Skydiving— the word itself sparks excitement, nervousness, fear, thrill, and so many other emotions. But much like most things in life, you can’t grasp the full concept until you have experienced it firsthand. Here’s how my experience went.
For my best friend’s eighteenth birthday, all she wanted to do was go skydiving, and she wanted me to come with her. So, on June 24th, 2019 we drove to Royal Gorge Skydive and stepped out of the car ready for a new adventure.
Deep down I felt nervous, but on the surface I was still in disbelief that in just a few short hours I would be jumping out of a plane and plummeting towards the ground. Upon arrival, we were required to sign liability waivers, which demonstrated our acknowledgement of the risk of serious injury or death. For some reason I had never considered the possibility of death while skydiving prior to seeing it in words on the waiver, but that definitely made everything seem more real. Afterwards, we put on harnesses and went outside where we proceeded to get into the smallest and sketchiest plane I had ever seen. There weren’t even seats; we just sat strapped to the floor while we rose into the air with the door half open. I honestly think flying in the airplane was scarier than falling out of it because I thought it would fall apart at any moment. The view on the way up was so beautiful and scenic.When we got to the necessary elevation, we got to choose who jumped first, and since it was my best friend’s birthday, I let her do it.
However, I realized as soon as I saw her jump that it would have been smarter for me to go first, so I didn’t have to witness it and freak myself out. Finally, it was my turn. We approached the edge of the plane and I followed the instructions to kick my legs back and wrap them around the plane. Before I knew it, I was falling out of the sky.It was the most surreal experience of my life. Free-falling was absolutely terrifying. I couldn’t even breathe, let alone scream. Once we got to the ground, I couldn’t believe that I had just jumped out of a plane. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life, but definitely one of the coolest and most exciting. It was truly unique and so special, and I am so glad I did it.