Ever just lose interest in jumping?

[hackish 8]

So I've got close to 300 jumps. My gear and car got stolen a month ago. A very generous person has been loaning me his gear.

I used to stare up at the sky every time it was blue, disparately wishing I was jumping. Not anymore.

I don't know if the love is fading a little, if it's just the lack of my own gear or if this is just a normal after 300. I know I could downsize from the 170 quite comfortably but I've been resisting that since I know there is still lots of unexplored capacity on a canopy of this size. Maybe the love will return when insurance actually gets around to covering my gear.

-Michael

[Peej 0]

I've been through ups and downs where i've so completely loved jumping that it was all i could think about and there have been times when i thought maybe it's time to pack it in. Especially after tonto's death and my serious arm injury a while back.

At the moment i'm in love with it again and having fun jumping. As a lot of people have said, the sky will always be there, taking time off to re-asses things isn't always a bad thing.

Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky

[virgin-burner 1]

yeppers, at the moment, i can relate to it..

still want to jump, but just dont have the energy to put up with all the stuff associated with it.. some people, some attitudes..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[lintern 1]

Ive felt like this for ages, but if I didnt jump then I wouldnt do anything else with my life, other than work... and I HATE my job.

I have additional difficulties compared to most jumpers:

1 - My girlfriend also jumps and we have a young child. Therefore we have to take it in turns to jump AND pack.

2 - Finances are tight because my girlfriend only works occasionally and looks after our daughter most of the the time. Therefore my income is well over stretched.

3 - The weather is terrible in the UK. This is our 3rd bad summer in a row. I would love to be able to go jump in Spain, but problems 1 and 2 mean this is not possible.

4 - I only average 80 jumps a year and these are very spread out. Considering I spend most weekends at the dropzone (providing the weather is jumpable).

5 - I have been sitflying for over 3 years and Im bored of it. Flat flying does not interest me. I would like to learn headdown and I have attempeted it, but I find it very hard. Problems 1 and 2 make it even more difficult. You cant learn headdown doing 1 or 2 jumps a weekend.

So ive hit a brick wall with jumping.

I am not progressing and havent progressed for years.

My girlfriend is obvioulsy in the same position.

Shes only just got her FF1 and thats taken her 3 years.

Last year she only did 40 jumps.

We both used to love jumping and also like the social side as well.

But we have both been getting very frustrated and bored of it lately.

We have talked plenty of times about giving up.

But if we did then we would have nothing to replace it with.

Ive always hated my job and jumping used to take my mind off things and allowed me to let off steam.

We live too far from family to have the luxury of babysitters for nights out etc. Even something simple like the cinema.

At least with jupming we could take it in turns.

My girlfriend has now got a job working nights and weekends.

So its likely I will have no choice... I will have to give up jumping.

[Ryye 0]

Jeeze Lintern, you're post got me in a crappy mood! You need to move out of the UK and go somewhere you could be able to jump a lot more often. I understand your points that you listed about money and time, however if you can't stand your job then why not move and get a better job? Skydiving is awesome, you need to get that fire inside of you again!

Some of the greatest accomplishments were done by people too stupid to know they were impossible.

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

Consider exploring some of the diciplines in skydiving that you may not have tasted yet:

-- Wingsuit
-- CReW
-- Competitive Accuracy

Give yourself permission to take a break for a brief while and then see how you feel when that time has passed.

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[lpdwntnd 0]

Though I am just starting my training I can relate. I have been playing in bands for almost 15 years now and have toured all over the place doing it. When I was in my teens and early 20's it's all I could ever think of doing but that feeling started fading and it just felt boring to me. But all it ever took was to be around my friends at shows and get up on stage in front of 500 people to remember how much I love doing it. One of the reason I wanted to start skydiving asides that is something I have always wanted to do is to have that thrill and rush as well as the community. I no longer do the touring part of the music world so I'm hoping I can find a nice community and another place to call home within skydiving. I also hear they have beer.

Stop looking at me

[MarkM 0]

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We have talked plenty of times about giving up.

But if we did then we would have nothing to replace it with.

So start to experiment with other things. I just took 6 months off to kayak every weekend. It's not like the planes and DZs are going anywhere.

I've done time off several times in the sport. It's great to go out and do other things. Makes you really appreciate and enjoy the sport more when you come back to it. Plus, having a diverse life is great. Who wants to get locked into 1 hobby?

[DrewEckhardt 0]

No, but jumping stopped being the highest priority.

I've skipped going to the DZ to stay home and play in my workshop with power tools or cars.

