Fear.........WHY?

[danielcroft 2]

I get pretty scared sometimes too, I've only just recently done my level 8 IAF jump (first no contact exit) and have been cleared for my solos. I find that on some jump runs I get very nervous. Repeating the dive flow over and over really helps me, I focus on what I need to do and that seems to distract me from the fear/anxiety. I also ride motorcycles and get the same nervous feeling (to a lesser extent) before every ride, as soon as I get on the bike (actually, normally just before) the fear goes away and I just do it. I find that when I'm sitting around waiting to jump (the student's lot it seems), lying down and relaxing, breathing deeply, and closing my eyes (often falling asleep!) really helps to calm me down. My worst jump was my third tandem, I have no idea why but I was really scared. I honestly feel that my experience dealing with some of these same issues on the motorcycle helps me when skydiving. I know I can work through it and that I'm being irrational (well, maybe irrationally over scared, but not irrational about being afraid) so I breathe and focus on the dive flow.

Having said all that, I haven't done my first solo yet so I don't know how that's going to go. I've taken to watching videos online of people's jumps and I find that watching people recover from unstable situations in freefall makes me feel better too.

I forgot to mention, I have an intense fear of falling (part of the reason I'm skydiving - to overcome the fear). I've snowboarded since 1998 and have found that, on a steep slope, I'm fine with my snowboard on but petrified with it off (generally I don't take it off!). Also, hiking in and out of the Grand Canyon I couldn't even watch other people stand near the edge of the cliff, let a lone do it myself! I don't get the same fear with skydiving for some reason but I certainly know the feeling that you seem to be having.

Good luck, you're not alone. :)

[skydance1954 0]

As many here have already said, the fear is normal. I had stupidly high levels of fear for my first 50 or so jumps. I managed it by reminding myself that I've done this X number of times and by running through the dive flow. Staying focussed on the task at hand. I was fortunate enough to have the fear go away when climbout started.

Today some levels of fear still come back when I'm starting the new season, or expanding my experience/operating envelope, but I've become very good at being focused. And 1/100th of a second after exit, it all goes away and I'm having fun again.

What we do IS NOT NORMAL! We've not been designed to do this, but we do it anyway.

Take a little bit of what everyone says here, and find what works for you.

Above all, though, remember that this is FUN!

Mike Ashley
D-18460
Canadian A-666

[danielcroft 2]

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Above all, though, remember that this is FUN!

Yeah it is!

[Kiki32 1]

less bitching, more jumping.


jk

Poetry don't work on whores.

[ScottTX 0]

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I wondered if anyone out there could offer me some advice please. It started on my AFF the walk to the plane, the ride to altitude, and getting to the door fill me with fear, to a point where I dont want to go at all. Once I am out its gone and I feel, well dont know how to describe it but Im sure you

I am certainly NOT the one to give advice, and I will refrain from doing that. However, on the ground I am very nervous, the ride to altitude even more nervous, but when that door opens I go from being just nervous to outright scared sh*tless , beyond what any words can possibly begin to describe, and that may be part of the reason for the majority of my exits being crappy.

As you mention once I am out the door, I seem to be ok, and once under canopy I actually become calm
I dont know what to tell you except dont give up as long as you have the desire, I have more than a few problems that go beyond my being scared and my lousy exits, but I am NOT giving up, not as long as I am physically able to jump, and have the $$$ to pay for it (I am working on the $$ part of it right now)

Good Luck and keep us updated!

[DZDANK 0]

My first reply was a little rushed, i did not mean to make light of the anxiety that can be involved with making a skydive! A friend (who is the reason for my involvement in the sport, and currently in AFF) informed me this weekend that he may no longer continue due to the level of stress he is feeling. I am not qualified to tell my friend how to feel, but ive shared what is currently helping me get by...

Confidence is a huge factor in all aspects of life - skydiving included. Fear has a tendency to undermine confidence, and the cycle perpetuates itself. What helps me stay confident is committing to the jump the moment i put the ticket in. By making the decision to exit the plane on the ground, you have one less thing to think about on the ride up (if a safety issue or whatever came about, i would take a ride down!). This seems to free my mind a bit to think about my diveflow and emergency procedures.

Gear fear also hurt me for the first couple of jumps (I still rent), so now i wait for the rig i want to jump. I check it thoroughly on the ground, and anything that i am not sure of, I ask the rigger to look over it. On the ride up, a quick prayer for myself and the whole load, and I'm ready when the light says i am!

One member made comparisons to riding motorcycles earlier in the thread, i too was involved in that sport. This past weekend I purchased a full faced helmet, and i had no idea such a small detail could make a significant difference! The familiarity of a full faced deal did wonders. It cut down on the distractions (wind, noise, cold, etc) and worries of losing goggles / contacts, etc. My awareness in the air went up, my confidence followed.

Whats working for me personally, in a nutshell, seems to be as follows:
Accept what you are doing, and that you would not be there if you didn't like it.
Be comfortable with your gear.
Commit to the act and follow a plan.

This is not advice. I am not qualified to give advice. Please don't flame me.

[popsjumper 2]

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...Once I am out its gone and I feel, well dont know how to describe it but Im sure you know....

That's one of the main reasons I skydive.

As soon as my foot leaves the door, I'm not thinking about any of life's BS...not a bit of it. The mental freedom ...ahhhh....the mental freedom.


Just to add my $0.02...there was a time early on when I was saying to myself, "WTF am I doing this"? The answer dawned on me that a) see above and b) it was fun as hell.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[squarecanopy 0]

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...Once I am out its gone and I feel, well dont know how to describe it but Im sure you know....

That's one of the main reasons I skydive.

