Thrill seekers?

[phatcat 0]

I just saw a short thing on TV about thrill seekers. It mostly had base jumpers on it but some skydiving too. From what I saw they were trying to explain what these people were like, and why they do what they do. I don’t know where it was cause I only caught a little bit, but did anybody else see it? It got me thinking, though. Why do we do it? I know that I get bored very quickly with things that most people do for fun. Ya know, like movies, bowling, golf (puke), stuff like that. Last time I went to a concert I think I looked at my watch about every five minutes just waiting (praying) for it to be over, despite the fact that it was one of my favorite bands. I just don’t like to sit there doing nothing. I guess what I’m asking isn’t so much why somebody has a desire to throw themselves out of a plane, but why most people don’t even bother to see what’s outside there own little safe bubble of existence. I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard “I could never do that” How can people just say that and be content with what could only be described as a normal, mundane, boring life? I’ll never get it. I’ve sacrificed so much over the last couple of years to finally have the opportunity to jump again only to be met with blank stares from people who obviously wonder what the hell is wrong with me. It seems so easy to just say “screw em” but I have a hard time with that. Is there any way to put into words how important this is? I know you can’t describe the feeling of freefall, I gave up on that a long time ago. Maybe it is futile, and I’ve got to let them go. I find it difficult to engage in “small talk” like “what do you think of this weather” and “how’s your day at work been”, simply because I don’t give a shit. Just let me sit here and stare at the sky and keep your boring conversations to yourself. I guess I’m just venting frustration, and it will all be okay when I get to the DZ next month to jump. But until then, whuffos SUCK! Leave me alone!!
Don’t mind me, I’m just suffering from low altitude sickness, I expect to be cured in 3-4 weeks.
Josh
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" - Helen Keller

[Viking 0]

for me its that childhood dream of flying i had so many flying dreams as a kid it wasn't even funny!!! and now its no dream! even if i have to put up with bruised crotchs and sore muscles. Remember when Sex was safe and skydiving was Dangerous?

[lazerq3 0]

Uhhhhhh........Ditto!!
I can see your point, but unfortunatly whuffos are like drunk drivers, druggies, and assholes in a sence... You may not really want to be around them but they'er always going to be there!! Waiting to pounce on you in the dark with there sharp razor teeth and say "WHAT THE F$CK DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!!!!!!" My advice, just break out the pepper spray!! Luckily I have good whuffos who would never jump but always ask questions!! SHWEET!
Jason
(euwwwwww I'm going to get flamed for that)

[Kelly 0]

i saw that show! one of my friends was on that. did you catch the very end? the jumper that hit the trees with the side of his canopy and was thrown around? It's rob stanley. I was watching the program at like 3 am and almost asleep.... all of a sudden their showing this footage that ive seen soo many times. Totally hilarious. i thought the program was good. didnt show any skydiving deaths. for once...
kel

[skybytch 259]

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I just don’t like to sit there doing nothing.

Didja know that a high percentage of skydivers have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, ADHD, "hyperactive")? Skydiving is actually mentioned in several books on the subject as an indicator of the excitement seeking that is a prime "symptom" of ADD.
Also may help explain why many skydivers are such flakes
You'll get used to the whuffos after a while. Want to drive 'em totally nuts? Don't talk about skydiving with them!

pull and flare,
lisa
---
I chose the road less traveled. Now where the hell am I?

[phatcat 0]

No, I missed the end, I only saw a few base jumps and the beginning of a tandem. Stupid phone rang, wrong number. New nick Kel? How come?
Josh
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" - Helen Keller

[Aviatrr 0]

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Didja know that a high percentage of skydivers have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, ADHD, "hyperactive")? Skydiving is actually mentioned in several books on the subject as an indicator of the excitement seeking that is a prime "symptom" of ADD.

