Lost desire to jump - safe to take a break?

[lnd906 0]

100 jumps and a year in the sport, with 50 on my own gear. Loved it and thought about it daily for the past year, but lately I've found myself not wanting to jump. I think part of my loss of passion is that I jumped a ton over the summer, partly that I've gotten busier with other hobbies, friends, work and view making the 2 hour drive to the DZ as a chore rather than fun, and partly struggling to find people to jump with and finding a way to make friends at the DZ.

I only want to skydive as long as it makes me happy, and am thinking about taking a break if I don't want to jump. However, I worry about currency - would taking a few months off (or the winter, as it is fast approaching here in the north), be unsafe? I worry particularly about landing, as I've only just started to figure out how to land consistently (I fly a 150 at 1:1).

Anyone else feel this way or take a break? Did you regret it? Is it unsafe to do so? Thanks in advance.

[sammielu 3]

Don't jump if it doesn't make you happy.

That said, you're at the plateau between being excited to jump anytime, with anyone, and finding the part/s of the sport that fires you up. What I love about jumping is that there are so many disciplines and there is a bunch of practice (read: an excuse to skydive) to get there, and a huge sense of accomplishment once you finally meet your goals. I love love love jumping with s group and making improvement from one jump to the next (doesn't happen all the time, but after an ok jump it's fun to turn yo your jump mates and say "try again?" And go for the same jump and see if there's progress. So that's me. What sounds fun to you? Here are a few ideas:
FS
Competing at Nationals
FF
Artistic FF
MFS
CRW
Wingsuit in
Canopy skills (i.e. start taking courses now!)
Head down
Video flying
Angle flying
Instructing students
Tandem jumps
Video for competition teams (free jumps!!!!!)
Having your name on a state, national, or world record
Making the next viral skydive video for playing quiddich/swordfighting/eating pizza
Traveling and meeting new people
Traveling to jump in ____ location (Hawaii, over a mountain, in alaska, in the desert, in the top 5 prettiest dz's in the world, etc)
Traveling to jump out of a skyvan/DC3/balloon/helicopter, etc
Traveling with your local jumpers (makes for fast friendships)
Doing THAT (your choice of skydive picture/video)

Any of that sound good?

Don't worry about currency. Review what the USPA says to review before coming back, go to safety day to help refresh, and do some physical practice with a coach or instructor before your first jump back. It's no big deal, just learn how to be safe again and realize that you might have forgotten important stuff so you should review all the stuff.

[obelixtim 150]

You ain't going to die skydiving if you ain't skydiving. So taking a break is safe.

When you come back, do the refreshers and you'll be fine.

If you are only just now figuring out landings, maybe you need to upsize.

And with 100 jumps, you've only just scratched the surface.

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

You don't say where you are, other than "up north."

I'm in Wisconsin, and a bit of a "cold wimp."

I generally don't jump if it's below freezing on the ground (others do).

So I routinely take a few months off every year.

Generally, with time off (how much depends on what license you have), you have to make a jump "under the supervision of an instructor".

Some places require a coach jump, others allow simply going over the dive plan, EPs, landing patterns, ect. with an instructor and then doing a hop & pop.

So taking some time off doesn't have to be unsafe. It just requires a bit of effort to return to the sky safely.

Keep in mind that this sport has risks no matter what. That's part of the deal.

As others have said, "the sky will always be there".
Whether you will be willing and able to go back up is a different question.

If your heart isn't in it, if you don't feel like it, stay on the ground.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[ILUVCHUTERS 1]

If you don't want to jump, don't. It's as simple as that.

Do what you need to do for recurrency when you come back - which may include upsizing for a bit.

When I first started jumping I hated winter (Central Alberta - it's already -5c in the mornings here and supposed to snow all weekend - our year end weekend) cause I couldn't jump.

Now I almost look forward to it - not because I like winter - I still hate winter and wonder why I live here - but because I get my weekends back for a bit and I get to do other stuff for a few months, including missing skydiving and getting excited about a new season again.

[mrmatson 0]

I had a similar loss of interest around that many jumps. I think it's pretty common to have a "100 jump slump". I just couldn't get excited about going to the DZ and doing more belly jumps, and didn't have the mental fortitude to suggest trying other things. I ended up taking about 3 or 4 months off. I had to do some review and make a jump with a coach to get recurrent but didn't have any major safety concerns.

As others have said, if you're not feeling like jumping don't jump. If you want to get back into it next season, you may have to do some review and a coach jump but that isn't a deal.

[chips26 4]

I'm kind of in that slump about right now. Around 250ish jump numbers, glad that the season is finally winding down here in the midwest.

Then again, its mainly to do with my nonstop hectic summer schedule...the past 4 months have been non stop travel (3+ hours) every weekend, boogie or turbine chasing, and FS meets in between those that are also an average of 7-9 hours away. I love to jump but it can burn you out pretty quickly with the travel involved.

That being said, I still plan on staying current this winter doing cessna jumps here and there, as well as a trip to Arizona. Sky season around here doesnt really start to pick up until about late march, early april.

If youre down and lost with what you want to get out of the sport, I suggest setting some small goals for the season with what you want to see yourself doing. This worked both for me as well as our 4 way team when we competed this year. If you want to know more, PM me, its a short story haha.

[Bolas 5]

wolfriverjoe

As others have said, "the sky will always be

Used to tell people:
"The sky will always be there, if ever it isn't we've got much bigger problems than skydiving."

Now that I'm over a year uncurrent, tell that to myself too.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[chemist 0]

skydiving is boring.

but the longer of a break you take between jumps the more better next one gonna be. Problem is after 500 jumps even if you take a few weeks off next jump is still boring

[grantunderland 0]

Uhm...almost all of my jumps SINCE 500 have been anything but boring. In three years I've had a handful of 2-3 week breaks, and one 6 week break. I made a few jumps on Sunday and can't wait until this weekend.

[crapflinger2000 1]

IMO it's unsafe if you DON'T take a break.

I view skydiving as one of those things you need to be up for and fully present at all times if you are going to participate.

I got out of the sport with ~3-4000 jumps, when it got boring. I view some of the most dangerous jumping I did as right there at the tail end when I was slogging it out to the DZ just for purposes of "making some jumps" with no real passion for it.

Take a break, if it's meant to be your break will refresh/rejuvenate. If not, get out. It's too dangerous/expensive a thing to be involved in half-heartedly.

People get different things out of the sport. Maybe you've subconsciously gotten what you need and this is your mind telling you to bail on it. Not every wants to or needs to make this their alternate life and get into the thousands of total jumps.

Or maybe you just need a break.

__________________________________________________
What would Vic Mackey do?