Skydiving at 16!

This weekend (on Easter Sunday), I jumped off a plane at an altitude of 13,000 feet!

My heart was beating and my body was shaking as I stepped into the plane. In those ten minutes, I could feel nothing but the chills of fear of jumping, despite my amazing instructor Benji trying his best to calm me down.

And then the moment came!

The plane door opened, and I watched the first two people fall into the sky, one of them being my twin sister. Then it was my turn. Benji and I crouched at the door of the plane, I looked out into the sky all around me, and I took the biggest jump of my life.

What Skydiving Taught Me About Fear:

In life, there are always some things that scare each of us. When I was very little, I had a fear of almost everything. The wind would scare me (Ancraophobia). Loud noises would scare me (Phonophobia). Fast things would terrify me (Tachophobia). I would barely ever swing on playground swings because of how it made my stomach have that dropping sensation! Due to fears, we can often doubt ourselves a lot, and hence we refrain from doing anything we find too scary. We end up limiting ourselves. Skydiving forced me to “Just Do It” and stop being controlled by my fears. Many of us live in a safe box of limited habits, but by throwing ourselves out there, we push our own boundaries and see the real us, the US we never knew existed.

Another lesson I learned is about perspectives. A lot of naysayers assume that skydiving or bungee jumping is insanely risky. But statistically speaking, you are more likely to die being struck by lightning or stung by a bee than from sky diving! (National Safety Council, 2018). Sometimes, we make things big and scary in our heads because we are afraid to break out of the boxes we have trapped ourselves in. Stepping out of our comfort zones might sound scary in theory but in reality, it is where the big magic begins.

If we never leave our comfort zones, we will never be able to experience the exciting things about life. Over analyzing everything and at every time doesn’t help us in too many ways. If I would have thought too much beforehand, I probably would have talked myself right out of even trying. Sometimes, we just have to let go of all our fears, trust the journey, and enjoy the ride.

The last thing I learnt is that I can do anything I set my mind to. Skydiving gives us this huge boost of unique inner power. Impossible is a word I threw out of my dictionary. There will be so many things out there in the world that will scare me. But I will never know the things I can do until I go for it. If I can muster up the courage to jump out a plane, I have the ability to conquer any other fear that crawls into my life!

(Me on your left, my twin sister on your right):

Here is a short video of me falling down the sky:

– SaaniaSparkle 🧚🏻‍♀️