#APositiveG - Hailey Lentz

My name is Hailey Lentz and I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I've been skating for about 3 years, I recently have been recovering from a broken foot so I haven't been able to skate as much. Skating means everything to me it literally saved my life.

I lost 3 people within 5 months, I needed a way to cope healthy. I was a senior in high school failing about every class and not caring about anything in my life. That's when skating really impacted me. It helped me develop a community of friends and gave me confidence. All my life I was very insecure but I remember when I landed my first kick turn I felt the most confident I ever felt in my life.

If you don’t skate you don’t see the struggle that most skaters battle with tricks. You see a 20 second Instagram clip and you think it took them like 5 minutes to land when it could’ve taken a year.

My problem is that I always would overthink or listen to what everyone else had to say. As soon as I stopped letting other people tell me what to do I progressed fast. At the end of the day in skating everyone develops their own style so no one can speak on how you perfect your style. Skating has helped me learn self love and self care.. two things I never really cared about at all.

If I could tell the youth anything it would be surround yourself around LOVE everyday and people who actually support you during the hardest times and the best times, mainly around people who have huge hearts. I don't believe in as time goes on things will get better, I believe in changing your environments and people you surround yourself around will help you grow.

I just wish I could give everyone a hug and

tell them it will all be okay its hard not to feel pressured now a days. Overthinking can be a great thing because it can teach you to constantly want to improve on yourself.

- Hailey