Good afternoon everyone, I just wanted to do a little return and report on a previous article that I wrote a couple of months ago. For those of you who are new to my blog, here is a link to the article https://consideritcompetition.com/2013/12/12/misogi/. If you don’t have time to read about what Misogi is, I will give a brief summary. Basically the theory of Misogi is that we all get caught up in the day to day grind of life. We become too narrow minded and lose sight of the big picture. So every once in a while we need to do something to help us realize that we are more than a 9 to 5 job, and that there is more to life than simply acquiring possessions. By getting out of our comfort zones we can really find out what we are made of.
In my article I talked about how I wanted my Misogi to be skydiving. Today I did just that. Funny story of how the opportunity fell right into my lap. This past week I was in Naples, Florida on a business trip. As I was at the airport I received a text from one of my friends who said, “I have an extra groupon ticket for skydiving tomorrow at 8 o’clock.” As I read this text, I thought to myself, ” Wow I may actually be jumping out of a plane tomorrow morning?” My response was quick, ” Sure why not.” As I traveled back to Raleigh I really thought about my decision. Do I really want to jump out of a plane? What if I die? Would it be painful? I decided that I was going to go for it!
This morning I met up with the guys to ride over there. On our ride we are all talking about our impending adventure. As we were riding the guys kept bringing up scenarios that had not even crossed my mind. For example, one guy was talking about this thing he saw on youtube of how an instructor blacked out and the person attached to him was killed. I must admit I never thought about that. Another guy was talking about how they have one of those sign that reads, ” Days since last work related fatality.” This was a joke luckily there was no sign visible.
As we exited the car to head into the hangar we were immediately handed all sorts of liability papers. Then the lady goes over this special section, she tells us, ” If you guys want to pay a $ 1,000 dollars before you go up, it gives you the right to sue us.” I would of liked to have had a picture of the look that I gave her. I asked her, ” So you are saying this $ 1,000 dollars gives my family the right to sue you in the event of my death today?” She responded with a swift yet calm reply, “Yes.”
After I finished literally signing my life away, we headed out to watch the first group of the day. As I looked upwards, I could barely see the plane and these tiny dots falling out of it. At this point I was feeling more confident, everyone made it down. I must admit selfishly the thought crossed my mind that if one of these people didn’t make it down alive then I had a much better chance statistically of surviving. I am joking I didn’t really wish that at all. Statistically speaking a fatality occurs 1 out of 100,000 jumps.
Following that group our names were called to head into the briefing room. There we were all paired with our guides that we would be entrusting our lives to. My guides name was Stu. He was quiet the character, I asked him how long he has been jumping and he responded quickly, “this is my second weekend, I still haven’t lost anyone yet.” I could tell that he was indeed joking. Turns out that Stu was a paratrooper in the military. This gave me even more confidence. As I put of the jumpsuit and he harnessed me up he went through some basic bullet points and procedures that we would have to follow. Basically just telling me where my hands need to go and what form we would use upon our exit.
All locked in we then made our trek to the plane. I must admit it was a little difficult walking as the harness and jumpsuit were tightly secured, however, I was not complaining regarding this fact. We loaded the plane and began down the runway. I must admit there is something about flying in a smaller aircraft that makes everything just a little bit more interesting. As we slowly climbed to our exiting altitude of 13,500 feet ( roughly 2.5 miles) I gazed out the window. When you fly commercially you tend to reach altitude so quickly it’s difficult to take in the scenery. Throughout our ascension I was glued to the window. It was absolutely beautiful. North Carolina is a wonderful state. As I looked down on the multitudes of trees, rivers, farmlands, and overall greenness of our State, I was very appreciative of my opportunity. I wasn’t nervous at that moment at all. I literally forgot that I would be exiting this perfectly functioning aircraft in a matter of minutes.
I was then snapped back into the present as Stu attached our harnesses together, he then said, “Pull left! Pull right!” Just to make sure we were locked in. Shortly after the red light turned on. Which signaled it was go time, and the hatch was opening. Stu and I were the last ones to jump out. As I watched my friends go ahead of me all of my fears melted away. My feelings were replaced with excitement and pure adrenaline. Stu reminded me of the proper form just before we exited.
Before I even had a chance to think what am I doing? We were rolling out of the aircraft. I immediately arched as he had told me and we began to free fall, reaching speeds of about 110 miles per hour. I recalled what Stu had told me regarding the free fall, to focus on one spot, this would allow me to better recall the experience. As we were free falling, I completely lost sight of all of my worries. I was totally in the present.
Stu tapped me on my shoulder, which was the signal to grab a hold of my harness, he then pulled the cord to release the parachute. The transition was much smoother than I anticipated. As I was free falling it was noisy, but once the chute was deployed it was stunningly quiet. As I looked in ever direction for miles, I could see the Raleigh Skyline, cows that appeared to be ants, the Shearon Harris Power Plant in the distance. Just for perspective the power plant is roughly 50 miles from where we took off from. After I took in all the sights, I asked Stu if we could do some corkscrews. He was happy to do so.
Afterwards he told me that we would start towards our landing zone. He went through our approach with me and proper hand placement on the reins. As we descended, we both yanked on the reins and extended our legs upwards and came to a safe sliding landing about 20 feet from where we took off from. Safely on the ground I thanked Stu, I then went and met up with my friends. We were all still in shock that we just jumped from a plane, we were still all on an adrenaline high.
Walking back into the hangar I recalled the experience in my mind. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I was hooked. I want to recapture that rush of the free fall, followed by the peaceful glide towards the ground. I must say that in my case it helped me gain a new perspective of what is important. It was a great way to jolt myself back into the present and remember that we are not guaranteed anything in this life. We need to take advantage of the opportunities we are given.
Don’t be afraid of trying something new. Don’t be afraid to standout from the crowd. It is so easy to get lost in the crowd and forget that we are all individuals. That we all have unique qualities that can help make the world a better place. I encourage everyone to go out and do that one thing that you have been scared to do. Maybe it’s bull riding? Going on a shark dive? Flying for the first time? A marathon? Public speaking? To quote the famous Nike slogan, “Just Do It!”
Nunc Coepi 