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npgraphicdesign

Do your friends/family get your high-risk adventures?

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As some of you may have seen from my earlier post, I finally fulfilled a dream of wingwalking, and also conquered my fear of heights by finally jumping off a bridge...twice! (bungee, not base [:/]) While I've heard quite a few 'man that's effin' awesome!' comments, I heard more comments like "oh you're crazy/insane/fucked up in the head for doing this, it's risking your life for absolutely no reason, there's something wrong with you/your life if you need to get such a thrill from bungee jumping/skydiving/wingwalking/"

I just don't get it. :S Is it because all those activities are so far outside of the norm for most people that they think it's a pointless risk? Or is it because they are...

a. afraid to conquer their fears
b. afraid to pursue their dreams
or
c. are they just jealous we have balls (sorry ladies :P but you know what I mean)...and they apparently do not? :ph34r::D

Someone explain this to me...because I just don't get it anymore.

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npgraphicdesign

As some of you may have seen from my earlier post, I finally fulfilled a dream of wingwalking, and also conquered my fear of heights by finally jumping off a bridge...twice! (bungee, not base [:/]) While I've heard quite a few 'man that's effin' awesome!' comments, I heard more comments like "oh you're crazy/insane/fucked up in the head for doing this, it's risking your life for absolutely no reason, there's something wrong with you/your life if you need to get such a thrill from bungee jumping/skydiving/wingwalking/"

I just don't get it. :S Is it because all those activities are so far outside of the norm for most people that they think it's a pointless risk? Or is it because they are...

a. afraid to conquer their fears
b. afraid to pursue their dreams
or
c. are they just jealous we have balls (sorry ladies :P but you know what I mean)...and they apparently do not? :ph34r::D

Someone explain this to me...because I just don't get it anymore.



To be fair, I don't go after a lot of "high risk activities". I love skydiving in spite of the fact that there's risk involved.

However, having talked to a fair amount of people about it, I actually know very few who are afraid of it.

The common sentiment for why they don't do it is that it isn't something that interests them. Plain and simple. Sure a few of them are afraid, but other than that it's generally cost or that they just aren't really interested by the idea of skydiving.

As for what they say to me, mostly it's just "that's awesome" or generally supportive of me going after something I love. The "oh shit" responses are more like "just be really careful" at which point I explain to them that I am.
well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go.
Earn your pancakes.

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I think the average person is risk adverse to the point of comedy.

That's fine, but what shits me are the cowards who try and force their boring beige cardigan-wearing lifestyle on us, which frequently happens in the form of regulation. Ugh.

I've got a decent mix among my friends. A lot of my friends I know through skydiving or sportbikes or similar pursuits, but I've also got some friends who wouldn't jump across a two foot wide hole for a thousand bucks.
cavete terrae.

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Yeah they get it. Although they do make fun of me for lifting weights that exceed the weight limit of the bed of their truck.

Although they do tend to compare everything else I do to my job, which is sort of dangerous and the previous adventure of being a competitive swooper (which is actually trumped by the job for danger).
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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The vast majority of people are sheep. Easily alarmed, prone to hysterics, and living under the illusion that a higher power can keep them safe from danger. Living as they do in a world they think is safe, they are blind to the dangers that surround them. Long before I started skydiving, I was astounded at how many people treat the local national park (and the ocean for that matter) like it's Disneyland. They don't seem to realize that if you fuck up out here, you can die.

We have transcended that! Our eyes are open to the truth of the world! The world is not a safe place! The world is actively trying to kill you! Do we cower before death? We do not! Are we paralyzed with fear when we have to act to save our own lives? We are not! We stalk through the herd like predators. The sheep do not understand us. They fear us and our ability to laugh in the face of death!

So next time someone tells you you're insane, just give them a big wolfy grin.

(Thought I was going to tell you to join Fight Club there, didn't you?)
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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No, for the most part most of them just don't get it, and never will. It's a conversation that rarely ends well, so I usually just avoid/evade it.

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Is it because all those activities are so far outside of the norm for most people that they think it's a pointless risk?



Yeah, that's pretty much it.

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Dunno... I think I'm a generally calm person, so people just don't think of me as "out there."

Unfortunately - and I've said this before - I think the myth of the "insane adrenaline-junkie" is mostly perpetuated by people in the sport who want to look cool. [:/]

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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npgraphicdesign

While I've heard quite a few 'man that's effin' awesome!' comments, I heard more comments like "oh you're crazy/insane/fucked up in the head for doing this, it's risking your life for absolutely no reason, there's something wrong with you/your life if you need to get such a thrill from bungee jumping/skydiving/wingwalking/"




I came back to this thread because of this part, it was kinda bugging me because when I was younger, this is precisely what I thought about people who drink, smoke, or take drugs. I thought it was a coping mechanism for people whose life is so bad they can't deal with it.

Now I realize that (actual destructive addicts aside) they're just trying to enjoy life in the way they chose to do so, and I'm a dick if I judge 'em for that.
cavete terrae.

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hokierower

My mom and my sister did a tandem about 3 weeks ago. They were kinda scared on the ground and got better once in the air. I got out at 5k so I could video their landings. The first thing my mom said when she landed was "now I understand why you do it."



Pic of sister?
cavete terrae.

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grue

***My mom and my sister did a tandem about 3 weeks ago. They were kinda scared on the ground and got better once in the air. I got out at 5k so I could video their landings. The first thing my mom said when she landed was "now I understand why you do it."



Pic of sister?

Pic of mom...
Rainbo
TheSpeedTriple - Speed is everything
"Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting."