In one of my psychology classes skydivers were profiled.. I don't recall ever hearing ADD mentioned - but the study said that most skydivers have a short attention span(doesn't necessarily mean ADD), high intelligence, and are very outgoing.. It was also stated that skydivers typically have very low adrenaline levels during most activities that other people's adrenaline soars to incredible levels.. Even during jumping, the experienced skydiver had very low adrenaline levels..
What was really interesting was a study done on stress for skydivers.. They took students and experienced jumpers and fitted them with heart monitors.. The results were that for students, their heartrate was the highest from just prior to exit until just after pull time.. For experienced jumpers, the heart rate was highest just prior to pull time, and just prior to landing..
Mike

[phatcat 0]

ADD?? People have told me that they think I have it. It’s true that there are things I can’t concentrate on. But it’s not that I can’t concentrate, I’m just thinking about something ELSE. Boring things just don’t hold my attention, but I don’t for one second consider it a problem. It’s the very reason I feel the desire to do “crazy” things like jumping out of airplanes. If some psychiatrist were to try and give me drugs to make that go away, I would make it VERY clear where he could shove those drugs. If I’m crazy, then I will spend the rest of my life making my craziness other people’s problem, not mine, because I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Josh
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" - Helen Keller

[Michele 1]

I started to jump as a remedy to the serious, dangerous depression which followed an incredibly abusive and violent marriage. I needed to learn to trust myself, to make and then to follow through with indpendent decisions again. In business I was (and am) fine with this, but in my personal life, I was just paralyzed. I was so used to following orders I couldn't figure out how to take care of myself (o.k., a little exaggerated, but only a little...).
I sat there one day (April 28th), trying to think about what I could do to change this, and change it in a hurry. Bungy jumping and skydiving were the only things I cold think of. And bungy jumping was just not an option. I thought I would just do a tandem, but then thought about why I was doing this: trusting myself, and following through. It occurred to me that if I didn't pull (couldn't trust myself, couldn't follow through), then I would die. Pretty extreme, but that was the thought process. So I chose AFF.
May 6th, 2001, I pitched out of a plane as a Level 1 AFF'er. And have not been the same since. Everything in my world has changed. And it's wonderful.
Unlike most of you, you have dreamed of flying. I am scared to death of planes. To get me in one you usually have to pour lots of liquor in me, and let me sleep until we have landed. I am scared of heights - I get ill if I am near a window on a high rise.....not the case when I am jumping. I have never dreamed of flying, at least until very recently (like last week).
I am not a thrill seeker. I am an experience seeker. I am an adventure seeker. I needed to change my life, to get yanked out of my comfort zone, to see past the sides of the box I was living in - no, existing in...and I have succeeded resoundingly. I have the confidence now which was lacking. I know how to relax, to not worry as much, to not control as much. And while it is because of skydiving, it is not because of skydiving. Jumping is giving me back to myself, and I think it's cool.
And there are lots of cute men in the sport, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ciel bleu-
Michele
"What of the dreams that never die? Turn to your left at the end of the sky".
~e e cummings~

[DZBone 0]

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the study said that most skydivers have ... high intelligence, and are very outgoing..

You left out animal magnetism, charm, sex appeal and drop dead good looks!
There is evidence that there is a risk-taking "gene" - D4DR that, like all genes, is inherited. Check out your family and trace it, fer real. They can test kids for it. Anyway, recently they are thinking that this gene causes us to have "issues" with our dopamine receptors, so the normal activities of life that provide hapiness for others just aren't enough for us. We require more stimulation to be happy. There is also higher incidence of addiction, hyperactivity and drug use, esp cocaine. Big news there, eh?

[phatcat 0]

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I am not a thrill seeker. I am an experience seeker. I am an adventure seeker. I needed to change my life, to get yanked out of my comfort zone

Michelle, are you a psychic? That’s exactly it. I saw that story on thrill seekers, and it seemed to make sense. But you are EXACTLY right. It’s really not just the thrill. I just need to get the hell out of this boring life that I live everyday. It’s seems very much like depression, the symptoms are probably the same, but it’s not that. People that are just depressed, in my opinion, are lost. They just don’t know where to go. Given that, I’m very fortunate, because I know where I need to go. It’s just a matter of DOING IT. And I will. Money was the first obstacle, and I’ve jumped over it. Fear is the next, and last, and I know I’ll jump over that because there was a time when I dreaded it. But now it’s just another thing. Yes, my stomach will do some funky things, and my brain will conjure up weird shit too, but eventually I’ll get in that door, and go out of it just as fast. My doubts are long gone, and now I just bear the excruciating wait till it finally happens. FJC is Sept 8. The weather has been so awesome here in MN it would be just my luck to screw me when it comes time to jump.
Josh
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" - Helen Keller

[freeflir29 0]

