Lessons in Skydiving

Pictured above: Me, Derek, and his girlfriend, Chasiti -- the "after" pic.

 

I did something I swore I'd never do.

I jumped out of a perfectly good plane.

What prompted me to do that?

My son's father and I divorced when Derek was 7 years old. Over the next several years, Derek and I struggled to find our footing and our relationship became rocky. There was a lot of change, a lot of adjusting, and we both experienced a lot of growing pains. Somewhere along the way, we lost our easy connection. 

Ultimately, we all decided it was best for Derek to primarily live with his dad and spend every other weekend with Rene, Emi, and me. While I knew it was the right decision for all of us, it broke my heart.

Since then, I've made it a priority to dive deep into healing our relationship and finding meaningful ways for us to connect with each other.

Skydiving was one of those ways.

I have never had any interest in skydiving. Never once thought I'd be jumping out of a plane. Just the thought of standing at the open door of a plane 13,500 feet in the air, wind rushing through my hair, looking down at the ground (or the clouds) below me made my stomach drop and panic set in.

But for some crazy reason, I figured it would be a powerful way for Derek and me to connect and create a core memory we'd smile about and remember fondly for the rest of our lives.

Derek has had a dream of going skydiving since he was 7 (when we flew to Texas to visit Rene's family) and he decided that jumping out of a plane sounded like a great idea.

So, I gifted Derek a tandem skydive for both of us for his 18th birthday this past January. It was scheduled for April 26th.

I made a decision not to overthink it. I've been an overthinker my entire life, but my relationship with Rene has taught me to YOLO more and just go with the flow. That shift has helped me in so many ways and this situation was no exception.

Whenever my mind wandered to the image of standing at the edge of that open plane door, I reminded myself that the nervous butterflies in my stomach were just excitement in disguise. And you know what? I think I was truly excited underneath it all. At my core, I want to feel alive and this was a way to get there.

So when I was actually in the moment, with the plane's door open, feet on the edge, wind roughly blowing through my hair, tandem instructor behind me, the ground sprawled out far below, I didn't overthink. I just did it. With my instructor's guidance, I jumped.

We free fell for about a minute, which was both terrifying and exhilarating. Then the parachute opened, we shot up into the air a bit, and then everything slowed down. The world went quiet. It all melted away, and I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and awe at all of the beauty that surrounded me.

Being up in the sky gave me a perspective I'm not able to tap into with both feet planted on the ground. And it taught me something important: I am stronger than my fears.

My core lessons from skydiving?

• Step out of your comfort zone.
• Say yes to the things that scare you, because fear is often just excitement in disguise.
• Keep overthinking to a minimum. As Rene has taught me, sometimes it's important to just YOLO. (YOLOing is when I've had the most fun in life. It's freeing!)

And the craziest part? I'm already aching to do it all over again and am working on planning another tandem skydive with some family members and friends. Who would've imagined that?!

xoxo,

Lisa

 

I'd love to hear from you! What have you been putting off because it scares you? Where in your life can you YOLO? Please share in the comments below. ♡