I intentionally titled this piece “for the fearful” because I don’t consider myself a daredevil nor am I fearless. Skydiving is crazy right? The fact that humans decide to jump from a moving aircraft must surely sound crazy. Well apparently I’m one of those crazy humans because I decided to leap from a moving aircraft.
Fun fact: I found skydiving less terrifying than bungee jumping
I went skydiving in Wonderboom, Pretoria, South Africa. My jump was in tandem of course, not only because I’m a beginner, but also because I wouldn’t have it any other way. Here are the stages I went through when sky diving:
I was initially excited as I walked with the crew to the aircraft. I was fully kitted in my gear and ready to take a leap of faith
As the aircraft ascended, I started feeling knots in my stomach. The aircraft kept on ascending higher and higher and the ground kept on getting further. I faked a smile and tried to put on a brave face
Then, then the instructor gave me the nod to signal that it’s time to go. At this point I was going through a moment of regret. I thought to myself that I had come this far and so I decided to go for it
I was now strapped in in tandem with the instructor. We both stood up and headed to the open door
We positioned ourselves at the door in tandem ready to go. At this point I realized it’s too late to fight it
Then in a few seconds, we were free-falling. It was now up to gravity to fulfill it’s purpose
As we were falling, I struggled to breath because of the speed and pressure. But yet I still managed to scream my lungs out
I was now surrendering myself to my death because I realized how stupid I must be to even consider doing this
Before I could move on to my next grim thought, the parachute went up. I started to feel sane again and realized that I survived
At this point, I started enjoying the view below and realized that I was a total rockstar. The instructor even allowed me to steer the parachute
When it was time to land, I had to repeatedly remind myself where to place my legs to avoid losing my limbs
Celebrate! Because I had just done something that most people are too afraid to do.
Inno_landscapes 