I WENT SKYDIVING

I have always said that I would never skydive. Many people say that skydiving is on their bucketlist and I simply did not. My friends would always ask me if I would go and I would reply “absolutely not.” Even the pure thought of soaring through the air with nothing but a parachute to save you made my palms sweaty. When I was in Australia, Becca, my flatmate, asked me if I would skydive with her when we visited Queensland. I would reply with a “maybe,” but knew when it came down to it, I would decline. Becca and I were eating breakfast at Watson’s Bay when we got the email that we had to return home immediately due to travel advisories regarding the coronavirus (view my other post for more details). One of the first comments Becca made was, “We have to go skydiving before we leave.” So, she immediately called Skydive Sydney and asked if they had any spots available in the next few days. They had an opening for the day after the next (which ended up being our last day in Australia). She asked me if I would do it and all of me wanted to say no, but considering the circumstance, I said yes. I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go, I wanted to overcome my fear, and make my last moments in Australia memorable. We booked it over the phone and gave them our credit card information. There were no refunds so there was no turning back. I had contacted my friends and family to let them know I had to leave Australia and that I was also skydiving before I left. They were sad to hear I had to go and were proud of me and excited that I decided to skydive after always saying I would never do it. I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the day of the jump. I would catch myself overthinking it and finding it hard to breath. In my head I would say “I don’t think I can do this.” Sunday rolled around and I was surprisingly calm. Maybe because I was in disbelief that I was going to jump out of a plane in a few hours. Becca and I took the bus to the city where there was another bus that would take us to Wollongong which is an hour and a half south of Sydney. When we arrived, there was a lot of waiting around because we had to fill out forms, pay for insurance, wait for our group to be called, gear up, and drive to the airport. It was finally our turn to go. As we headed to the airport, I had to do some deep breathing because I was starting to get nervous. The bus ride was 20 minutes and it was torture. We arrived at the hanger and there was a tiny airplane waiting for us. About 20 people loaded into the plane through a vertical sliding door and straddled two benches. I noticed I was in the back, so I was going to be one of the last ones to jump and had to watch everyone in front of me jump. As we were going up, I was nervous but not as scared as I thought I would be. I knew when I started seeing everyone in front of me exit the plane I was going to get really scared. After 20 minutes, it was go time. People started jumping quickly one after the other and soon it was my turn. I found myself sitting on the edge of the plane and before I knew it, I was falling from 15,000 ft in the air. Once I jumped, all fear left my body and all I felt was exhilaration. The 60 seconds I was falling was the coolest moment of my life; nothing can compare. Once the parachute was pulled, we slowly floated to the ground and got to enjoy the beautiful view. I 100% recommend skydiving to anyone who has ever even had the slightest thought of doing it and advise those who say they would never do it (like me) to reconsider. You can experience amazing things when you overcome your fears!