[pilotdave 0]

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Ever just lose interest in jumping?

No.

Keep trying new things and you won't get burned out. I'm saving freeflying for when I get bored of instruction, RW, wingsuits, accuracy, and photography. Maybe I'll try swooping after that. And by then, space diving should be in full swing. I don't see boredom in my future.

Dave

[lintern 1]

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You need to move out of the UK and go somewhere you could be able to jump a lot more often.

Tell me about it, I would love to emigrate and me and my girlfriend have talked about it for years.

The weather is always sh1t in the UK and everything is too expensive... everyone is out to rip each other off.

I thought of emigrating to oz, but when I went there I had my hopes built up and was dissapointed in the end.

I fancy spain, but dont know what I would do for work.

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if you can't stand your job then why not move and get a better job?

Dont even get me started about my job. Its a big problem, especially recently.

I desperately need a career change but dont know what to do.

Well thats not quite true, I would like to be a pilot but I failed the application for a sponsorship course and dont have £80,000 to pay for training myself !

My career path has gone down the pan and I dont know what to do, all my training and limited experience is in engineering.

But I hate it and the pay aint worth anywhere near all the hard work ive had to put in.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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4 - I only average 80 jumps a year and these are very spread out. Considering I spend most weekends at the dropzone (providing the weather is jumpable).

5 - I have been sitflying for over 3 years and Im bored of it. Flat flying does not interest me. I would like to learn headdown and I have attempeted it, but I find it very hard. Problems 1 and 2 make it even more difficult. You cant learn headdown doing 1 or 2 jumps a weekend.

Body positions are boring; it's what you do with them that counts. With 500 jumps total and just 80 jumps a year you may not have enough experience to build interesting sit formations although you should be able to fly flat well enough to make those jumps with other people.

Casual flat RW can be a lot of fun, and it's highly unlikely that you'll be unable to find at least one other person who can complete what's planned. 4 is a nice number because you can split it into two pieces and you won't be waiting too long for people to get in.

[fergs 0]

I have a one word solution for you: WINGSUIT

Sure worked for me 7 years ago. It's a brilliant way of lighting a fire - no a furnace - of passion. So seek out a BMI / PFI in your area and go for it!!!!!

fergs

[format 0]

hey folks

hackish is only kidding nice nice

What goes around, comes later.

[timefighter 0]

I've lost a bit of my interest in jumping lately. It's down to a combination of factors.
Mainly, after a few years I've realized that there are a lot of people at my dz that I just don't really relate to. Jumping is like 100% of their lives, and they wear it like a badge. You see them on Facebook ALL the time, all they can talk about is how awesome they are, and it bores me. There are other great things in life besides jumping.
I've slimmed down my jump buddies to a small core of really decent people and it's more fun.
Now my girlfriend is pregnant and I'm having a bit of a break while I think about whether I want to keep doing it. I have always really enjoyed the jumps though.

[surfbum5412 0]

Quote

Consider exploring some of the diciplines in skydiving that you may not have tasted yet:

-- Wingsuit
-- CReW
-- Competitive Accuracy

Give yourself permission to take a break for a brief while and then see how you feel when that time has passed.

Always keeping things fresh will give you a better chance of not burning out. I do at least a couple non-point-driven-frrefly-jumps throughout the day like tracking or high altitude hop-n-pops.

Also, one of the hard things for me is trying to relate to a lot of the peeps at DZ's. Some of the skydivers that are around my age (late 20's) are blue-collar-stagnant-career kinds of peeps who drink too much or do drugs. I'm amazed when these guys who make $10/hour take trips to Colorado to fly in the tunnel for the weekend. Haha, I would love to see their credit score and savings account. I'm not saying I'm better than that, it's just my view on career and life is different.

[DSE 3]

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So I've got close to 300 jumps. My gear and car got stolen a month ago. A very generous person has been loaning me his gear.

I used to stare up at the sky every time it was blue, disparately wishing I was jumping. Not anymore.

I don't know if the love is fading a little, if it's just the lack of my own gear or if this is just a normal after 300. I know I could downsize from the 170 quite comfortably but I've been resisting that since I know there is still lots of unexplored capacity on a canopy of this size. Maybe the love will return when insurance actually gets around to covering my gear.

-Michael

Doing too much of *any*one thing can burn you out on it. "Variety is the spice of life" and all that. Didn't you get bored with sports cars at one point?
A lot of it may depend on the DZ as well. Some DZ's really keep things mixed up and rolling along while others sorta count on jumpers volunteering to keep things fresh. Other times, it's politics. Maybe a short break til insurance kicks in will be exactly what you need.
Your comment about the 170 downsize seems a little odd though....sort of doesn't seem to belong in the context of the post. Is there more of a story there? Downsizing after a haitus isn't the smartest thing you might do, but you already know that...

