3 REASONS YOU SHOULDN’T SKYDIVE

Skydiving? Oh. Yeah. That.

Well… it’s not for everybody, you know! Certainly not. In fact, we highly recommend that some people stay the heck on the ground. There are three really good reasons not to make that tandem skydive–and here they are. Take heed!

1. YOU’RE NOT INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT WHAT YOU’RE CAPABLE OF

You’re probably thinking about how you’re afraid of heights–like, really afraid of heights. You’re probably thinking about that video you saw of the tandem skydive at the sketchy dropzone that went all pear-shaped. You’re probably convinced you won’t be able to get yourself to go out the airplane door. (Maybe you’ve never even been in an airplane before.)

Guess what? We’ve all been in those scaredy cat shoes. Seriously. Every single one of us. Including, it bears mention, your tandem instructor, the owner of the dropzone, and every last fun jumper bubbling around the plane with giggles and wiggles and high-fives for everybody. Everybody has been scared/mortified/paralyzed with terror. You’re not unique in your jelly-kneed fear.

In actual fact, there’s only one difference between somebody who has jumped and somebody who hasn’t: the jumper has made the effort to discover what they’re actually capable of when they decide to go for something–and been thrilled by the results.

If personal growth isn’t your bailiwick, however, you’d better stay down. Seeing the true strength of your will might throw a wrench into your plans to be predictable, and who knows what havoc that might wreak in your life.

2. You Prefer To Stay Inside Your Comfort Zone

Do you know what the lakes look like from the sky at sunset? What it sounds like to sit at the edge of an open airplane door? The little miracle sensation of falling through the sky without any physical sense of falling? What a cloud feels like? You don’t know what it’s like until you’ve processed it with your very own brain.

That gotta-feel-it-to-know-it philosophy extends to the decision-making you face in your life. When you make a decision, you don’t know what repercussions and/or benefits the decision will have for you, so you need to make your call based on a thorough calculation of the risk and be present for the way it plays out. Much like a skydive, you’ll probably be richly rewarded for your investment of okay-here-it-goes energy.

If you prefer to live in a bubble, however, you’d better not pop it. It’s impossible to un-pop, and once you’re outside that little comfort zone, there’s no going back.

3. You’re Just Not Curious.

They say that “curiosity killed the cat,” but maybe it didn’t. Maybe curiosity just convinced the cat to sneak out a carelessly-left-open window. Maybe curiosity led the cat to discover that the world outside the living room was vastly superior to the couch. Maybe the cat just never bothered coming back to check in. Maybe the cat is very much alive and singing Disney tunes with a jauntily-dressed cat army that lives in a paradisiacal cat party zone on the far edge of town.

The housecat is dead. Long live the Feral Cat King.

Seriously, though: Curiosity isn’t in the killing business. Curiosity is in the living business. Curiosity drives everything interesting about being human. So it would be the most natural thing in the world to be curious about what it’s like to skydive: to wiggle into the gear; to stroll out to the roaring-and-ready plane; to feel your heart beat in your chest as the mundane world slips away; to edge your way, full of butterflies, to the thundering wind of the open door and drop yourself into the next phase of your life.

But y’know. Maybe curiosity just isn’t something you do.

If it is, listen up.

Stop looking for reasons not to go skydiving. DO IT. Book a tandem skydive and experience it first-hand, because you owe it to your challenging, adventure-thirsty, curious self. We’ll be waiting with the high-five.