A founder describes how skydiving became his escape from the relentless stress of running a business. Starting with tandem jumps at 18, he progressed to solo freefall and now uses it as a mental vacation where his brain finally shuts off and he finds clarity in the fall.
Chapters
I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And I ended up doing, over time since I turned 18, 6 tandems. And I realized at that point you're just losing money, like significantly. If you're going to continue skydiving, it's time to stop being a tandem and, and get licensed. So I was frequently going back and forth to California. I went and did my last tandem at Elsinore and I remember my goal with that tandem was to see if I could have enough awareness as to what's going on to feel in control of everything. And I remember once the canopy opened, I go to the tandem instructor and I said, dude, my mind is like, I'm not here right now. The sensory overload was just so much. He's like, how are you? I said, asked him while we're under canopy, how are you doing? And he's like, oh man, you just get used to it. He's just pulling down the toggles and we're spinning and he's just like, ah, nonchalant. But I ended up signing up for AFF probably a week or two later and going through that process at Elsinore. And yeah, you do get used to it very much. The adrenaline high and the adrenaline dump that comes afterwards is not as strong as when you first start out. But of course, just like you and many other folks that might be listening, it became an addiction. It became for me a good mental vacation in a way, building my own business, the stress from that. And the grind, it's tiring. And when you're jumping, like, you have to be in the zone. You don't have another choice but to be in it.
Thinking about keyword search intent.
Yeah, yeah. So it became a mental vacation. And of course, the freedom that comes along with it too, like the genuine feeling of falling but still knowing you're in control and you're okay. It's a very freeing feeling.