[PogMoThoin 0]

I feel you dude. Skydiving has never been a big thing for me. I've been jumping for over three years now and still only have 75 jumps. If I jump more than twice a month I consider it a lot. To me there are other things I'd rather be doing. I find kiteboarding and wakeboarding to be a lot more fun personally, and skydiving only happens if I can't do the one of the other two on a weekend. Not trying to blast the sport, its a lot of fun and I appreciate the passion a lot of people have for it, but to me its always just been more of something to fill the time when I can't kite or wake.

[Sangi 0]

There's a thing called BASE jumping..

"Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

[fred 0]

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So I've got close to 300 jumps. My gear and car got stolen a month ago. A very generous person has been loaning me his gear.

I used to stare up at the sky every time it was blue, disparately wishing I was jumping. Not anymore.

I don't know if the love is fading a little, if it's just the lack of my own gear or if this is just a normal after 300. I know I could downsize from the 170 quite comfortably but I've been resisting that since I know there is still lots of unexplored capacity on a canopy of this size. Maybe the love will return when insurance actually gets around to covering my gear.

I'm with ya. I love jumping, but lately it feels like a chore. Assuming the weather is good (it's been spotty at best around here lately), I have to drive an hour to the dropzone. Then I have to wait an hour or two to get on a load, which means I get to crouch uncomfortably in a cramp aircraft for a half hour while we get to altitude in order to get a couple minutes of fun.

Sometimes, it doesn't seem worth it.

But I do still stare up at the sky looking at clouds, thinking, "There's a hole, we could be jumping." If I gave it up, I think I'd miss it dearly.

[Milo 0]

What are you doing tomorrow?

[surfbum5412 0]

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So I've got close to 300 jumps. My gear and car got stolen a month ago. A very generous person has been loaning me his gear.

I used to stare up at the sky every time it was blue, disparately wishing I was jumping. Not anymore.

I don't know if the love is fading a little, if it's just the lack of my own gear or if this is just a normal after 300. I know I could downsize from the 170 quite comfortably but I've been resisting that since I know there is still lots of unexplored capacity on a canopy of this size. Maybe the love will return when insurance actually gets around to covering my gear.

I'm with ya. I love jumping, but lately it feels like a chore. Assuming the weather is good (it's been spotty at best around here lately), I have to drive an hour to the dropzone. Then I have to wait an hour or two to get on a load, which means I get to crouch uncomfortably in a cramp aircraft for a half hour while we get to altitude in order to get a couple minutes of fun.

Sometimes, it doesn't seem worth it.

But I do still stare up at the sky looking at clouds, thinking, "There's a hole, we could be jumping." If I gave it up, I think I'd miss it dearly.

If you're losing interest at skydiving at 100 jumps, haha, just stop now and go away tourist.

[Martini 0]

I know what you mean, it's hard for me to relate to people who pigeonhole blue-collar workers as stagnant, drunken dopers who don't have a pot to piss in. The snob factor at some DZ's is pretty damn high. Narrow-mindedness isn't exactly a virtue. BTW I spend my time with people from 20 to 75 years old, what in the world has age got to do with anything? I avoid spending time around people with attitudes like yours.

Sometimes you eat the bear..............

[surfbum5412 0]

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I know what you mean, it's hard for me to relate to people who pigeonhole blue-collar workers as stagnant, drunken dopers who don't have a pot to piss in. The snob factor at some DZ's is pretty damn high. Narrow-mindedness isn't exactly a virtue. BTW I spend my time with people from 20 to 75 years old, what in the world has age got to do with anything? I avoid spending time around people with attitudes like yours.

Your jumping to conclusions without reading what I wrote. Neither is better, only a difference in lifestyle. Unless you're making 500k/year, the difference between 150k and 45k per year is having the luxury to not have to cook :-) Specifically what I'm talking about, I believe the correct term is "DZ-rat."

[captain_stan 0]

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If you're losing interest at skydiving at 100 jumps, haha, just stop now and go away tourist.

Come back and read these words in another 10 years or so. If you last that long, maybe you'll begin to understand the value of welcoming others into this sport with a more supportive demeanor. My greatest personal challenge in maintaining interest in skydiving is trying to ignore those with your type of elitist attitude, knowing the harm this does to our sport.