As soon as my foot leaves the door, I'm not thinking about any of life's BS...not a bit of it. The mental freedom ...ahhhh....the mental freedom.



Andy, You are dead on!! I can't think of a better way to sum up why we jump. And of course the part about the FUN too,...

Just burning a hole in the sky.....

[andm31 0]

A jumpmaster I had told me that the most important thing in every jump is to have fun and that smile does help me at least to overcome the stress that comes with jumping out of an airplane.

Strangely enogh I think that the fact that I was so scared during my training jumps helped me to overcome my fears. On jump # 13 my reserve deployed in the plane, the jumpmaster was really calm and sorted it out but when I got home that night I just sat on my bed crying with the realization that I could have died, I wished the jumpmaster had called me that evening but he didn't.

We sometimes forget that this fear thing is complicated, there are delayed responses to the stimuli, a lot of the time people will act a lot more cool than they are, usually because: "hey everyone here seems cool and unafraid but I'm afraid, i.e. there must be something wrong with me" but of course we are all pretty much scared seneseless sometimes.

As to what I do, I force myself to look out and down when the door opens, I keep my helmet on the entire way up to altitude simply because it insulates me from a lot of the noices. I'll stay in my small bubble a while, focusing on my breathing and my exit, I found that having a plan for how I'm going to exit the plane helped me out a lot. I also try to look out and look at the scenery and say to myself: "man that is so beautiful!"

Blue skies!

Anders Samuelsson
www.anderssamuelsson.se

[quadit 0]

I went through stages of "scared" since I started jumping. During AFF I wasn't really "scared" I was more nervous about getting my dive flow right and remembering everyhting I was soppose to do. During my AFF I started reading and watching any learning videos I could get a hold of and THEN I got scared! Realizing what can and probably will eventually go wrong during a skydive. Then I got scared almost every jump.

My instructor told me something that has been the turning point for my for jumping. "Replace fear with knowlege". If you know with confidence what you need to do when stuff goes wrong, then you aren't as scared of it happening. I am nervous when I jump still, but I also have in my mind a plan. I have run through my mind every senerio I can think of and played it out in my head and what I need to do to fix it. Over and over again. That's not to say I will handle a mal. perfectly and never make a mistake, but at least I have thought enough about what works and what E.P. I should be trying when it happens.

Now I spend my time to altitude reviewing in my mind my dive, do visual gear checks (3 point), practice touches of all handles in order several times, and a final pin check from trusted partner. The best I can do, then jump and enjoy! The more jumps you do close together the more confidence you feel and the easier it is to get over "door fear".

Happy jumping!

[dfairleigh11 0]

I'm sure to echo much of this thread, I think everyone who has ever jumped has felt the initial fear of being in the door - even my mom hated going out the door on her only tandem, and she LOVED the rest of the jump (Personally I LOVE exits-they ROCK!).

To this point I've dealt with any fear or uncertainty by thinking about the feelings and sights during freefall, or how awesome it feels to get on the ground after a successful RW jump, or how quiet and stunningly beautiful it is under canopy with the sun setting to the west and the moon rising to the east and Mt. Rainier to the south and Mt. Baker to the north... ...I don't think there is any amount of fear or uncertainty that would overwhelm my desire to be in that place.

Blue skies, keep jumping.

"We'll start the ass kissing with you"

[skydivermom 0]

I'm still pretty new in the sport, but I suffered from an incredible amount of anxiety in my early student days. My first (and only) AFF jump ended in a panic attack that sent me straight to the ER. However, a week later, I made my first static line jump. The instructor there later told me that he almost gave me a choice between a bowling ball or a bag of golf clubs Since I suck at both of those activities, I'm glad he refrained from doing that!

Anyway, that gut wrenching fear vanished around 100 jumps, and I've heard from most jumpers that that is usually the case. I still have more anxiety and nerves on certain jumps, and sometimes I can't figure out why, but I always feel better after exit as well.

As far as advice, I think time and experience will help a great deal with some of that. I would often sing on the ride up to altitude, and that would always calm me. The pilot enjoyed it too. And of course (I'm sure you know this), you should be worried if the fear/anxiety completely goes away.

If there ever comes a day when I'm not even a little anxious on a jump, I'm staying in the plane. Good luck and don't give up. It will get better.

Mrs. WaltAppel

All things work together for good to them that love God...Romans 8:28

[Couloirman 0]

another thing that helps me in many aspects of my life, that Im quite certain I learned from my dad is this: If Im scared, or even if I just dont wanna do something, I just say to myself "You are doing this no matter what, you know you are going to get out of the plane(or insert any scary activity here), so you might as well enjoy it"
Honestly this helps me even through homework. I really dont wanna do it, but I just do it and get it done and then its over with, or in skydiving its just the beginning
Just remember: you put yourself in this position VOLUNTARILY, you ARE getting out of the plane, so smile, enjoy the ride, and be confident it wont be your last...

[Jon26 0]

I sometimes get a pang of nervous excitement at about a grand before reaching exit altitude until the door opens.
For me, i think it's mainly nervousness about f**king up the jump for myself or my mates. But when you throw in the environment (temperature, noise, claustrophobia and, for me, thinking about how many pack jobs will be waiting for me when i land and how quickly i need to do them ;p) and the fact that you're probably talking to yourself in your head about whether jumping out of a plane is really a good idea (despite loving it every time), then i'd say it's completely normal for your fight/flight instincts to waver between moments of excitement and a bit of nervous anxiety.
I reckon that because this sort of nervousness is in a way self-inflicted and "all in your head" the best cure / prevention is to either keep your mind busy by visualising the whole jump plan over a few times, admiring the view, meditating (like, on your breathing or something) or just chatting to the other guys / gals in the plane.