I remember the first set of rollerblades I got. I was six years old and my grandfather who lived in New York at the time sent me a pair of perfectly pink, fully plastic rollerblades.
They were as pretty and safe as they were useless. Plastic is not that fantastic when used in the making of a wheel. Thankfully I soon switched to rubber wheels and never looked back.
My golden era of rollerblading was in my teenage years when I chose rollerblades as my preferred mode of transport. I spent hours with friends riding around, gracefully (and sometimes not so gracefully), popping into the shop to pick up snacks.
I took pride when a local shop put a sign out front specifically banning rollerblading. "Rollerblading is not allowed inside," it read. At the time, I thought it must have been the first time anyone had ever erected that sign, as not many people have had the audacity to rollerblade into a shop.
For a moment in time, I was a pioneer of a speedy, wheely, shopping movement.
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When I look back, I don’t have a single bad memory of being on rollerblades and what’s more, the hobby has been something that I had always had in common with my dad.
We both love the seemingly effortless exercise and the feeling of the wind on our faces while discussing important or not-so-important topics.
My dad and I still go on ‘father-daughter dates’ where we both rollerblade. I cherish the quality time we spend riding around for hours, talking about anything and everything, from Star Wars to the meaning of life and relationships.
Rollerblades have also been the thing that connected me and my boyfriend. The first day we met, we arranged to meet and rollerblade by the sea. A few months later we both flew to France and rollerbladed 21 km from Nice to Antibes, the most scenic rollerblading route I have ever done.
Now I live in Brighton and rollerblade regularly on the seafront. The feeling of a breeze on my face helps to wash my worries away.
I started to wonder, do all my happy memories of rollerblading contribute to why I love it so much, and why the sport has become my unlicensed therapist?
To work out why my lifelong hobby makes me so happy, I spoke to Professor Paul Dolan, a behavioural scientist and author of the Sunday Times bestseller Happiness by Design: Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Everyday Life and Happy Ever After: Escaping The Myth of The Perfect Life, both published by Penguin Books.
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Why does rollerblading make me so happy?
Professor Dolan confirmed that my happy memories of rollerblading could be why it still sparks such joy in me today.
“Your brain has wired itself to see rollerblading as a good experience and it's almost like it's become self-fulfilling," he says.
He explains that we find happiness in experiences of pleasure and purpose. "This means things that we do with the people that we are with. Happiness is where our mind wanders, where our attention is directed in our daily lives, towards things that make us feel fun, enjoyment and contentment.
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"I think happy lives are ones that contain a good balance of activities that are on the one hand pleasurable and on the other hand purposeful," he adds.
Paul’s words make a lot of sense to me. I experience a sense of relief whenever I take to my wheels. I am aware I am very lucky to have found a healthy soothing mechanism for myself, something that brings this sparkle of happiness whenever I need it.
As adults we don't often try new things, so many of us have to search out things we love. But it's a good thing to step out of our comfort zone to try new experiences.
“It’s so fundamentally important that we have new experiences and try different things," Paul says. "That way we can work out what we like and what we don’t. And the worst that can happen is that new experiences that you don’t like, you don’t do it again.”
Why do I love rollerblading?
As a resident of Britain’s seaside capital, Brighton, I'm very lucky to have a community of skaters in my city. My boyfriend and I have both met and connected with amazing people while wheeling around the seafront.
Taking to my skates connects me with others in a way that most sports don’t. Rollerbladers in Brighton have an unwritten code to greet one another with a wave, warm smile or even by coming up and introducing themselves.
Brighton has also recently opened Skate 360, a Brighton-only open-air skate rink by the iconic i360 tower at the seafront. The skating ring comes with stunning sea views and you are able to rent out the skates and safety gear to try out the new sport before making the ‘lifelong’ commitment.
Rollerblading is one of my ways to feel more connected, happier and healthier. If you have never tried it before I urge you to give it a try (or a roll), and as Paul said - if you don’t like it, you never need to do it again.
Check out HELLO!'s Happiness Hub for more inspiration on how to be happy