Skydiving and writing, don’t really sound like they should have much in common should they?

In fact, I think they do. They both take a lot of courage to do, they are incredibly rewarding, they are scary as all get out and they are truly all about focus.

I learned a lot from my recent skydiving adventure. I’ve been fascinated with the sport for a long time and it was sort of one of those things you say, ‘I’d like to do that one day’, but really don’t have any intentions of doing it. Well my daughter is the one that got us all to go up and jump out of a perfectly good plane. 🙂

When she approached us with the idea that all four of us should do that for our birthdays, as we want to create adventures and experiences rather than give gifts, I was a bit hesitant. I said, if everyone is a go, so am I. I guess we all had the same thought because we all said yes. Gulp!

There were a few places to choose from but we wanted someplace that would give us a good view of the ocean, mountains and just a less busy area. We chose Skydive Vancouver Island at Qualicum Beach. I highly recommend them. Not only are they well trained and know what they are doing but they love doing what they do. They make the experience awesome for every person, no matter how many times they do the same jump. But I guess that’s the thing no two jumps are the same because they are jumping with someone different each time.

The pictures and video are a hoot.

The pictures and video they take of the whole adventure are so cool and a good reminder of what you really did. It goes by so fast. The flight up is pretty cool because as you climb to 10,000 feet (yup we jumped from that high up – eek!) you get this incredible view of the island, the ocean and some of the mainland, we could even see a bit of Mount Baker in Washington. Then when you get to the height, the door opens and the first few seconds are a bit scary but it goes so fast you don’t have time to think, you just have to go with it. Then you free fall. It is so unbelievable. You feel weightless and free. Then the chute opens. That’s when the magic happens. You get time to breath, relax and take in the amazing view. And those crazy guys let you hold and steer the parachute (don’t worry their hands are right there, it is safe). My favorite part was doing spins. What a hoot.

So how is skydiving like writing?

They both are about overcoming fear. And as much as we think the fear is different, in many ways fear is just fear. It’s what we tell ourselves that matters.

My son even said when we got back on the ground, that the fear he felt just before leaping from a perfectly good plane was the same fear he felt before going and writing finals at University. To him it felt exactly the same. Not what you’d expect right? I mean one is kind of death defying and the other, merely a grade.

“Fear is what we make it.”

Why am I passionate about you writing?

I’m not suggesting that everyone go and skydive. 🙂 Although it is quite an experience. But I do suggest that you start to look at what you’d like to write and what is really holding you back from writing. What is it that is showing up that is keeping you stuck? Keeping you from following through and doing it?

I know that it is easy to come up with reasons (excuses) why it isn’t happening but if writing is truly something you are drawn to and you really have a story to write, then do it. Do not let all the reasons for not doing it get in your way. I talk about what is really stopping you and how to overcome it here.

The reason I am so passionate about your writing and getting your story written? Not to put a really heavy on you but I’ve had a few people pass away in my life. They left this world with regrets with things they had wanted to accomplish but didn’t. In fact just recently a dear friend of mine died. She was so full of life, so funny and had such a quirky way of looking at the world. She was one of those people who approached life with humor and didn’t take too much of it serious. Losing her reminded me that life is meant to be experienced… the good and the bad.

Now I can look around. So cool.

The truth about writing and about skydiving, it is about focus. If you focus on all that can go wrong and how scary it is, then it keeps you from doing it. If you focus on all the positive and what it will give you, then you can move forward. You can experience it fully.

I truly believe that where we feel fear is the direction we need to move in. It is where we will find our greatest gifts.

Keep your focus on moving forward. Write for the love of it… the rest is merely an adventure.

What adventure are you willing to take with your writing?

I made it! A few quirky things happened (I’ll share those later) but it was unbelievably amazing.