Charity Skydiving: on my own, first go

Having volunteered since the age of 13, I was quite eager once again to join ActionAid to raise money for a good cause...this time though I was even more excited with the opportunity to tick one of the items on my Bucket List off - skydiving.

Despite having the appearance of being a bit of an adrenaline junkie who loves roller coasters, wakeboarding and snowboarding, and always being keen to try new things, I am by no means without fear.Sitting at the top of a theme park ride that drops over a 100ft will certainly get my heart rising up to my throat in anticipation and the thought of standing on the top of a bridge just moments before bunjee jumping gets my blood thumping. The thought of skydiving, by myself on my first go, was no different but I was definitely up for the challenge.

For me, every difficult and scary situation is a challenge awaiting and the mental battle and overcoming of your own fear is one huge success. It was how I had learnt to push myself to my limits to learn to snowboard and overcome my fear of the increasing speed downhill, the greater slopes, and it was how I overcame the increased anticipation of more pain after 2 days of thudding falls and bruises. The leap of faith from a plane was a fear I knew I needed to overcome once the idea to try had entered my mind.

In preparation, first, I pushed all thoughts of the actual skydiving from my mind and battled the urge to run the play of events of doing the skydive, concentrating on raising the money. It worked - I managed to raise sufficient funds and did not shudder at the thought of jumping, on my own at all.


Second, I avoided any the possibility of being convinced not to do it by my parents, by not letting my parents know until only a week in advance as I knew they would attempt to persuade me to back out. Surprisingly, they were more supportive than I expected but I think that was just from experience. They knew that once I had decided to do it, I would go all the way and would not back out. So all I got was the "Be careful" talk, thankfully.


Third, I employed the support of my partner who drove there and spent the hours watching my training and providing my with moral support. It didn't take too much convincing but it actually left me with the added feeling of guilt as I watched him wait and do nothing whilst I went through my training.

So as it goes, I successfully managed to remain calm until my completion the information recall, plane jumping techniques, parachute releases, landing rolls and other training procedures in the few hours I had on the morning of my jump. But on seeing the small plane pull in in then climbing in, I was hit with my first wave of fear. My heart started beating faster and I had the tingly nervous sensation surging up to my throat. All I could do was wait.

We received more training on what to do in the plane then all boarded as instructed. As I faced the end of the small plane and as we flew up into the air, I noticed every small movement the small plane made which you would not normally feel in the large plane, and my second wave of panic came. Being one who gets travel sick with repeated sharp turns, the thought of having not thought of taking travel sickness pills beforehand and the possibility of feeling sick before even reaching out target height got to me. I was feeling a bit panicky and unsettled. Then as I noticed the 10 others in the plane who were skydiving with me, sat in our respective given positions my third wave of panic came, initiated by the thought that I could be the embarrassing one who would be unable to make the leap out of the plane and would be the one to hold others up.


However, it was on seeing the 3 others in front of me jumping one after the other that my desire to overcome the challenge kicked in and it was at that moment I decided I could not bear the embarrassment of being the only one not able to jump, more so than having to push myself in that split second to trust in my ability and safety. Peering out at the blue sky and clouds rushing by, I pushed myself out and my mind went blank - I did not remember the procedures, did not count as I was supposed to, but luckily, I managed to do what was required to release my chute.

As I floated down, I felt my success and the experience was definitely breathtaking, scary, exhilarating. More so, it was amazing to be able to say I jumped by myself on my first go. It was definitely an experience I would recommend, more as a great mental challenge than a physical one, if you happen to be looking for one!