Karl Watson is a skateboarder, team manager, video director, author, co-founder of Maxallure Skateboards and a loving dad of 4. One would wonder how he does all this- well, we asked him. An interview that focuses on race and wellbeing and diving deeply into the African skateboarder experience and the mental health effects we all experience when we let society dehumanize our fellow earthlings.
Interview by Neftalie Williams
Photography by Brian Shamanski
Published in April 2021
Hey Karl, how are things treating you?
Things are good brotha, thank you for asking.
You were saying you spent some time in nature recently. Is that how you keep your mental health in check?
Yeah, I have multiple spots that I go to but I like to go anywhere where there’s not a lot of people so I can feel like I am alone in nature. Usually I go to the forest spot in the Redwoods or to a secluded beach and just have time with myself to vibe and clear my thoughts and reconnect. It really helps when you go back to the real world or reality–you feel just more in control.
Have you passed going out into nature on to your family?
You know, I tried to. Definitely, it’s something that we always have done together and I am still trying to encourage my younger sons to do it, [laughs]. A couple weeks ago, we all went, me, my son Jaiya, my son Jonas and my daughter Kaia to the hot springs for a little day trip and you know how it is. They were super reluctant to go, but once they remembered how good it made them feel and all the good memories, as we were coming home they were just super thankful and appreciative that I brought them. It’s one thing that even with Elan I noticed, he had a phase when he was a teenager where he really didn’t care for nature anymore, he just wanted to do other things. I never forced it upon him and now that he’s in his early twenties he seeks nature out. He’ll go to the beach by himself or he’ll go on hikes to waterfalls with his buddies to reconnect. Definitely, I think if you lay the foundation and if you’re appreciative as a parent, your children will often do the same once they come of age.
You planted some seeds right?
Exactly. Just like we never force our oldest son to be vegetarian. We just fed him certain food and gave him options and he made the choice early on to not eat meat.
With everything going on in the World—from the pandemic to social justice protests—how important has it been to find a way to center yourself and take care of your mental health?
Ah, of course! Being the energetic beings that we are, when there’s stuff going on in the World we are all affected, whether we know it or not. It is really important to me to just take a step back and really look at what the true reality of our lives are, which we’re all children of the universe ultimately. We’re gifted with this present moment, we are travelers of the infinite present moment. Just focusing on that and just how vast the world is and how minute our lives actually are, minute yet powerful. It really helps me realize stuff we are going through is pretty small on a universal scale.
Making the time to take care of your mental health, was that something passed down from your mom or was that something you found yourself?
My parents. My dad has always been into cycling and jogging since I can remember. My mom, she was more so about taking that special time to yourself, in the evening time or in the morning. Definitely, we all understand that and hopefully if you enjoy being with yourself, you can understand spending time with yourself is crucial. I don’t know if it was passed down because I’m different. Even though my mom was kinda a hippie, she never would seek out nature spots and I’m the kind of guy, just as we as skaters look for skate spots, I go about and look for unique nature spots. I seek out the road less travelled when it comes to my spots and where I like to relax.
Is seeking nature something you would recommend to skaters and people to help deal with life and one’s mental health?
Only if you’re equipped for it. Seek it out if you desire it. I don’t want people to be doing things they don’t want to do but if there’s some kind of calling where you might want to reconnect and go into nature and attract the negative ions, then yes, definitely go into nature and find those spots where you can be one with reality. The true reality, [laughs].
You’re always loving in your advice and statements and never trying to impose anything on anyone: but as you mentioned earlier, people are learning to enjoy being with themselves, do you think that is important?
100-percent, absolutely. You know why? I feel like you and I were fortunate enough to be born in an era where we weren’t bombarded with social media and stuff to grab our attention and because we have that foundation of we had to be bored as a child, that boredom led me to get my first skateboard; that board led to me landing my first ollie and pursuing skateboarding just as a lifestyle–and so on and so on. Those distractions that we have nowadays, for example: at night time when my daughter goes to sleep, I can either grab my phone and waste an hour going down a rabbit hole and feeling like crap–and after wonder what happened to my time and ask “Why do my eyes hurt?” Or I can read a book or light some candles and relax with nothing bombarding me.
How has making time to get to know yourself helped you?
One thing I find, when you take time to yourself, especially at night time to process the day, we become more receptive to ideas and to information that is supposed to be given to us. Even just like me and tricks, I’ve always had a gift to be sensitive to receiving trick ideas when I am in this relaxed state. When we go into that state, it’s super important to just be and not be bombarded with stuff that takes away your attention because you have to pay attention to yourself. When you do so, we become more receptive to the universal information that is given to us. We are all energy and it just goes deeper and deeper. That’s all I have to say about that.
We grew up in an era where less things were telling us to think about other people’s lives than our own. Now since there’s more things trying to keep from being grounded, would you say it takes more effort?
Yes, good point. It actually does take effort. It’s not easy now to just connect and make the choice that is most healthy for us. When I fall out of the cycle of seeking out nature or when I fall out of the cycle of reading my book in the morning or the evening, it’s so hard to get back into that cycle of what’s ultimately best for me personally. When I get back into it, I notice the benefits. Sometimes it takes getting out of the cycle to realize how beneficial those things really are for you.
Are you doing any yoga or meditation or other things like that or are you mainly using getting into nature and the physical act of skating for your mental health?
With meditation, it’s like what I was talking about with freeing your mind in nature. It’s like meditation for me. I’ve dabbled with your typical meditation but I don’t do it as much as I like. Yoga and stretching again, when I do it, I feel incredible. But it’s one of those things when I fall out of the cycle of doing it, it’s hard to get back into it. Yeah, getting on the ground and stretching is something I need to get back into. One thing I have been paying attention to more, is taking care of my body outside of skateboarding when it comes to physical fitness.
So Karl Watson is still human–even this great skater has things to work on?
Thanks for calling me that, [laughs]. Yeah, being a great skater, that’s secondary to everything else but people put that at the forefront. They think once you can be a great skater you don’t have to be respectful or something. I don’t know man, it’s like being a great skater doesn’t really mean much when you think about it. It shows you have diligence but people put that on a pedestal but there’s way more to life. Even in skateboarding there’s more to everything than being a great skater.
Skateboarding is a part of our lives but it’s not the only part of our lives?
Right, hell no. I mean, a lot of the younger skaters nowadays find other things or they like to make music or do modeling or do other things that make their brand; they cut and sew in their garage or they are printing things. A lot of the youngins and the individuals I am around in the Bay area, they’re doing that and also finding success by rationing out and not just immersing themselves in the skate world. It seems like it’s been beneficial to them.
It’s important to have something that we love besides skateboarding to do?
It’s super healthy. You, you’re a scholar. You’ve reached out and found a lane and it seems to be working out, [laughs]. I know Kareem [Cambell] trips out in seeing how far you’ve come. You guys were really close back in the day and that’s what makes people remember you–when you’re there for them when they’re not highly sought after. Yeah, man. Those were the early days. We believed in you and we still believe in you. Respect.
Thank you so much for the love Karl. Speaking of you, Kareem and myself, do you ever encounter animosity or stereotypes for being a Black man advocating being in nature and healing in nature?
Are you kidding me? That’s a big one. [sigh], Ah man–there’s a lot of damage that has been done [by everyone] when it comes to African American people and [stereotypes] about being in nature or gardening or anything. These feelings arise when I’m working in my front yard, busting ass, sweating–really good and healthy hard work in the yard. Then I get the feeling other people kinda look at me like, “why are you doing that [outdoors] work? They might not really be meaning it [negatively] but it always comes up, unfortunately. The last time I went to the hot springs, before I took my kids there, I stopped by this African store to get some stuff for my hair. I struck up a conversation with the brother that owns it–a really cool guy from Kenya. I think of him as a super open-minded guy, but when I told him I was going to the hot springs, he said he’s never heard of a ‘Black man going to the hot springs!’ [laughing]. [However] I go to the hot-springs– a spot I love and have gone to a couple hundred times. It’s been a big part of revitalizing my body with the nutrients in the water. Usually, I don’t see any people of color but it’s funny he said that then. I went to the hot-springs and the receptionist was a black woman with locks–which made me very happy. Then the second day I saw a lesbian couple–two sisters there doing their thing. We struck up a conversation and you know, I didn’t bring up the obvious but it was good to see some other people of color enjoying the things that other human beings enjoy because honestly, the color of our skin, I don’t know –it’s a part of our story too.
When it comes to race, do you believe those stereotypes of what we should or shouldn’t be doing affect our mental health and how we think about ourselves and how we communicate with other people of color?
Absolutely, 100-percent. As African American skateboarders especially. I know you know what I am talking about, [in skateboarding and scholarship] a lot of your peers are white. People in our community might say, “You’re doing a white-boy thing,” or “that’s not for us, that’s for them.” My goal in life is honestly, to break down these walls that we’ve built up against ourselves that inhibit us. We’re Black or people of color of African descent living in America under these circumstances, but we have to realize we need to un-educate ourselves on certain things [stereotypes] and understand what is and where we are. Does being Black mean you have to sag your pants down to your knees? No. There’s so many misnomers when it comes to being African American, on how we should behave or how we should act.
Society puts these ideas on us to separate us–would you agree?
I mean of course we put it on ourselves but it’s systematic. There’s a long history of trauma we’ve faced here in America and we’re still facing it. It’s way more than a police officer, unfortunately [sigh], there’s these horrible situations but it’s more than a police officer killing a Black man. It’s so much deeper than that. It goes so far back. It’s just insane man. I recommended people of color and people who are not of color who are interested in how we got here after the Civil War to–do your research. Look into the Reconstruction Era and how we got here. I spent my whole life knowing my people were enslaved and I knew how it ended but I never knew all the steps and everything we went through to get here. It was not an easy fucking journey and we have to go back and learn from that history; to learn of our resilience and how much tenacity we have. I mean really, there was so much speculation around us that scholars at the time who would contemplate “If we let them [Black people] go, they’ll probably just become extinct.”
