Harnessing the fear before your first jump?

[popsjumper 2]

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I would prefer it not be a heart pumping experience lol. I just want to be in the sky. If It's peaceful then awesome! The idea to to sore like a bird. Not plummet to earth screaming in horror lol

Go ahead and scream! On the ground, we can hear you from 10.00 feet!

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

[Skyper 0]

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Pay a guy to tell another guy to push you out when you least expect it?

just send a PM and I'll push you for free.

btw. doing a tandem to learn skydiving is like being attached to a swimmer to learn swimming.

[dthames 0]

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Now, with skydiving, I can't just stop when I want too...No baby footsteps...once you jump you jump and your getting the full experience without a throttle. And what I'm trying to get at, is the point in which a tandem jump might be unhealthy in a way that I wouldn't feel like I'm in control and would thus make me terrified. But on the other hand I've never even been in a plane before! And a tandem might be safer encase I freeze up.

The skydive is more like the motorcycle than the roller coaster. If you don't like the ride, reach back with your right hand and put on the brake.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[Joellercoaster 6]

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I can’t see doing this too often much less everyday like the instructors do... As fun as it seems, I know that I would in time adapt to the excitement of it and lose interest if I overdid it.

If all you want is the adrenaline rush, then skydiving quickly loses its shine as you brain adapts to the idea.

Fortunately, after that comes the realisation that there is a never-ending mountain to climb, going from the thrill of falling to the deep satisfaction of flying.

You can fill a lifetime getting good at skydiving. There are enough disciplines to keep anyone occupied, day in, day out.

I have no quarrel with people who only want to jump occasionally, everybody skydives for different reasons and all are valid - but the "rush" is just the tip of the iceberg.

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"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?

[tmccann 1]

Wow. Dude is thinking this through a lot more than I did. Kinda makes me wonder whether he enjoyed it at all, and why he'd want to do it again...

OP: Be very wary of newbies like me giving advice. With that caveat, I went through this not long ago. I had a fear of heights as a kid, that I (mostly) got over riding amusement park rides. I still get nervous on the ride to altitude, and I'm certain my AFFIs thought I was going to be a wreck in the sky (the smiles I gave them must have looked quite scary), but in the door and in the air, I calmed down. It looks more like a map than a planet, and I get too busy doing my thing to be nervous.

Now, on the ride up, I a) meditate and b) picture the dive flow in my mind a few times, all the way through pull and EPs. Also, gear checks, but go with whatever your instructors tell you on those. Helps me a lot. YMMV.