please help me someone

[aberardi678 0]

I did my first level aff about a month ago. IT was amazing the best thing ive ever done. Every weekend and most weekdays after that i called to jump and the weather was too bad. about two weeks after my first jump i started thinking alot about it, and like scared my self out of it. I got up in the plane today and had a bad feeling and was really scared and didnt jump. can anyone give me some guidence, or hints or somthing.
thanks

[MrBrant 0]

jump








I *think* most have gone throught the same thing (i know i have - first 8-or-so jumps scared the living crap out of me) Then, the fear fated into excitment. Waiting for that door to open, not dreading it's opening

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[jumpergirl 0]

I have had the same exact problem. My solution??? I don't think too much about it. I think about what I have to do but I don't think about it so much that I scare myself. I rode the plane down a few times because I scared myself. It happens.

Just take a deep breath. Think about what you need to do, not what you're doing, if that makes sense. Have fun.
If my advice is wrong, please remove my post. I found what works for me...

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

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I have had the same exact problem. My solution??? I don't think too much about it. I think about what I have to do but I don't think about it so much that I scare myself. I rode the plane down a few times because I scared myself. It happens.

Just take a deep breath. Think about what you need to do, not what you're doing, if that makes sense. Have fun.
If my advice is wrong, please remove my post. I found what works for me...

I agree. Your mind is a powerful thing, so is fear. I remember the anxiety I used to build on the climb to altitude. What worked for me is to close my eyes and visualize the perfect dive. Another thing I do is joke with the tandems and ask them if they're scared and when they say "yes", I say "yeah, me too" and then we laugh. It's a good distraction.
Hang in there.

_________________________________________

[The111 1]

For at least my first 15 skydives, I thought about backing out of every one. Eventually, the fear will go away. If it's important enough to you, you'll have to fight the fear now.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[huka551 0]

Take a deep breath and make yourself get out of that door! When I was doing AFF, I would worry so much about the jump I thought on many occasions that I was going to puke in the plane (how mortifying) But I squashed all those feelings and made myself get out no matter how scared I was feeling, and once I took my first breath of that sweet altitude, all fears went away...it gets easier, so JUMP!!! (Remeber its fun)

Muff Brother 3723

[Avion 0]

Having so much time between training and jumping or between you first few jumps lets your apprehensions build up. In Tom Buchanan's book "JUMP!" he describes a fear management model that divides things into four catagories:

1) Yourself

2) Other People

3) Your Equipment

4) The Enviroment

You can use these four catagories to isolate and reduce the causes of your anxiety.

Yourself, do you know what you have to do on the next jump well enough that you feel comfortable attempting it.

Other people, have you asked them enough questions and recieved satisfactory answers to feel confident in their abilities. If you feel nervous with them, express your concern. They are there to help you with the mental side of things too, but you have to let them know what's going on in your mind.

Your equipment, are you familar with all the aspects of your equipment? Do you know what everything does and have confidence about how to use it? Have you checked over each piece in detail, and feel confident that it will funcion as expected?

The Enviroment, a clear day with light steady winds are best for students. Do you feel good about the weather? Is it too cloudy, too windy, or too gusty for your comfort?

I delayed a day of AFF jumping once, where the DZ would have let me jump, but I felt the wind were too strong for my comfort. Also, I almost delayed a jump once, because I felt the instuctor was rushing me. I told them, I'd jump with some one else later on if need be. They ended up delaying the plane a few minutes for me. There's always another day, if you keep yourself well... I got though AFF without mishap. I decided a while back, considering I'm older now and have pushed my luck hard when younger, that if I'm going to err now, I'd rather err on the side of safety than danger, if that could even be called an err.

Once you have done all you can do to reduce your anxiety and increase your confidence in these four catagories, then comes the time for courage.

Hope this helps, cheers.

