Lessons From Skydiving: But I Could Die!

"Are you afraid of heights," a good friend asked me when I told him I didn't want to go skydiving.

"No, I'm afraid of plummeting to my death from 10,000 feet in the air" I said, as I lied through my teeth.

Look, the truth is, I am afraid of heights. I even get a little weird when I drive over tall bridges. It's not the kind of fear that cripples me, I just start to feel uncomfortable. My "afraid of heights" symptoms include a tingling feeling in my legs and a feeling of dread in all the other parts of my body. I'm sure I hide it well because my daughter thinks that I'm not afraid of anything (she doesn't read my blog thank goodness).

So as I contemplated going skydiving last week, I used every excuse in the book (aside from me being afraid of heights) to try and get out of it. In the end, I decided to jump. I remember the moment just before a large crazy man pushed me out of a moving plane. I was terrified and I was sure this was going to end badly. Fortunately, the big guy in charge of my tandem jump didn't give me enough time to try and talk him out of it.

Exactly one week later, I'm glad I jumped. I wonder how I would feel today, or later in life, knowing that I let my fear of heights keep my from skydiving. Then it hit me, "am I letting fear keep me from jumping in other areas of my life? Maybe my relationship with Sara could go to a more intimate level if I didn't have such a fear of not being in control. Maybe my law practice would explode if I would just jump in one area or another.

My dad is an amazing guy. I've learned a lot from him over the years. In my wise old age (thirty-one years young) I find myself quoting him a lot. There is a business opportunity available to him and he's afraid to jump. I've been trying to push him out of the plane for about a year now but he's stubborn, afraid to jump, and way bigger than me. I don't want him to to look back on the opportunity and know that he didn't give it a shot because of fear.

I see this "fear" thing coming up in a lot of my friend's decisions. Maybe you're in a relationship that's not going anywhere but you don't want to end it because you haven't been alone in a long time. Or maybe you've got a job opportunity that offers amazing upside but you're a little too comfortable with the company you're at now. Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump!

I can already hear you telling me all the reasons why you shouldn't jump. Let me just say that yes, there are good reasons to stay nice and comfy in your plane. Fear isn't one of them. Being pushed out of a plane wasn't comfortable but it was necessary because I never would have jumped on my own. Facing your fear and deciding to jump wont be easy for you either. Maybe you need someone to push you out of the plane!