Does Skydiving Help You Face Your Fears?

If you have never done it before, skydiving is really scary. We are all basically monkeys, conditioned to be frightened of things we can fall from as a means of helping keep us alive. Our survival instincts developed as we evolved from tree-climbing fruit-pickers, and we still have them now. However, we are also curious and inventive – ultimately figuring out ways to fly about like those feathery bird creatures. Parachuting existed even before airplanes did, but it really got going after WW2 taught us how to do it en masse. Relatively speaking, jumping from airplanes has been around for the blink of an eye in the whole human story, but we find it very compelling. Humans like to feel scared for a few reasons, and skydiving can teach you a lot about fear…   

Skydiving Equipment

Parachutes are both very simple and quite complicated all at the same time. The basic format is largely unchanging – some fabric and string folded up into a backpack that is harnessed to your body. In reality, modern skydiving equipment is very well designed to do what it is supposed to do – using science, and sophisticated technology throughout. You always have two parachutes, plus an automatic activation device – should you happen to forget to activate the deployment process at the right altitude. Overall, parachutes are precise and highly reliable, but even knowing this in advance gives you small comfort when squaring up to skydiving for the first time. The reasoning parts of your brain are telling you to not be scared, but the rest of you is likely not listening. 

Fear of Skydiving

Skydiving is a very good way to challenge yourself, face your fears, and venture outside of your comfort zone. It is perhaps both the original extreme sport and the most common overall bucket list item there is. If you have never jumped before then the fear is real, and although you cannot be quite sure exactly what to expect once you do jump – it is easy to perceive that it is something epic. Feeling both anxious and excited at the same time is one of the awesome things about your first skydiving experience. Before you head to the dropzone you might feel more anxious than anything else – but once you arrive and see things in action this should switch around in favor of gradually building excitement. There is nothing better to help you get psyched about jumping than by turning up early and watching other people land from their jumps. 

The Jump

The most important thing to know is that once you jump all the fear is instantly gone. You have done it now – facing your fear of skydiving is now complete and the jump has only begun. Outside of the aircraft, there is only the feeling of pure joy as you fly around the sky while falling at terminal velocity. Excitable famous man Will Smith completed a skydive over Dubai and has been enthusiastic about sharing these very same thoughts.     

Skydivers

People that become skydivers are not special – they are exactly the same as everyone who was scared before their first jump. If you ask around you will likely be surprised at how many skydivers got involved following the exact process of using a skydive as a means to face their fears. Skydiving is an amazing, thrilling, satisfying experience that can be repeated over and over again, and while you get used to being a little bit scared – the pre-jump tension never fully goes away. What does happen is that you know what is coming – that outside of the plane everything is perfect and the rewards are huge.

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Skydiving is a very good way to face your fears because it is pretty scary and outrageous while actually being highly managed and relatively low-risk. Skydiving can teach you a lot about how brave you really are, and after you have done it you feel amazing and other challenging things can now seem easier to overcome. We are waiting for you!