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SJTurner

Skydiving as therapy???

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I have had some devastating things happen recently and got into skydiving as a result.

Has anyone else had a bad experience that influenced their decision to jump?

How has skydiving helped you overcome your setbacks?

I just wanna make sure that when I start working JUST to support my skydiving habit that it will become my new therapist since I won't be able to afford one. ;)

Cheers DZ.com!
‎"... and once you have tasted flight, you will
walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return."

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I believe that skydiving COULD be a great therapy TOOL. However, it is no replacement for professional help should you need it.
I know the US Army recently started a program using activities such as skydiving to help reintegrate returning veterans into life back home. As their lives just went from 100 to 5 over the course of a plane ride home. I know from experience that in that application skydiving is a useful tool.
No matter how much you enjoy skydiving or anything else for that matter, it should always take a backseat to your own physical and mental health.

I hope this helps.

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Have you heard the song that goes "There's a hole in my heart that can only be filled by you ..."

Skydiving or surfing or rock climbing, or marathon running or shooting heroin might fill the emptiness in your soul, TEMPORARILY ...
But in the long run, you will still need some professional psychiatric counselling to help solve your long term problems.

This reminds me of a book entitled "Positive Addictions" be a psychologist who said "if you have an addictive personality, try taking up a positive addiction, like marathon running, versus recreational drugs ..."

The other psychiatric benefit of skydiving (and similar extreme sports) is that it allows young men to test their courage in ways that scare the pants off of them, but still has a 99 percent survival rate.

Another way to think of scary sports is to see them as healthy outlets for rich boys, while poor boys get their thrills by beating up the local faggot.

Which is a healthier outlet?

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I was really sorry to hear of your recent loss. This is undoubtedly a difficult time for you. I am glad you are here and joining our extended skydiving family.

In response to your question, I think there is great benefit from being around others and enjoying an exciting sport like skydiving. You need to integrate into "normal" life and having new goals, like learning to skydive, is definitely helpful. Should you also seek other help? It's hard to say without knowing you better.

Best wishes!
The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

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Thanks everyone :)
I wasn't stating that skydiving should replace a therapist. I was more or less saying that it is therapeutic. I am, fortunately, dealing with everything that has happened in a positive way. Skydiving is a great new adventure.

I just always read about people and their first jump and the reason behind it, and my reason seemed so different that I wanted to get others to share why they jumped.

‎"... and once you have tasted flight, you will
walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return."

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Most skydiver I know NEED therapy. :P

Helped me realize what it meant to actually be happy again. I was just stuck in an unhappy marriage, but not doing much about it- until I started jumping. "oh yah. I remember this feeling. Joy and whatnot. I think I want more." Divorced and happy.B|

I woke up next to a blowup doll Ash....so what do you think?

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Thanks everyone :)



I really enjoy learning new things and I like to be challenged. That combination has led me through many exciting adventures, ranging from scuba to becoming a pilot. A friend of mine skydives and kept urging me to try it. I think I was running out of other challenges and it was finally time to try this too. I am very happy I did and am enjoying every minute. There is so much to learn it should be a long time before I tire of this sport. :)
The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

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Skydiving is one of the unknown cures for depression. I read it somewhere a few years ago (not here). Something to do with the routine adrenalin flow that skydivers experience being a remedy for many ailments.

Personally I never had any mental problems (though some would argue that point);), but since I quit for a few years I can honestly say I feel 20 years younger now that I'm at it again.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

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skydiving is very mind opening, at least for me. it is the epitome of living in the now. the decisions you make have an immediate effect on whether or not you live or die. this is very empowering.
you cant take any baggage into an environment as intense as a skydive. "fuck yesterday, it's the past. screw tomorrow it may never come," kind of rings true.

for me it is very therapeutic, it's helped me put things into perspective and i greatly needed that in my life a year ago when i started jumping.

good luck and blue skies
"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be."

