What I Learned While Learning to Skydive

Besides, of course, how to skydive

Jun 02, 2024

At the aeroclub, an experienced skydiver once told me, "If you're in a hurry, dress slowly." It seemed like odd advice for someone about to jump out of a plane, but it stuck with me and has proven invaluable.

What does that have to do with skydiving? It might not seem so, but a lot.

The beginning

I made my first jump in 2014. It was a tandem jump, the "tourist" kind, where you're attached to an instructor or, more precisely, a tandem pilot. You do nothing and enjoy the ride—and probably scream a lot. The rush of adrenaline was overwhelming, leaving me in a state of pure ecstasy upon landing. Like many, I immediately wanted to know how to become a skydiver. While most forget about it the next day, the idea lingered in my mind.

Finally, in 2021, I remembered this and decided to start after thinking about it for a while. Nowadays, you can learn through the AFF (accelerated free fall) course, which consists of twenty jumps. I was scared shitless. But the worst comes after the fourth jump, when you start jumping with your own parachute, meaning you're no longer attached to someone.

Why?

Why would someone willingly jump out of a plane twenty times?

People have all sorts of different reasons, all of them valid. Skydiving is physically demanding since you're not only falling but using the air at 130 mph (or 210 km/h) as support to do different maneuvers on free fall (similar to holding a plank at the gym) and then, once you deploy your parachute, you still need to navigate to your drop zone. But my genuine drive to take on this huge challenge was very simple and purely mental: doing something I was terrified of. Because, when I'm 80, looking back, I'd regret not doing it. A common denominator of regret in elders is what they didn't do.

I was thrilled to have the experience of doing this and make it my new weekend activity. But I'd also learn a lot about other things I didn't expect in the process.

Peace and patience in free fall

Before boarding the plane or when the pilot would open the door before jumping, I'd get anxious and try to get geared up, ready, and in position as fast as possible, believing I didn't have much time. That usually causes you to make mistakes or be careless when moving or positioning yourself and your gear, potentially causing things to get stuck or loose in the plane. It's like getting dressed in the morning and rushing to work: you'll probably forget something or get tangled when dressing up and take even more time.

So, if you're in a hurry, do things slowly and carefully.

Afterward, once you exit the plane, you will experience strong acceleration, which causes the typical sensation of falling everyone knows. But after a few seconds, you no longer accelerate; you're at terminal speed and don't feel like falling anymore. You're literally flying. This part is only accessible by falling for longer than most people who don't skydive ever experienced. It's easily one of the most incredible experiences technology has given us, and it's unexpectedly peaceful: you instantly do not think about anything else and only experience the fact that you're flying through the sky at incredible speed, immensely present in the moment, with all your mind, soul, and your entire being.

The only moment is now, but we usually don't perceive it that way.

Gratefulness and perspective

Only a century ago, flying was nothing more than a dream. A dream humans have had for thousands of years across so many different cultures. Nowadays, people fly millions of times a day—and even sleep on them. We've normalized this so much that we look at a cloud "floor" through a plane window and can sleep: this amazes me whenever I get on a plane, although it may seem stupid. I put it in perspective and can't help being surprised by how incredible it all is.

If you stick to that perspective, getting on a plane and jumping out of it a few minutes later (and not dying in the process) is just mind-blowing. I can't put it in words. It's almost too much for me: I've been distanced from skydiving after doing 40-something jumps (rookie numbers), although I'd like to return to it soon. I'm pretty sure it's one of the most incredible experiences technology has enabled for us—but we're often thinking about other stuff, not really living the moment, and even less, with the perspective and gratefulness it takes to marvel at it.

This way of thinking translates to many other aspects of life: how much is possible today that wasn't before? We're probably in the moment in history with the most opportunities and possibilities ever. Not to mention, with all the other possible DNA combinations, the chances of being a human being is one in several trillions. If you add "human being alive in 2024, with access to technology", I bet the chances are much slimmer. It's like you won the biological lottery just by being born.

Willpower

Doing things you're scared of or don't want to do is invaluable. And, as with any skill, you can practice to improve on it. There's an area of the brain that is related to willpower: the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC):

Due to its position as a network hub, the aMCC can synchronize information from diverse systems in order to guide behavior… However, the effectiveness of aMCC computations are likely to vary between individuals, particularly in situations when the cost of effort is high, and rewards are uncertain or deferred. Under these circumstances, some will demonstrate tenacity and persist while others may simply quit.” — Touroutoglou and colleagues from Harvard and Northwestern University.

I didn't know this before, but I found lots of motivation in doing something I was so scared of and sometimes didn't even want to do.

Lessons for life

What would happen if we kept these thoughts in mind every second we lived? I bet we would see things differently, whether sipping a cup of coffee in the morning or jumping out of a plane and not dying in the process.