And yes, those first ten jumps or so were soul searching ordeals for me too. It's better now, much better

[digitalamnesia 0]

visulize the dive then try your best just to get on with it

i had a video of my first jump and i thought about the music which was on the video which relaxed me, so maybe try thinking of music u like or something to take your mind of things

after a short while you will be wishing the planes could climb to altitude faster

i also remember someone calling the feeling you get when you get weathered out 'bitterly sweet' because you want to jump but its a relief you dont have to and that always made me smile now its just bitter lol

-------------------------------------------------------

if you wanna see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain

[Zep 0]

>after a short while you will be wishing the planes could climb to altitude faster <

I have a love hate relationship with the Kingair climbs so fast I don't get time to doze off

Gone fishing

[RippedCord 0]

I tried using this reverse thinking:

If I were intent on killing myself, would I succeed by jumping out of an airplane with two parachutes on my back, one of which is attached to an automatic activation device and allow two people to jump out with me who were intent on saving my life?


Be safe. Have fun.

AMDG

[Fab 0]

A little fear is a healthy thing..It helps you remember what you are about to do.

I know from experience that spending too much time between jumps is very bad for your nerves. Best thing is to complete your AFF as soon as possible but you can't control the weather of course.

Remember next time you're in the plane that you have
1-Done this before and know what to do and not to do
2-That this is the best thing ever
3-not jumping this time will cost you money
4-the longer you wait and the more you will ride the plane down, the more scared you will be the next time so it will only be harder to jump next time for you.
5- relax..this is suppose to be fun 6-choose an instructor you like and are comfortable with and talk to him about this...he can make you feel more at ease.
7-sing the national anthem (preferably outloud so you can entertain your fellow jumpers )

If it helps...everyone is scared or has nerves during AFF...

I did a couple of CRW jumps a few weeks ago..scared the hell out of me

The more you will jump, the less the fear will be..

Don't think..just jump...If you really want this..you'll get there

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[GQ_jumper 4]

Fear is natural, everyone experiences it we just all react differently to it. Just know that everyone here has been through that same experience of worrying about what's going to happen. And all I can tell you is that if you have made a jump already, think about all the things that happened on that jump, everything that went right and what you loved aobut it. and if that doesn't work, go buy soulflyers and swoop 2, those vids always make me wanna jump!!

and on another note i would like to point everyone to the picture on jumpergirls profile. SHE'S BACKSLIDING I SWEAR TO GOD!!

Jaime if you keep that up i won't be able to jump with you hun

score one for dan

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Travman 6]

Fear during AFF is common, I found the last few stages much harder to get on the plane and out the door than the first few stages.
You just need to calm down, relax and move foward one step at a time, you'll get there.

[aberardi678 0]

thanks everyone for the advice. Im agree and i relly think all the time killed me. I went to the dz about 6 times in hopes of getting up put my rig on 2 and was in the plane 1 and they all got canceled due to weather. I think there was a lot of stress build up form all of that, and considering i didnt jump, there was no release. Im gonna try not thinking bout it for a week or two than do a tandem, and tell the instructure if i bitch out jsut throw me out.

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

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thanks everyone for the advice. Im agree and i relly think all the time killed me. I went to the dz about 6 times in hopes of getting up put my rig on 2 and was in the plane 1 and they all got canceled due to weather. I think there was a lot of stress build up form all of that, and considering i didnt jump, there was no release. Im gonna try not thinking bout it for a week or two than do a tandem, and tell the instructure if i bitch out jsut throw me out.

That cracks me up to read because on L5, my AFFI gave me what he called a "polite assist". He wrote in my logbook "love the exit, BOTH of them..I've never laughed so hard". For some reason, I didn't let go of the bar in the otter and swung back in, sat in the door, looked up at him like "what now?" so he shoved me with his foot and out I went

Perhaps a "polite assist" would do the trick

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[Punky_Monkey 0]

Very good information here. I went through the fear thing, got over it and then winter came in WI, so I didn't do much jumping.

Now the fear is back and working through it again. I know I can get through it again.

I would suggest to anyone going through this to jump and not put so much time between jumps. I am learning this the hard way. I am determined not to go through this again so am looking for a snowsuit I can jump in this winter.

It also has caused me to pay for 2 trips now to Florida so I can jump where it is warm and get enough jumps in to get calm with the nerves again. It's only in the 50's here yet.

If it is something you truly want you will find a way to get past it. It may be hard but you need to fight for it.