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Shortly after I got my "A" license, I said to my wife, "Thanks for letting me take up such an expensive sport." Her reply, "You're welcome. And it is cheaper than a psychiatrist." And she is a professional counselor. :)

POPS #10623; SOS #1672

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Skydiving or surfing or rock climbing, or marathon running or shooting heroin might fill the emptiness in your soul, TEMPORARILY ...



It's all about focus for me. Sports that make you push everything out of your mind except what you are doing at that moment I find very relaxing and give me a sense of well being, even joy. Like being in "the zone" I guess you can call it.

And I dated a therapist once, she told me I should go see a therapist other than her to resolve some of my issues. So I took her professional advice and did, and found that most therapists are more fucked up than the rest of us. Including the therapist I dated, she was a complete nutter.

Anyway turns out I have no more issues than anyone else, but I think the only real way to resolve them is by doing some soul searching and conscious life changes - like throwing yourself out of planes!

Like you said though, Positive Addictions! They add quality to life. :)
Sex with sith is like sex with a stripper. A lot of flashing lights and waving of glowing sabers, but in the end you end up with something dark and wrinkely.

DPH# "-13"
TSK# "-13"

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This reminds me of a book entitled "Positive Addictions" be a psychologist who said "if you have an addictive personality, try taking up a positive addiction, like marathon running, versus recreational drugs ..."



I wish my ex could have gotten this concept- He was addicted to both skydiving (a good thing) and alcohol (a bad thing). And I don't care about all the drinking hipe that is out there is the skydiving community. There are people in the sport who have serious drinking issues and the drinking culture in skydiving only enables them. I don't care that I miss out in Saturday night shenanigans; skydiving is about falling out of planes, not how much I get hammered and show my tits to perfect strangers! It doesn't make me less of a skydiver~
http://3ringnecklace.com/

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Mmmm....it did help me. It helped me regain my trust in humankind again. I think it was something I needed. Plus it boosted my self-confidence, gave me something to look forward to, and over time, and I stress TIME, I eventually healed. There are still times that I have aftereffects that occur but that's far and few between. I have since learned to cope. I think jumping helped me move on, to forget about the bad, even if it was just for a minute, and that I had so much more to learn and wasn't as open minded as I thought I was until I got into skydiving. I had a lot of trust issues and had to learn to trust people I didn't know in a life threatening situation - and since then, have tamed down. My tandem was just the beginning of a long road and alot of work to get where I am now. And now....now I miss it like crazy. I'm hoping things will all come together by today so I can get back to it over the summer. :).

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A student referred to skydiving as "e stress."

Basically, when you do scary sports, your body starts releasing all sorts of positive hormones ... sort of pre-loading anesthetic ... in preparation for the pain you about to experience.
If you survive the scary incident without injury, then you get all those "feel good" edorphins without the pain.

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skydiving is about falling out of planes, not how much I get hammered and show my tits to perfect strangers! It doesn't make me less of a skydiver~



Let's not go bad mouthing "tit flashing" besides that's gooooood therapy for me.:P
Irony: "the History and Trivia section hijacked by the D.B. Cooper thread"

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Plus it boosted my self-confidence, gave me something to look forward to, .



This is definitely true! Whenever I'm about to face something new or unknown I can always think to myself, "Hell I can take a step out of an airplane and into nothing I can do just about anything."

And "tit flashing" is very therapeutic. It goes back to childhood, think about it. Breasts are a pillow when you're tired, a pacifier when you're cranky, a source of food when you're hungry, a toy when you're bored. All around they are a very versatile object and should be shared ;)
Sex with sith is like sex with a stripper. A lot of flashing lights and waving of glowing sabers, but in the end you end up with something dark and wrinkely.

DPH# "-13"
TSK# "-13"

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"Has anyone else had a bad experience that influenced their decision to jump? "

Yes. Being on Earth with all the idiots for too long made me want to get far away from them. There are less of them up there.

"How has skydiving helped you overcome your setbacks?"

Skydiving put the "FU" back in FUN. It gives me a little vacation away from all the idiots. :)



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