Skydiving….Why keep doing it?

[baRRRpirate 0]

Whenever the topic of my skydiving comes up with my non skydiver friends, they always give me the look when I say I'm not an adrenaline junky. I don't skydive for reasons of adrenaline. Truth be told, I'm not all that crazy about heights in itself. Skydiving for me is like golf or surfing. It's incredibly difficult to excel in, it takes finesse, and you can never stop learning and getting better.

Just wondering what drives others to continue on in this sport?

[normiss 620]

For me, it's like breathing.
I'd die if I stopped.

[baRRRpirate 0]

normiss

For me, it's like breathing.
I'd die if I stopped.

It's funny how that works….right from day 1

[normiss 620]

I'm around 6400-ish jumps.
I need more.

Dying to get back in the sky ASAP.

[mattjw916 2]

ah, the age old question...

Q: Why do you jump from perfectly good airplanes?

A: The door was open.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[Andy9o8 0]

baRRRpirate

Whenever the topic of my skydiving comes up with my non skydiver friends,

That's it right there. If the conversation doesn't happen in the first place, you won't have to explain yourself to people who almost always won't understand anyway. As often as not, you're in control of that.

[FreefallingCari 0]

People always ask if I am an adrenaline junkie, like danger, etc.

I am ADD and have aspergers, so I am very hyper and I make a lot of body movements. Even with medication, although it helps. When I am free falling in the air, bellyflying, I feel such a sense of calm and peace.I enjoy the sensation. It is as if my body is finally moving as quickly as my brain, and it all evens out. I believe I have expressed this correctly, it is difficult to explain. My body is able to be still, and I am able to fly and fly with others well.

It is like therapy for me. I continue because it is my therapy, it makes me feel whole. I also enjoy the social aspect, as I tend to be socially awkward, and skydiving is a common theme I can relate to.

Skydiver Survivor; Battling Breast Cancer one jump at a time. DX June 19th 2014
I have been jumping since October 5th 2013.
https://pinkribbonskydiver.wordpress.com/

[baRRRpirate 0]

Andy9o8

***Whenever the topic of my skydiving comes up with my non skydiver friends,

That's it right there. If the conversation doesn't happen in the first place, you won't have to explain yourself to people who almost always won't understand anyway. As often as not, you're in control of that.

I don't really mind explaining myself. I'm just curious to why other jumpers are excited about the sport. There are a lot of different reasons, none of which are because its cheap

[normiss 620]

ALL of the good shit in life is either:
Expensive
Illegal
Immoral
Fattening

dammit[/laugh][/laugh][/laugh]

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

Just wondering what drives others to continue on in this sport?

I lost a bet...

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[normiss 620]

With your P.O.?

[airtwardo 6]

normiss

With your P.O.?

No God...well same thing I guess!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[flygirl1220 0]

FreefallingCari

People always ask if I am an adrenaline junkie, like danger, etc.

I am ADD and have aspergers, so I am very hyper and I make a lot of body movements. Even with medication, although it helps. When I am free falling in the air, bellyflying, I feel such a sense of calm and peace.I enjoy the sensation. It is as if my body is finally moving as quickly as my brain, and it all evens out. I believe I have expressed this correctly, it is difficult to explain. My body is able to be still, and I am able to fly and fly with others well.

It is like therapy for me. I continue because it is my therapy, it makes me feel whole. I also enjoy the social aspect, as I tend to be socially awkward, and skydiving is a common theme I can relate to.

[Joellercoaster 6]

Because experiments have shown that I become unhappy if I don't for too long.

My wife is the same.

This year we had a record low jumping year for us (life stuff) and we've gotten pretty crotchety now. We need to jump a lot more next year, so we're going to.

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[baRRRpirate 0]

FreefallingCari

I am ADD and have aspergers, so I am very hyper and I make a lot of body movements.

I can't think of a better activity to hyper focus on!

[b3ndech0 0]

becuase skydiving keeps me balanced and makes me happy. end of the story.

[baRRRpirate 0]

Joellercoaster

Because experiments have shown that I become unhappy if I don't for too long.

My wife is the same.

This year we had a record low jumping year for us (life stuff) and we've gotten pretty crotchety now. We need to jump a lot more next year, so we're going to.

Thats funny. When I'm in a bad mood my wife tells me to go jump, she says it helps my attitude. I purposely start fights now.

[bakerjan 0]

mattjw916

ah, the age old question...

Q: Why do you jump from perfectly good airplanes?

A: The door was open.

Q: Why do you jump from perfectly good airplanes?

A: You haven't seen our airplanes.

Jan

[Joellercoaster 6]

baRRRpirate

[When I'm in a bad mood my wife tells me to go jump, she says it helps my attitude.

My boss a few years ago once said "Joel, please. Please. Go skydiving this weekend. I don't think we can survive another week of you not jumping."

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[Divalent 89]

baRRRpirate

Just wondering what drives others to continue on in this sport?

Concrete Rebound Hammer

[Trafficdiver 8]

It's a good way to get rid of all this money I have in my bank account.

[Ron 7]

baRRRpirate

******Whenever the topic of my skydiving comes up with my non skydiver friends,

That's it right there. If the conversation doesn't happen in the first place, you won't have to explain yourself to people who almost always won't understand anyway. As often as not, you're in control of that.

I don't really mind explaining myself. I'm just curious to why other jumpers are excited about the sport. There are a lot of different reasons, none of which are because its cheap

If you are like most jumpers... Wanting to talk about it is a phase you will get out of. Most of the people I work with have no idea. Some people know, only because it has come up one way or another (I have a medal from the Army that mentions freefall, I put the commendation in my office cause it is kinda neat).

But explaining yourself over and over gets old for most people.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[baRRRpirate 0]

Ron

*********Whenever the topic of my skydiving comes up with my non skydiver friends,

That's it right there. If the conversation doesn't happen in the first place, you won't have to explain yourself to people who almost always won't understand anyway. As often as not, you're in control of that.

I don't really mind explaining myself. I'm just curious to why other jumpers are excited about the sport. There are a lot of different reasons, none of which are because its cheap

If you are like most jumpers... Wanting to talk about it is a phase you will get out off. Most of the people I work with have no idea. Some people know, only because it has come up one way or another (I have a medal from the Army that mentions freefall, I put the commendation in my office cause it is kinda neat).

But explaining yourself over and over gets old for most people.

Where are you trying to take this conversation? I fully understand what your saying….I have a whole lot of medals as well that I don't feel like explaining in great detail (including big gold wings). The point I was making is people are surprised to find out i am not an adrenaline junky. I compare skydiving to golf, which made me think, what intrigues others to skydiving…
Maybe we should start a poll asking what skydivers do when asked about skydiving by non-skydivers.

[gowlerk 1,902]

By now I think it's mostly a habit. I've built most of my life around it. The best people I know are from the DZ, (and I guess I've met some of the worst there as well, but somehow those ones always drop out before too long.)

The original attraction was definitely the excitement. I immediately perceived the sport as something I could do that would give me the high that comes from risk taking, but yet I felt that through understanding the gear, and managing the hazards, could still be reasonably safe. It's like having your cake and eating it too.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[diablopilot 2]

Because I like it and I want to. Full Stop.

As for what wuffos think?

I. Don't. Care.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.