Thursday 23 February 2017

Skydive

BUCKETLIST TICK #1

It's been almost a year since I ticked this one off my bucket list. Skydiving has sat at the very top of my bucket list for many years, so when an opportunity arose during my final year of University I took my chance. One year later and I'm still not sure if anything I will ever do will top this one... but that's the goal, to find something that does.

(my best impression of a chipmunk)


This was written days after my jump... 

Skydiving has always taken first place on my bucket list. I've always been a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. I jumped with Bath Spa University, who chose to donate the money raised to their charity of the year, Ditch the Label – the UK's biggest anti-bullying charity. We jumped with the GoSkydive company in Salisbury. Luckily my friend, also my housemate of two years, wanted to take the jump too. I knew at some point in my life I would have ticked this off my list. It was just a question of when.

Ticking it off at what I sometimes feel is the old age of 21, but is actually the very start of my life, feels amazing. There’s nothing to say that just because I’ve ticked off my number one bucket list goal in life that there is no topping that experience. I’m sure there's plenty I've yet to think of that I may cross off one day. Beating this experience is going to be pretty tough though.

I didn't dread the jump as such, but I'm not scared of heights. I find being up high quite relaxing. But for some, I can imagine skydiving would be a very daunting experience and therefore you may not believe me when I say it was amazing. You may be sitting there reading this thinking ‘she is mad, absolutely lost it’, and you wouldn’t be alone. All the members of my (small) family are scared of heights and tend to be a little more normal than me. My parents were very worried about my dive and hated to hear that I loved it.





There are a few factors that played into my skydive going well. I feel very lucky that I had a wonderful instructor to dive with, Mark. He's an experienced ex-military jumper, who happens to just be filling his weekend with this at the moment. (How amazing – I’d love to fill my spare time jumping out of planes all day – or you know, all of my time)



(I don't think I've ever smiled so much) 

I’ve always loved adrenaline-heightening things and heights make me feel on top of the world the majority of the time. As I’m from Cornwall, for me, there’s nothing better than standing on the edge of a cliff and feeling the wind in your face and taking in an amazing view. Jumping out of a plane basically took all those factors and added a little danger. (Plus a man strapped to your back – if you like that kind of thing. Oh, and if you've noticed from the pictures, you get to wear these really embarrassing hats. Enticed yet?)

I was so overwhelmed with excitement, so much so that my face could not contain my smile. There wasn’t a single second of the jump that I didn’t enjoy. My friend who jumped with me said she didn’t really know what was going on for the first part of the free fall. The instructors told us before hand that this can happen due to your mind catching up with how fast things are happening. I stayed as calm as I could during the build up to the jump. I think this helped me make the most of my experience.




If you’re one for views, there’s nothing better than the moment you steady after the parachute has gone up and you hang there taking in the Earth below you. I was in awe – and crying cause I took my goggles off and it was a bit windy up there – but I was mostly in awe. I jumped in Salisbury so the whole Plain was below me.




Overall, this experience really reminded me of the way I want to live my life – in a crazy, adventurous and unordinary way. And if I get to help people out (through charity fundraising or other means) then that's even better.



I can’t wait to see what adventures I come up with next.


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