JUST JUMP - TRUST YOURSELF!

Recently I was able to tick one of the big items off my bucket list.  I had carried this dream around for years always saying one day I will do it. I’m a bit of an adrenalin junkie and doing a tandem skydive has been one of my goals since landing in the chair. Three months later I'm still reeling from the adrenalin whenever I think about it. I actually did this! 

The thought of facing fear head on and daring it to break me (again) has been my mode of operandi for many years now. Somehow I have this internal faith that when faced with fear I push through it and know I’ll be ok at the other end. However, excuses and timing always got in the way, until it got taken out of my hands. Sometimes the universe gets tired of the opportunities you ignore and then creates situations to force the hand and make you do it anyway.

My partner, whom I had met for a short time got wind of it and my birthday was the excuse. The lead up to the day was full of excited anticipation. I was surprised that I did not get anxious about jumping. I could visualise it and I felt so confident that I would be ok. The day before leaving, the phone call came that I may not be able to jump as scheduled due to weather. My heart fell and a little disappointment set in but typical me, I always find the silver lining in every situation. The road trip to Bateman’s Bay was going to be fun anyway, it was going to be a first for my partner and I. 

The long and the short of it we were able to jump the morning after the scheduled day. I am in the hanger getting ready, calm as a cucumber, excited that this was going to happen and I was going to get to do it with my brother-in-law. My sister and her family were also there with my partner, ready to see us come down, thinking we are both nuts and they would never do it. Maybe it’s the stubborn Taurus personalities we both have but we were excited and not worried at all.

We loaded up into the plane and the anticipation to jump was there. My brother-in-law jumped out first. Then I had to position myself at the opening of the door. Still no fear at this stage, all good. My instructor Chris and the pilot working together to get my legs out the door. Of course at this precise moment my legs had to spasm and stiffen, causing us to take longer to get my feet over. 

As they were helping, Chris bumped something on the controls and the plane tipped sideways making me grip for dear life as I could see the ground coming towards me and panicking that my legs weren’t ready. At this point I experienced total fear, my photos and video reveal it all in that split second. I can’t deny it. This was something I hadn’t visualised and it was unexpected so it caught me off guard. My heart was in my throat and my mind was going a mile a minute. Very quickly the pilot righted the plane, my legs came out, we jumped out and tumbled towards Earth. 

The most amazing feeling of release overwhelmed me. A total giving up of control. Quite frankly now, at this point there was nothing to do but trust the universe to carry us safely down. In these few seconds I felt totally free, light as a feather. Looking back at this feeling it reminds me of the day I decided I would give my partner a go and give this relationship all I had. It was that same sense of giving up control and just accepting what comes. It was liberating and in a weird way actually felt like I was in more control than I had ever been. 

The free fall was amazing and then the parachute opened and the world was upright again. Will Smith’s quote “The best things in life are on the other side of your maximum fear” totally resonated with me at this point. I had just experienced a second of maximum fear, the most conscious feeling of fear I had ever had and now the view below was total bliss. 

The blue green waters of the south coast on a clear blue-sky day was so very special. I felt like the day had a touch of divine intervention, I truly connected on a spiritual level through this. It could not have been more perfect. Completely worth the experience and so unique I will never experience it exactly like this again.

The crew at Skydive Oz at Moruya NSW made the experience possible. Their attitude and mindset is right up there as an example of promoting an inclusive world. Without compromising on safety they encourage empowerment and facilitate living a life unbroken! With or without the wheelchair, here I could experience life like everyone else.

Just jump - into anything that drives you, trust yourself to be successful at it because you are way better than you give yourself credit for. Beat the broken parts and live life the unbroken way.