As a skydiver, I often get asked the question: ‘But Why?’
And like always, my answer is nothing more and nothing less than: 'Why Not!’
My first conscious memory of wanting to jump out of a plane was when I was travelling to Rhodes on the annual holiday with my father. I was around 6 years old and I just remember looking out of the window and wanting so desperately to jump out of the plane and touch the perfectly shaped, fluffy formation of the stunning sheer white blanket that stretched out ahead of us for as far as I could see.
Of course, now I’m older, I appreciate that most people at any age have probably thought the same thing. But the feeling of wanting to fall out of the plane and land on the clouds never left me.
I only really considered a skydive when I got to Uni age and they had an campus skydiving group. I was so excited I felt sick to my stomach. However, it took me a further 3 years to overcome that intense fear.
Nevertheless, I made it up to 13000ft on 4th March 2012 with a dear friend who had taken the right steps to encourage me to… just do it!
What I loved about my first jump was the feeling in the doorway where every part of my body, soul and being was telling me to not do something… and then I went ahead and did it anyway. It’s such a cliche, (and I do try to avoid them where possible!) but that feeling is totally and utterly indescribable.
If you do one thing in your life to push your own boundaries then jump out of a plane. It’s humbling and exhilarating at the same time. I promise you won’t regret it.
You see, the thing about skydiving is it’s only truly scary the first few times you do it. Once you get the hang of it suddenly the act of getting out of the plane is as easy as stepping on a bus and the hard part is learning to fly at terminal velocity, along side another person.
The reality is that when you’re learning, you fail at trying to (quite literally) chase someone around the sky!
It’s a great way to spend the weekend :)
So yesterday, I participated in the Skydive Dubai Skills Camp during which I did 4 skydives with 2 people I’d not properly met before. It was a great experience!
The blog post was inspired by my experience under canopy yesterday where I had the familiar yet unfamiliar feeling you get when you look at something you know so well and then suddenly, your perception shifts and you see it as though you were setting eyes on it for the first time again? It’s almost a flashback, but almost like you’d forgotten entirely where you are… It was a strange feeling I must admit but I felt this sudden connection with my first skydive and wanted to share it with the world.
So there you have it. Daily routines can get monotonous from time to time, but mixing it up with a plummet to earth at 0730 on your weekends ensures nothing about life gets boring.
