as well, and I love how much it can fascinate others once seen from a different perspective!

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Yoyo is a wonderful escape from the harsh reality of life, it got me through a really rough 2016 and was the only thing that could keep my mind off of these curve balls life was throwing my way…had lost an uncle that’s been part of my life since the day my butt hit a diaper and that next day, lost my dog at 12 years.

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Here’s my story about how yoyoing has benefitted me.

As an update I have continued to improve to the point where I believe my coordination and equilibrium are better than they were before this incident occured.

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Such an inspirational story man.

That’s pretty damn amazing.
I’m glad you’ve continued to throw and that it’s meant so much to you.

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Also about the quote you were replying to…

I work with a life coach of sorts once a week (who I was originally referring to here) as well as a talk therapist every few weeks…and they’ve both been very supportive and enthusiastic of my yoing. Especially my therapist.
In fact no one has had any sort of negative reaction to my yoing. They’ve all thought it was pretty dang cool.

It’s kinda cool with my therapist right now…because we’re currently using my yoing as a way to work on my negative self talk and with not giving in. Yoing has become a pretty important learning experience for me.

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You’ve made great progress since you joined the forum. Its been amazing to watch, and I find the way you’ve been rising to meet your challenges incredibly inspiring. I think you’re an awesome dude and I love the upbeat attitude and humor you bring here.

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