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Rainbo

******My mom and my sister did a tandem about 3 weeks ago. They were kinda scared on the ground and got better once in the air. I got out at 5k so I could video their landings. The first thing my mom said when she landed was "now I understand why you do it."



Pic of sister?

Pic of mom...

Pic of both
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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Family is not so sure about my judgement. I work in an environment that is so scripted and controlled that I need a place to cut loose. I have a co-worker who races in the Red Bull Crashed Ice and as he says " Sometimes you have to just let the crazy out." Of course that leads to discussions as to who is letting out the most crazy.:ph34r:

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FlyingRhenquest

The vast majority of people are sheep. Easily alarmed, prone to hysterics, and living under the illusion that a higher power can keep them safe from danger. Living as they do in a world they think is safe, they are blind to the dangers that surround them.



Sounds like a lot of skydivers I know. :P

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Yeah, they get it. Took about 10 years for Mom to really be okay with it though.

They just shook their heads when I took up ice hockey a couple years ago (since I wasn't staying super current skydiving for various reasons, I needed something to do). And they didn't give me too much crap when I broke my leg on the ice.

Recently picked up a new to me dual sport motorcycle (Yamaha XT225) and Mom's comment was that she wished I'd go jump instead. :D

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skybytch

Recently picked up a new to me dual sport motorcycle (Yamaha XT225) and Mom's comment was that she wished I'd go jump instead. :D




This is not bad logic... Think of all the morons on the road...! :S:S:|
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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I think my family is okay with it. It took my mom years to come watch me jump. (She came to a demo I was in.B|). My dad and stepmom both did tandems with me, as well as several of our kids, nieces and nephews. A few of them went on to make even more jumps and get licenses. So I think they have an open mind to it.

Plus, I'm in my 4th decade of jumping and I'm still alive, so that says a little something about it. :)
In the work place, my coworkers would ask occasionally about it but I usually tried not to bring it up. For the most part, I don't think most people "get" the mindset it takes to do our sport. It's not a typical suburban soccer game lifestyle. :S


I've told the story here of meeting David Grizzle, head of the FAA, one day while sitting at the radar scope. Our facility chief mentioned I was a skydiver. Turns out Dave used to fly jumpers and we had a great chat for a minute or two. Super good guy. Gotta love that. B|

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You will never be able to explain it to people who don't care to understand.

My Mom called me years ago to bitch about my brother buying a motorcycle... She said, "You are the only sane child I have left!" A few seconds later I said, "Mom, remember I skydive".......... Her response? "You are still the only sane one"

I SCUBA dive, but I also cave and deep wreck dive. My bubble watching friends think just diving is insane. My shallow reef diving friends think deep wreck or cave is insane. I fly. My ground based friends think I am insane. I fly acro and my pilot friends thing I am insane.

Level of 'acceptable' risk is a sliding scale. And that scale slides throughout the observers life. After my Dad died, my Mom asked me to quit jumping. Before the loss she could handle it, now she can't

Quote

Is it because all those activities are so far outside of the norm for most people that they think it's a pointless risk?



Thats it in a nutshell. It is not jealously, they don't see the point. It is not fear of chasing a dream since it is not their dream.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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OK. So people in this thread are mentioning skydiving, SCUBA, motorcycles, and the like. Are those the 'high risk activities'?

I was in a sportbike rider training yesterday. We did a self-evaluation of our skills, risky behaviors, etc. My self-evaluation showed that I consider myself average. Yes, I am jumping out of an aircraft in flight. However, I have two parachutes that are designed, built, and tested by experts. They have performed properly before. I am constantly training and evaluating to reduce the risks. I inspect my equipment before every jump. I have an AAD. I monitor the weather. I never exceed the capabilities of my skills or my equipment. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I have similar mitigating factors for shooting sports, hang gliding, SCUBA, sport bike riding, etc. After all the mitigating actions I take, the activity is no longer 'high risk' at all. Let's face it. On an average weekend, thousands of skydives are made across the US. If someone is actually killed, it is quickly reported and analyzed for lessons learned. But ordinarily, nobody is killed. How high risk can it be when so many people do it without injury on a regular basis? It's only high risk if you do it wrong...just like most everything else. At least we recognize the inherent risk and take preventive action.

Now...I get on a crappy Belgian road with horrible drivers who hate my American vehicle with the special "I'm an American tag" they make me display, while they are texting and running me off the road...THAT is 'high risk'.
I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

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The fact is that a lot of people died developing the technology that now allows for (relatively safe) skydiving... What they were doing was EXTREMELY risky. Testing new equipment, designing new suits, et cetera... The first to do it is always taking on an exponentially bigger risk... The pioneers of our sport were practicing some very extreme jumping, and comparatively, it's not that risky nowadays.

HOWEVER, the reality is that skydiving is a totally avoidable activity that is purely for fun and involves a very real potential for injury and death. That is what most people think of when they say it's highly risky... If you compare that to a different past-time like reading a book or watching television, it obviously seems A LOT more extreme (because it is)!!!

ETA - most people don't consider driving to be a very extreme activity because they have been exposed to it so much... In the same way, you have been exposed to "risky" activities and knowing/understanding the real risks makes those activities seem less extreme to you. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle... More dangerous than you would like to think, but less outrageous than whuffos imagine.
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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I'll buy that. It's a perception issue.

Chew on this: consumption of alcohol is completely avoidable, destroys brain cells every time, and there are no mitigation techniques to keep it from causing you harm...you can only limit how much harm it causes you and others.

Seems pretty 'high risk' to me. But, like you said, it's really a matter of perception, isn't it?

I think that was my underlying point. I just think you hilighted it better than I did.
I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

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