I Jumped

“To live, to TRULY live, we must be willing to RISK. To be nothing in order to find everything. To leap before we look.”

– Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

I FINALLY went skydiving a year ago. See, my friend and I had done one of those time-wasting things on Facebook – give yourself a point for each thing on the list you have NOT done – and we had skydiving as the common one of the three points on our personal lists.

Both of us had been wanting to go skydiving, but neither of us had anyone who would actually go. DESTINY! LOL After many years of being soccer moms together but not actually making time to hangout outside of soccer, this was it. If our sons thought we were crazy already, ha! We’d show them! hahahaha

Planning our adventure was easy:

• She had a recommendation from her cousin to go to Piedmont Skydiving in Salisbury, North Carolina
• We found a Groupon for tandem jumps and scheduled our date and time (although we rescheduled because of a conflict with the original date)
• We found a location for the post-jump beer and burgers at Morgan Ridge Railwalk Brewery and Eatery (because finding where to eat is the first thing I do when planning a trip) 😉

I only mention these points because they’re my recommendations. We enjoyed the best day of adrenaline and beer.

I can understand why people become instructors just to jump as much as possible. It’s a passion. It’s an addiction. It’s probably worth dealing with middle-aged soccer moms now and then. 😉 We were ready to go again even before we landed!

I’m certain you can find plenty of sites that will tell you about skydiving – what to expect, how to plan, and practical stuff – but not here.

Magic and Metaphors

“Most processes leave out the stuff no one wants to talk about: magic, intuition, and leaps of faith.”

– Michael Bierut

When I wrote on Facebook last year that skydiving was a “liberatingly and amazingly awesome event”, I experienced so much peace. The mindfulness kind. The stuff that’s made of being fully present in the moment. I was completely in the experience of skydiving, a complete mind-eraser of everything on the ground, no looking at the past or future, no thoughts of everyday worries… Even my instructor had to remind me I had on a device that was recording for my video and pictures. Oh yeah, souvenirs and social media.

Skydiving feels like a reset button. I would love to do it at least annually.

I spent most of my life afraid of heights. Not even ridiculously high heights. I mean, standing next to a rail looking four stories down at the ground and feeling weak in the knees. I thought that standing at the airplane’s exit, I would be not only weak-kneed but also white-knuckles-grip, ready-to-barf, and need-a-push to get the jump going.

I jumped…

…unafraid…

…from approximately 12,500 feet…

…into a free fall…

…at 120 m.p.h…

…for a little less than a minute…

…and then our parachute opened…

…and we floated…

When my instructor and I weren’t chatting, I was singing A Whole New World from Aladdin while enjoying the ride to the ground. I swear the door of the plane was like a portal to a whole new world for me.

I jumped seven years after I committed to ending each day with gratitude or positive thought.

I jumped a month after I realized I had not answered my calling or passion.

I jumped almost two weeks after I resigned from my corporate job.

I jumped five weeks before my last day at that job and had no “real job” lined up, but I wasn’t afraid.

My manager thought I was crazy for going skydiving, but as I told her, statistically speaking, I have a higher risk of accident or death as a commuter than as a skydiver. 😉

The common joke is “Why jump out of a perfectly good plane?”

But if you’re equipped to enjoy the exhilaration of diving from it, why stay onboard?

If you know you’re fully-supported in pursuing your dreams, why not go for it?

I jumped out of a perfectly good job, but it was no longer serving me to fulfill my purpose. The past year I have taken more leaps of faith than ever. They’re exciting; they’re scary; they’re risks…. sometimes full of uncertainty… but they’re also fulfilling.

I’m trusting my intuition and the thrill of jumping and landing safely where I’m meant to be… and shining my light.

“True faith is not a leap into the dark; it’s a leap into the light.”

– Eric Metaxas

And if you’re wondering, I’m not afraid of heights anymore. 😉

Luceat lux vestra.