People start to conflate being Black to all these stereotypes but all things we do are Black because you are a Black person. You are a whole human being and should be allowed to live a whole life out-loud; however you want. People forget how while it’s helpful to build community and share common experiences, we can’t let these things be the stereotypes that mess up your mental health or allow others to bring you down, right?
Absolutely, the world forgot that we had civilizations and people that were in power, never knew. Our history was never shared. People weren’t in ‘the wrong’ to think the thoughts they had because that type of mentality was passed down for generations. I feel sorry for people who were in that situation on both sides of the spectrum. Of course I feel sorry for the African and I feel sorry for the European who carried all these stupid systematic beliefs that were forced upon people. I mean, nobody chooses where they are going to be born.
The dehumanizing by one group of people onto another, dehumanizes all people at the same time. What advice would you have for people who want to think critically about this topic?
For people who might feel empathetic, it’s important to understand how people of color got here. If you’re doing the research, you can be white, Black, yellow, green, blue, purple–whatever. Do the research on your own, learn the history and it will make you feel more empathetic to the plight of people who were not fed the best hand when they were born.
When we’re talking about mental health, when people are not treating others as human beings that affects them too even if they don’t know it?
100-percent my friend. It’s this whole misnumber that man is top of the food chain, man is better than this and man is better than that. Man, we are literally one and the same with all these energetic beings of this planet and of this Universe. Thinking we’re better than a freakin’ ant, thinking that we’re better than any lifeform, is disgusting. That is seriously the root of our issue right there because we are not better than anything. We are microbes on this planet just like the little microbes that live in and on our body. That’s all we are. We’re parasites pretty much. We’re doing nothing but harmful things to our planet–how are we supposed to be at the top of the food chain when we can’t even sustain our Mother Earth and damage her?
As sad as it is to talk about, we know there’s been a high rate of suicide and depression amongst young people in general. Obviously, you’re not a clinician but do you have any comments for people trying to find their center or feel better?
It’s funny you say that because the first thing I saw this morning was this guy based in the UK and he was speaking to his followers about mental health. Even he was saying to go out and seek nature. He spoke about Ben Raemers, as we all know who unfortunately passed away due to mental health issues. The skater spoke about how he battled his own mental health issues. He recommended that when he felt certain thoughts he’d go into nature and deal with those thoughts himself because if you go to a medical professional and say, “I’m having these thoughts. I’m feeling depressed and this and that.” They’re going to go down the list and check these boxes saying, “Oh this box equals this medication.” They’re going to give you medication that’s not necessarily the best for you. I want to recommend learning how to deal with those thoughts first. Learn how to deal with those feelings, to work through those emotions. Then if you can’t do it, then that’s when you seek professional medical attention and maybe those medications can help.
Maybe you need professional medical attention, maybe you don’t but it’s important we don’t ignore them when we start to have those feelings and do whatever is going to help that particular individual, right?
Exactly, 100-percent agree. There’s nothing wrong with taking medication, there’s nothing wrong with not. That was just some advice I heard that was along the lines of my story and what I do to deal with my mental process. One thing that would be good though, would be for someone to pinpoint those feelings so that when we have those feelings we have the tools to recognize when they arise. That’s a good starting point so instead of having those feelings and not knowing what’s going on, you don’t react but you have the tools to know, “Oh that’s what Karl was talking about–now I can do this.” I feel like we need something to share this kind of information with skaters and hopefully gain some great insight on the issues of mental health.
That’s exactly what we’re hoping to accomplish with this mental health issue: How do we take care of each other? How do we accomplish breaking down these stereotypes and these stigmas around mental health issues for skateboarders?
Exactly. Remove these stigmas and stereotypes because nobody is perfect. We all have some bad thoughts and difficult emotions to work through. I’m definitely an example of that. I definitely have a smile on my face but it takes a lot of work to keep it there. There are many times you know, I’ve been through a lot in my life–I’ve been in some dark places myself. That’s why I know for a fact if you spend time with yourself in nature and step away from the reality that’s fed to us and reconnect with yourself, I know it’s super-beneficial experience.
If you were to have a last word to speak on mental health or a message you would like to send to our community?
I just want to say or to let people know, don’t be afraid to look outside the box. Don’t believe everything that you are fed. All the information that you hear and see out there, you have to do your own research–don’t believe everything at face value because sometimes there’s people who like to deceive others. Do your own research, that’s what it is. Don’t believe the hype. Just find what works for you. As skaters, we innately think outside the box–keep that same energy when it comes to all elements of life.
IG: @karl_watson_
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