My Skydiving Experience
June 25th, 2018 By Manoj NaudiyalIt was a usual Friday. My pals and I were hanging out after work and one of them suddenly blurted out “Guys, we should go sky diving tomorrow!” Without a second’s delay; another one of us joined in with great gusto and yelled, “What a terrific idea!” No sooner than that loud proclamation was made, the third one also jumped right in. Caught in the heat of the moment, I too resonated, “hell yes!” (My inner self shook its head screaming, "No way! Hold up now! Vertigo? Remember? Are you crazy?”) And just like that, we had our Saturday morning mission confirmed.
When I went back home, my wife, (she patiently heard my blabber and with her ‘know-it-all-smile’) gently said, “Honey, you can always say ‘NO' to them if you don’t feel like it, you know right? I interrupted her before she could finish that and told her that I was going to do it much firmly!
As I went to bed, frightened to death, repeatedly asking myself how the hell I’d jump off a plane? Like I didn’t have enough problems already that I invited a brand new one, after laying down a red carpet welcome, myself! I didn’t sleep that night, I blacked out. I died twice the same night, waking up each time literally gasping for breath as my parachute failed to open in both the nightmares.
I stood devastated as I heard the honking outside my house in the morning. They had all come down to pick me up right on time and we were already at what I thought was a graveyard to hopes and prayers, The Sky-Diving Academy!
A chill ran down my spine as I struggled to write my own name on the dotted line ( It was mandatory to sign and submit a consent letter that said if something went wrong the Academy would not be responsible for anything).
Soon, all of us hurdled into the plane and it took off. I tightly clenched the instructor’s arm, digging my nails into the special jump suit that all of us wore. The battles in my head were getting harder to fight as we rose to 13000 feet above the surface of mother Earth. Even before I could find the strength to acknowledge the reality to myself, the instructor sprung the door open and indicating that we were now going to jump. “Whoa! It’s happening for real”, I told myself. I was close to the edge of the opened door, starting to feel my pulse drop. I tried looking at the ecstatic view but all my brain saw was ‘Death’. “Manoj, on the count of three. One! Twooooooo! I wanted to tell him to give me a minute.( I wanted a bag to throw my vomit in) Before I could so much as try to move away I felt myself lose ground. I was already falling through the skies wondering whatever happened to 'Three'? (They never wait for three; I figured their trick eons later). No sooner than my blood pressure dropped and I realized I was falling than whole nauseous-dizziness-episode turned into an adrenalin injected, sky fall thrill miraculously! I felt like a bird as I literally flew over the skyline that day! My heart was bursting with happiness, gratitude, as I recalled flashbacks of the earth from the thousands of feet that I dived through, the feeling of being on top of the world, the feeling of being free, the feeling of having no fears was unparalleled. I experienced a state of bliss.
Coming to think of it all now, I realize that all my fears, anxieties, worries, concerns, apprehensions all stood barring my way from liberation only up to the point when I stood at the edge of the plane floor. It was truly like 13 minutes in paradise and back. They say that happiness lies on the other side of fear, and I couldn’t agree more. I believe our fears are keys to happiness; all it needs is unlocking, and sometimes “diving through them headlong’!
See You Soon With The Next Blog. Signing off for now.
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