About Downplane
This website is a repository for my thoughts about skydiving and how the sport can change how we think about life in general. I am an avid skydiver. For as long as they have been alive my children have endured my use of skydiving as a metaphor for various aspects of life, and now I am putting those in writing.
The reason I find skydiving so useful is because it is an almost purely psychological activity. While it requires training and there are many skills involved, it does not require strength or a great deal of athleticism. The most basic requirement to jump out of an airplane is a willingness to do it, and an ability to move past the fear and adrenaline getting in your way.
Good skydivers are able to be aware of their surroundings in very adverse situations. Great skydivers are able to find the right level of calmness, relaxation and focus to perform at their peak in the most stressful situation.
I have no intention of convincing anyone to make a skydive through these writings. Instead, I hope to show how our mindset and approach to situations can radically affect how we navigate life. In order to help non-skydivers read these posts, I’m also going to include a glossary of skydiving terms.
Posts will sometimes include “Story Time,” which is basically a metaphor inside the metaphor. It is usually the point when my kids would start to roll their eyes, but they have learned that I usually come back around to the topic at hand.
About Me
I am an avid skydiver. As of this writing I have over 1,200 skydives over twenty years in the sport. If you are not a skydiver that probably sounds like a lot, but in the skydiving community and among the people I tend to be around it is not a terribly impressive number. I am also a husband, father of two and an artist.
My first skydive was a typical “bucket list” item. My friends and I, however, decided not to make a traditional tandem skydive, but went through four hours of training to make a jump with two instructors. When I landed and people asked me how it had been, I couldn’t remember any of the experience. I had been so focused on all the things I needed to do in order to be safe and successful that I was unaware of anything going on around me. I made a second skydive just so I could try to remember the experience.
I needed to make 20 skydives to become a licensed skydiver. Each one went about the same way. It had been a couple of weeks since I had done it last. I would go through the training needed to make my progression, and then spend the entire ride to altitude thinking: “This is crazy and stupid. After this one I am done.” As soon as I landed, though, all I could think about was when I would be able to make my next jump.
By the time I had made 25 skydives my wife and I both noticed that I was much happier and more relaxed after a skydive. It was a kind of super-meditative process. With an experience that intense, it is very hard to have lots of other things on your mind.