The Only Thing To Fear Is Fear Itself - My Skydiving Experience

My son, Jacob, has always been a bit of a daredevil. I’m not sure how young he was when he came up with the idea of going skydiving. It’s been at least five years. Having zero interest in seeing my son jump out of a plane, I told him he would have to wait until he turned 18. I hoped he would change his mind. He didn’t. He realized that he would turn 18 right around when Jason was turning 50. So, wouldn’t that be fun to do together? That was always the plan. The two guys whom I love so much were going to jump out of a plane. Good for them. I had no desire.

Until recently. I mean, I didn’t want to miss out. That would be a pretty incredible experience to share with them. And I am always talking about training your mind and facing your fears; so shouldn’t I face this fear? Without much thought, I told them that I wanted to tag along. And then the fear set in. What was I thinking? I chickened out years ago about jumping off of the Stratosphere. What if I chickened out? Or had a panic attack? Last week, I was terrified. Really questioning my decision. But I knew that it was mind over matter and I needed to get mind right. I looked for videos and podcasts about getting up your courage. I was very careful not to open up those youtube videos that talked about skydive fails. I looked at this as an opportunity to change my life. Because if I did it. I would forever know that I could do things even if they were scary. It’s only 40 seconds (free fall that is). You can do anything for 40 seconds.

I looked at the statistics. Skydiving is way safer than getting in a plane. I knew my real fear wasn’t of death. I wouldn’t have jumped out of a plane if I thought I would be leaving my daughter without a mother. My fear was simply the fear itself. The BEST video I watched was by Will Smith. Will talked about the fear he had all week before his skydive. He talked about the fear the night before, the day of, the plane ride up. All of that time he was safe. He was on the ground; yet he was terrified. Then, he jumped. And the moment he jumped, the fear went away. The moment he jumped…the REAL time you are in danger…he was no longer afraid.

I got myself so mind right that my fear actually dissipated that morning. You will see in my video that I was feeling pretty calm even on the ride up. And once we jumped out, I just enjoyed the ride.

Of course, I have to remind you that this all applies to your life. I could care less whether you skydive. But I care truly about what you are holding back on because of fear. I get so incredibly pumped up when I think about what this world would be like if you did all the things that you are too afraid to do. What is it for you? Where is fear -False Evidence Appearing Real? Let it go. Jump!

Thank you Pacific Sky Diving for taking such good care of me! And thanks to Eric for keeping my laughing the whole time!