Hmm....I have spent most of my adult life "living outside the box" I have for 6 months held what people would consider a "normal" job. It's starting to wear on me. I know that there are other things I can do to make a living but for some reason I'm trying to be "normal." I dont know how much longer I can keep up this meek existance. Skydiving is my outlet. It lets me still feel alive. If it wasn't for that I would definately have left this sorry ass country as soon as I got out of the military.
"Don't give a F$#ck if I'm comin or leavin"-Pappa Roach
Clay

[DZBone 0]

Here is a better article about D4DR.
Einstein was a sort-of philosophical BASE-jumper, plunging into unexplored head-space. It seems certain that wherever our energy comes from, the activity that results is subject to our creativity. We are the choreographers of our own passion
Ya, mon.

[NathanL100 0]

When I was young I was diagnosed with ADD and thankfully, my wonderful mother, wouldn't let the doctor put me on Ritalin to calm me down. Luckily, I don't have a very severe case of ADD anymore b/c I have learned to control it and have grown out of it too, but I have found that extreme sports seem to be a natural drug for ADD. I'm really new to skydiving, but I can tell that it is changing my life. For one thing it is something that has given me focus and direction and the lifestyle that comes along with it is very appealing to me. Before my first jump I had a hard time relating to people and had a hard time making friends despite my extrovertness (don't know if that is a word), ever since I walked onto my DZ for the first time I have felt like I have finally found people that I can relate to and have lasting friendships with. The social aspect of skydiving is as important to me as the actual jump.
Newly Addicted
Nate-

[Zennie 0]

The show was "Risk Takers & Thrill Seekers". I think it aired on TLC. Great shot of Jan Davis (RIP) doing a BASE jump off Angel Falls. Good show. Fair-minded coverage of us, IMHO. Have it on tape.
Anyhoo, why did I start skydiving? Wish I had some dramatic reason, but I really don't. I always wanted to do it. Started getting more interested when I'd go by this guy's cubicle at work who had a bunch of skydiving stuff tacked everywhere (turns out that guy was Dead Mike).
Went to Vegas for Super Bowl and did the bungy jump out in front of Circus Circus. To this day that's still the most terrifying thing I've ever done. That sort of primed me to really want to do a skydive.
So last Christmas my parents came down to visit, as the usually do, and I decided to get my Dad (and me) a special gift... two tandem jumps. Well my Dad chickened out for insurance reasons (finally got him to do one later on -- that's another story). So I took both.
The minute I did it, I knew what I had always suspected... skydiving was "it" for me.
I'll agree with the higher intelligence bit, not everyone has a higher education, but most of the folks I've met are very intelligent people. As far as the ADD thing goes, I kinda of diagree. I have *incredible* focus. Ask anyone who has coded with me. I go into this coding trance that takes about three "Ted"'s to snap me out of. To be even halfway decent at RW or freefly you have to have incredible concentration. So I'm not sure I buy the ADD thing.
But then again, everything seems to get labeled "ADD" these days.
------------
Blue Skies!
Zennie

[skybytch 259]

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I have *incredible* focus. Ask anyone who has coded with me. I go into this coding trance that takes about three "Ted"'s to snap me out of. To be even halfway decent at RW or freefly you have to have incredible concentration. So I'm not sure I buy the ADD thing.

While an inability to focus (concentrate) on many things is a key to ADD, another prime "symptom" is the ability to "hyperfocus" on things that catch the mind or when the person is under pressure to perform.
I brought it up because I have ADD. Diagnosed when I was 30, and the diagnosis helped explain a lot. I'm not on meds now, although I have taken them in the past - they helped me do the boring stuff that "normal" people seem to have no problem getting done, but they also suppressed a lot of what I think makes me who I am.
Pretty deep for a Thursday evening....
pull and flare,
lisa
---
I chose the road less traveled. Now where the hell am I?

[DZBone 0]

Huh, what?

