A Piece of Advice You NEED to Know Before Skydiving: SCREAM!

I hear everyone saying that skydiving is on their bucket list, and it was on mine too, but its easy to talk yourself out of it. Money, as it can be quite expensive, time and weather are all legitimate excuses to prevent a jump from happening. Heck, my horoscope suggesting I ‘play it safe’ should have been enough to stop me. But I’d seen so many seemingly 99-year-old seniors on social media making the jump – what was holding me back?

THE CHANCE

Being a young journalist, they would tell us in school, “If you’re here to make money, get out” which was fine for me because I’m cheap enough to sustain the lifestyle I want. But what they also told us was that in this field, you’d get to experience everything; and that’s the kind of compensation I was looking for.

While covering the Red Deer Regional Air Show, I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime and it was even better than the average run-of-the-mill skydive; we were offered the chance to jump with the Canadian Armed Forces AND it would be recorded, all for free.

If you haven’t heard of them, the SkyHawks perform shows that are known to “challenge gravity” with daring maneuvers, leaving trails of colored smoke behind them in creative shapes, bringing their signature Canadian flag parachutes close together in different forms, known as Canopy Relative Work. I immediately called dibs on the story…although I didn’t exactly have to fight for it. Turns out not everyone is keen to participate in an adrenaline-pumping, frightening experience that goes against every natural human instinct not to jump out of moving objects mid air.

I woke up 5 a.m. in preparation for my adventure, only to find out it was postponed from rainy weather. This happened a couple of times, which did not help my anxiety level as I questioned if the universe was trying to warn me that I shouldn’t jump at all! Eventually, the rain stopped and I had run out of excuses. I ate the least liquidy form of long-lasting breakfast I knew (oatmeal) and headed out.

We made our way to the base, and my nerves were calmed slightly with the sight of burly soldiers acting very nonchalant about the jump – so obviously, I needed to chill. I looked up one last time at the young happy man in the picture hanging near the bathroom and loaded the plane.

Here’s where I teach you to do as I say, not as I do, because in these life experiences, some fight, some take flight, and some freeze. Apparently, I’m the last one. Take a look:

I held my breathe…the entire time!

Only after I landed back on solid ground was I told that if I screamed, I would be forced to exhale and I would have had a better chance of actually breathing during my free fall.

As an Italian, my normal speaking voice IS screaming, so I shouldn’t of had any problems remembering to do what I’m great at…but skydiving is an experience unlike any other and you simply don’t know what to expect. Your senses are heightened from the adrenaline, and it’s so intense, but surprisingly serene when you see the beautiful view from the sky. Even my friends waiting for me on the ground couldn’t believe I didn’t scream. And, I could hardly feel my legs when we landed because I’d held my breathe for so long.

Overall though, skydiving was a thrill of a lifetime for me.

So, if you’re thinking about skydiving…remember, screaming is highly recommended.

It will also help you naturally get to the most important step of all in the experience: to have fun.

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by Alessia Proietti/Everything Lifestyle Staff

A Piece of Advice You NEED to Know Before Skydiving: SCREAM!

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