I have been freaking out on the plane lately and know everyone is watching but, the minute I get to the door I am ready to go. For awhile I didn't want to jump because I didn't want them to see me freak out and think what a loser. But you know what, I may freak on the plane (won't be forever) but I do jump and I have a feeling that these people who watch me freak out and then jump are actually proud of me.

Something that also helped was when I was at a DZ in FL People with over 100% more jumps then me told me there stories.

If you want it bad enough you can do it and will do whatever it takes to do it.

*******
Punky Monkey
You may never get rid of the butterflies, but you can teach them how to fly in formation

[jumpergirl 0]

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and on another note i would like to point everyone to the picture on jumpergirls profile. SHE'S BACKSLIDING I SWEAR TO GOD!!

Jaime if you keep that up i won't be able to jump with you hun

[Temporarly hijack]

Dan... I will kick your 106 jump wonder ass when I see you. Remind me.

[/Hijack over]

Please continue...

[Tonto 1]

Fear is there to stop us from doing stuff. It's that simple.

Sometimes it can be good. (Don't run off a 1000 ft cliff wearing only a speedo)

Sometimes it can be bad. (Stay in your crappy job because you may not get another crappy job)

As a Skydiving instructor, I'll help my students deal with their fear, but I cannot teach them to be brave.

If they say "I can't do this.." then they're right, and they'll ride the plane down. The advice given earlier, "Just don't think about it too much" is VERY, VERY dangerous advice. It's the start of "I'll be fine... Lalalalalala" that leads to wasted seconds of shock and suspended belief when you are not fine, and you have the rest of your life to solve your problem, which may be about 12 seconds, but is probably way less.

Think about it A LOT. Think about the consequences of not making the right decision, or of performing the wrong action for the event you're experiencing. Think about rigor mortis, and of your friends keeping the birds away from your remains scattered over 100 feet as they wander about with small plastic bags picking up peices while dealing with the grim but amazing realities of the physics and the constant surprise at that bit of you having made it all the way to where they're standing.

Think about the consequences of failure.

Having done that, learn to prepair yourself to deal with as many occurences as you can imagine. Dirtdive your worst nightmares in detail and learn to resolve them with the help of a trusted instructor.
Practice, learn, drill. As questions, continue learning, stay current, stay sharp, learn to flick the mental switch from "Yahoo" mode to "Save yourself" mode on every skydive you do.

After that, skydiving's a breeze.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[Orange1 0]

I rode down on what would have been jump 5. Like you, I had a bad feeling. My JM said to me afterwards: "listen to the voices! don't jump if you don't feel right!" Funnily enough, the next time I went, I had almost no fear!

Leaving a long time between jumps (and this is even more frustrating if it's weather) ups the fear factor. Jump as often as you can.

Know your dive properly in advance: being confident that you know exactly what to do helps. Practice your EPs: so that you know if something does go wrong you can deal with it.

I took to checking 3 times (superstition? ) after putting on a rig: clutch the cutaway puff and reserve handle, touch the ripcord/boc. Just so I knew it was all where it should be and where I expected.
I find that focussing on the dive in the ride up helps. About 5 mins before jump run I start just thinking about the exit, and take some deep breaths.

For me the fear comes and goes but in general the more you jump the less it is. I used to hate the rush of cold air when the door got opened at altitude - now i love it and just wanna GET OUT when I feel it!

And trust your instructors and your equipment.

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[grue 1]

It's funny... for me, the only jump I've gotten really nervous on was my first 10 second delay. The jumps before that, I had no issues with whatsoever. When it came time for my 10s delay, my heart was POUNDING on the walk to the plane. As soon as I got in the plane and buckled in, my brain went into THE ZONE. I completely calmed down. I knew that I was well-trained, and that I was going to get out there, and have fun. On the ride up, I kept getting more and more and more calm as we got closer to jump altitude.

WARNING: Newbie advice pending.

But you know what? If I couldn't shake that feeling from when I was on the ground, I wouldn't have jumped. Sometimes, you just don't have the right mindset, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's better to jump confident and have something go wrong, than jump scared and have something go wrong, in my newbie opinion. If I'm not 100% mentally prepared to deal with any situation fate throws at me, I'm not going out that door. Being mentally compromised in a sport like ours is a quick ticket to a pine box.

cavete terrae.