[NathanL100 0]

I totally agree with skybytch!! I have noticed that if I find something that I'm really interested in I can concentrate on it without any problems, but when I am doing something that doesn't interest me very much, but I have to be there (like school) I have a hard time focusing no mater how hard I try. I used to pull my hair out trying to stay focused in school, but with something that is very interesting to me and high in stress like skydiving or any other extreme sport I can go into a trance like state of focus.
Newly Addicted
Nate-

[DickMcMahon 0]

Yea, the thrill seekers show WAS on THE LEARNING CHANNEL.
They've been repeating it every 6-months or so.
Another interesting phenonmenon about skydiving is
the "risk homeostasis theory" which says that while
the sport has become safer (better equipment, AAD's,
etc.) deaths have remained about the same because
we all have an inherent risk level we like to maintain.
If anyone is interested, I'll pass on to you some website
links that have some detailed information about this.
http://www.dickmcmahon.com

[Skystorm 0]

Michele,
This was the exact reason I started jumping.
The only only difference is, I wasn't married.
And as for the thing about getting bored easily, that's me!! Can't keep my mind on anything that's not interesting me.

[paddyFrenchman 0]

***when I am doing something that doesn't interest me very much, but I have to be there (like school) I have a hard time focusing [/qoute]
And you are telling me that some guys actually invented a disease based on that and give kids medicine to cure it ??
That's just crazy. I think it's totally normal for somebody not to focus on something he finds boring... Everybody does that ! well I do anyway ! (oh yeah that explains why I skydive, Right ??).
can't really describe what I did it in the first place, can't really say why I'm addicted to it now. I just want to agree with Nathan on the social side of skydiving. Over here in ireland we spend so much time looking at the clouds that more or less everybody knows each other. The nights in the pub are great fun.
I don't know if skydivers are all sick but i know they're all happy. If doctors are trying to cure your happiness tell them to F@#$ Off...
Paddy.

[apoil 0]

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I'll agree with the higher intelligence bit, not everyone has a higher education, but most of the folks I've met are very intelligent people. As far as the ADD thing goes, I kinda of diagree. I have *incredible* focus. Ask anyone who has coded with me. I go into this coding trance that takes about three "Ted"'s to snap me out of. To be even halfway decent at RW or freefly you have to have incredible concentration. So I'm not sure I buy the ADD thing.

Actually,
this itself is highly symptomatic of ADD.
It is called the ability to "hyperfocus" and is the reason why many folks with ADD are able to be very successful in their fields.
And I know exactly what you mean.
Thing is, most of us pay real close attention to things that are genuinely important. Problem is, most things in life just aren't.

[nimbus 0]

there's so much food for thought in this thread.....
skydiving is something I'd never thought of until I met someone who jumped. then I did a tandem and couldn't stop thinking about it.
I'm not a thrill seeker for the sake of thrill itself, and most people who know me say I'm the last person they would imagine skydiving... because I often don't talk very much people think I'm shy and timid but that's not what I am at all
.... like Viking I've always had flying dreams and loved them...
I've also been through bad depression and used to have panic attacks as a teenager. My boyfriend (soulmate) of 5 years died 4 years ago and it took me a long time to deal with that. I think losing someone you are close to, who is such a big part of your world, makes you feel that (and I hope I'm not going to sound pretentious now) life is big, short, amazing, tragic, beautiful and that the point of being alive is to experience life (doh! dumb circular argument!). So now that I've tried skydiving it's like letting go and finding something at the same time.
... I don't want to sit around feeling bored either, I get terrified that life is just mundane and trivial.
Now I'm more scared not to skydive than to skydive.
And yes, most of the skydivers I've met are intelligent, and caring as well.
The ADD thing is interesting... what confused me was that Ritalin is an amphetamine, which seems like the opposite of what you'd give an ADD-affected child, but a child psychiatrist neighbour explained that giving amphetamine to someone who has no concentration can focus their concentration... (there's a great scene in a movie I can't remember the name of where a guy takes heaps of speed and then spends all afternoon cleaning the kitchen).
Larissa
- "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."

[flyhi 24]

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Didja know that a high percentage of skydivers have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, ADHD, "hyperactive")? Skydiving is actually mentioned in several books on the subject as an indicator of the excitement seeking that is a prime "symptom" of ADD.

No ADD here, but if I could just get rid of this fucking Tourette's Syndrome. Bitch. Bitch. Pull.
flyhi

[freeflir29 0]

Dont all RW fliers have Tourrettes? I always see them walking around the DZ randomly shouting....F$%ck....Shit......DAmmittt!!!!!!!!!
"Don't give a F$#ck if I'm comin or leavin"-Pappa Roach
Clay