Hardest thing about being a foiler - Small talk with normies in the regular world

Prone Surf Foiling
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Honestly getting stopped on the beach is FINE cause people generally want me to talk about foiling but man, going to kids birthday parties or having to small-talk to regular people at work. Its brutal. Rarely i’ll have a nice conversation with someone who is as passionate about something else - like deer hunting or motorcycles or i don’t know making hand thrown pottery - and you can see the spark of life in their eyes but god do regular people even LIVE?!?! How do they get out of bed every day?

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I’ve completely given up trying to explain how downwinding works/is possible to any non-foiling or windsport friends. Within 5 seconds I see the eyes just start to glaze over haha.

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Just recognize that everyone has some passion. It might be work, family, reading, music, history or Magic the Gathering. Might not resonate with you (or me), but try to find some commonality in exploration of that passion. Don’t make it about you - ask them about what drives them. Agree, its not easy sometimes, and those people probably won’t be your closest friends, but just like you think their passions are boring, they might think the same about yours. Shared passions are what generally distinguishes my closest friends from others, but I’m also good friends with plenty of people who have no interest in my passions but are just good people and interesting or admirable for other reasons and I can learn from them.

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Twice people in work have asked what’s that “Portal” you are on, imagining some kind of dark-web or UAP shenanigans. I usually mumble about wing span, BARG factor and flite boards and then tell them I’m off to fly across the bay for the evening. I’ve got my own table at lunch out of it.

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92inia

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I actually really enjoy not talking about foiling. It takes up so much space in my brain that it’s a great break for me to hear what’s going on in other peoples lives. The harder part for me can be sharing what I’m excited about because it takes a little practice to make myself relatable when talking about foiling. I usually just say “I have a special board that allows me to surf the river and I do it a lot.”

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