What do you think?

[whocares 0]

I started jumping in 2000; I did over 200 jumps in my first 6 months. I have watched 8 people I knew, 2 very close friends pass on in this sport.

I am 34, married with 4 kids and could careless if I jump anymore.

I do not know why I have lost the edge. Could be that my mentor, and good friend Roger Nelson, passed away? Could be that life is always changing and my family needs me. I have always pushed the envelope in life, but I do not feel the need for speed. WTF I am in a lull.

Don’t get me wrong I love the whole aspect of skydiving, hell summer fest is rocking an hour away from me and I just don’t want to go.

Do any of you go through these phases? Yes life is great too I am not in a depression
Either. Hope this passes soon.

[SkyAnt 0]

If you dont want to jump then don't. Take up a new challenge. Hangliding or Scuba Diving as long as it works well with you and your family.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

[CrazyIvan 0]

Perhaps it's just a phase, if you really love skydiving but right now you're not feeling like jumping, so don't, do it when you feel you're ready.

I'm saddened for the experiences you've had, but don't let them get you, take them as a series of circumstances which you were meant to witness for some reason.

In this life, there is a lesson on everything we go thru.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[whocares 0]

I'm saddened for the experiences you've had, but don't let them get you, take them as a series of circumstances which you were meant to witness for some reason.

In this life, there is a lesson on everything we go thru.
***

Thanks, I agree everything happens for a reason. Might be time to take up under water basket weaving.

[Zennie 0]

Lots of jumpers go through "burnout" phases. Some are permanent, some are temporary. Just depends on the person. Losing friends, spending way too much money, getting sick of politics... those are the usual reasons.

Life is what you get out of it. Priorities change. I think parachuting is the first activity that I've had that I've stayed in for 3 years.

I just recently went through a 3 month stretch where I wasn't skydiving. It was actually a very healthy thing. I realized there is a life outside of skydiving. Things to do and have fun doing. People to hang with.

When I wasn't skydiving I was reading, doing yoga, learning rock climbing. I was BASE jumping so that helped scratch the itch.

When I started jumping again a couple of weeks ago I did it because I wanted to. And I felt reinvigorated.

Just go with your gut feelings and never have any regrets for following you heart.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[beavdog 0]

I dont think that is the case, you have just seen a lot of bad things in the last year...if you take some time off you might realize how much you miss the sport and be back.

Here's to the Breezes that blows through the Trezzez.....

[slotperfect 7]

It might help if you took some time to reflect and get clear on why you started skydiving in the first place. What value does it bring to your life? Does it serve you? How do you experience skydiving when you're engaged in it?

If you find through your reflection that skydiving is indeed forwarding for you in your life, then perhaps you can seek a way to honor Roger, your mentor, for whom I experience you as having great respect, by carrying on the love that he doubtless had for our sport.

If it's a phase, find another source of joy for yourself until you yearn to be surrounded by blue sky again.

Respectfully,

Arrive Safely

John

[dterrick 0]

I had a similar reaction and lost the edge needed to race sports cars after a fellow racer, not known for his prowess, caused an incident that destroyed my 1969 Triumph GT6 that had taken me 2 years, $10k and about 900 hours to restore.

I was 'encouraged' to return to the next vintage race by the loan of a Lotus Cortina MKII (SCCA national champion car) but as much fun as it was to drive, I just didn't 'feel' like driving it 11/10ths when that was required.

I still instruct - I didn't lose my skills - but at some point the race chase seemed senseless. On a recent trip to California I realized how much I liked DRIVING a challenging road, rather than racing someoneand it made me feel much better about my decision to hang up my helmet.

Sounds like you have a similar situation but unlike auto racing there's not much you can do with parachute gear that doesn't involve jumping from a plane. Thought about pilot training? Soaring? Um, sports car racing (people die less frequently but it's a 2-D sport)

-Dave

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

[lawrocket 3]

Hey, my guess is that we all go through these phases. I'm in the phase right now. I haven't jumped since the end of May. I've relocated and started a new job, and a new life.

Skydiving is a part of that new life. Jumping is not a part of it at this moment. In two or three months, when everything is squared away with what I want to do, I'll go back.

I read somewhere that the average time in the sport is three years. I think your story provides an explanation for that figure.

Good luck in whatever you do. I'm sure most will tell you that it is all right to quit. We just all hope you don't.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[whocares 0]

Thanks for all the advice. You all make some great points, thoughts to ponder. I will be back it is just a matter of when. Nothing wrong with taking a break.

Tim

[QuickDraw 0]

Quote

I am 34, married with 4 kids and could careless if I jump anymore.

Mid-life crisis.

-- Hope you don't die. --

I'm fucking winning

[whocares 0]

Mid-life crisis. ***

HAHA, Shit it just could be?

[Malfunction 0]

Tim-I feel ya, man. I have been in the sport since 96. Did 100 jumps my first year, then next to none the second year. I go on and off, and right now I am VERY off. I sold my harness/container and reserve, but kept my jumpsuit, helmet, altimeter, and Stilletto. I plan on getting back into it, but in the last year, I met the woman with whom I will probably spend the rest of my life, I have become a father, I bought a kitten (strange, I haven't killed it yet - all you postwhores should know what I am sayin), and jumping just doesn't have as much pull as it used to. I would spend every weekend, starting Friday after work, at the DZ; now, I pick up my son less than 5 minutes from my DZ and haven't been there in over a month. Stick it out, soon you will have the passion again, your family will see it, and all will be right with the world again. In the mean time, I bought a Kawasaki Ninja. That has tied over my need to go fast straight down, now I go fast in a different direction.

I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.
- Voltaire

[wildblue 7]

I think I heard one time that the average time in this sport is 3 or 4 years. Seems about right. I've kind of gone through the same thing... haven't been jumping much, not much time, money, or desire to I guess.
We'll see... next season I might have more of an itch to do it, and more time and money to do so. It's nice taking a break from something that takes so much of your life though - I've gotten back to some things I really enjoy... dare I say it? There is more to life than skydiving

it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

[QuickDraw 0]

Quote

dare I say it? There is more to life than skydiving

Blasphemy.

-- Hope you don't die. --

I'm fucking winning

[Jayruss 0]

Quote

dare I say it? There is more to life than skydiving

Then you're not doing it right

__________________________________________________
"Beware how you take away hope from another human being."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

[whocares 0]

Then you're not doing it right
***

We can talk in ten years when you have a wife, kids and a business to run. Enjoy it why you have the time my friend.

[mjosparky 4]

After reading your profile, Whocares!

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[whocares 0]

OK Sparky HA

[wmw999 2,460]

If it loses its pull to you, then don't do it -- work on other stuff. Skydiving will change if you leave for awhile, but it won't go away. I left for a long time, with very few jumps in between. I'm not at all sorry I left, and I'm glad I'm back. But without it, my life was also full enough.

Maybe there just isn't a skydiving-shaped hole in your life right now.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[whocares 0]

Agreeded Thanks.

[thethinker 0]

If your drive to jump isn't there, then maybe its best that you don't. If you begin to just go jump to jump you might get careless or something. If you get the pep back go for it, but maybe now is a good time for a break.

We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
-Johann von Goethe

[digurman 0]

Try Judo. It is like skydiving indoors. Well not exactly, but there is a lot of comraderie and it is exciting. There is also a rich philosophy behind it.

Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Kuk Sool, and others are good too.

Words aren't real