I went skydiving last month. Yes me. Anyone who knows me a little might think, you?! However, I chose to jump with some of my colleagues.
Choices, choices
In office there had been talk about skydiving for months, one of my colleagues had once been and he strongly advised us to do it once too. Slowly I decided to join. Two days before the spring day, I bought my ticket as last one of the group. From that moment on, I slept badly every night. I was so nervous, partly subconscious. The night before jumping I literally did not sleep. The whole ride to Texel and while waiting for our springmoment I have been in my own head, sunk in my own mind.
Coping with the tension
Although our group of 9 had a great time, everybody handled their nervousness in their own way. Some asked a lot of questions, to the people of the center, to each other. Occasionally a big sigh here and there. And doubts. I think I have heard and said the sentences “What are we doing?”, “Why are we doing this?” about 50 times.
I was mainly “surviving” until the moment of the jump. And then it’s time: put on your jumpsuit and your armor and walk over to the plane. Halfway to the plane you meet your tandemmaster. The person responsible for your jump.
On the plane
A funny, happy man walks up to me and says, “May I be your tandemmaster?”. Of course I answer. While I think again, what am I doing? Still in my mind, along with my tandemaster, I continue to the plane. When seated, I can finally enjoy: I can not turn back anyway.
The view is incredibly beautiful, jokes are made, you enjoy the people around you. Happy, nervous, happy, nervous. I’m at the front of the plane, which means I’m one of the first to jump. Second of my group to be precise.
The plane must reach 9000 feet / 3 km before the first one is allowed to jump. Suddenly the door opens. My heart stops for a while (it feels like that anyway), between me and the door is just one of my colleagues with his tandemmaster. In front of me is the cameraman and beside him is a boy who is going to jump alone. The boy jumps first, within 1 second he is out of sight. Like being sucked in a vacuum hole.
My turn
And then it my turn. Before I know it, I’m on the edge of the plane and I jump: with my head first! The free fall takes about 30 seconds and passes before I even notice.
Once the parachute opens, there is silence, rest and an indescribable feeling all at once. Really, like you’re flying. The view is great! My tandemmaster lets me determine the direction of the parachute for a while, and I fully enjoy the descent.
Enjoy the ride
Once on the ground, I can finally relax. Afterwards I think to myself: why all the stress? I wanted to jump? Sure, just about everyone is scared to jump out of an airplane. But once you made the choice to do it, why not accept and experience it? And it was not so scary after all! So I proved myself again that fear should not determine your life, you do not know what it’s gonna be like, so what are you trying to accomplish with letting fear and stress control your days?
Why I think everybody has to jump once, Will Smith might better explain:
