Extreme AFF Anxiety?

[Chaskydives 0]

I’m experiencing extreme anxiety around AFF. I’m feeling sick, exhausted, and terrified even outside the drop zone. 
 

is this normal? I was a crying wreck on my last jump but I still did it and I did well. After I left the plane I didn’t feel anything and I felt amazing once I landed. 
 

I want to be the kind of person who is brave enough to skydive. But I’m wondering if this will ever go away? Has anyone had a similar experience? My next jump is tomorrow 

[wmw999 2,457]

I was extremely scared when I was on static line (before there was AFF), but not to the point of it’s taking over work. I gutted it out, and my first freefall was magic, and I was OK after that. But the whole airplane ride up each time I tried to talk myself into staying in the airplane. 
You’re spending a lot of money not to have fun right now; give it a time frame, and then decide. I also was happy after each jump. That was 46 years ago, so it is possible. But it’s not mandatory. 
Fear isn’t conquered, it’s worked through.  Congratulations on working through it and being a skydiver. You may decide not to do it forever, but you’re a skydiver. 
Wendy P. 

[bdb2004 28]

20 hours ago, Chaskydives said:

I want to be the kind of person who is brave enough to skydive. 

You already are.  

I'm 110 jumps in, although about 3/4 of those were a decade ago....and getting back into the flow is like starting all over with regards to the fear.   On the drive to the DZ I'm looking for excuses to turn around.  Walking up to manifest I'm thinking about reasons that I should just hang out and watch.  Riding up in the airplane I'm thinking about all of the things that could possibly go wrong.  

And then I remind myself, I've been well trained, even if I am inexperienced.  My gear is in great shape, I've done a thorough gear check, and I had someone else do a secondary pin check.  I trust the people that I'm jumping with, that we're all going to do what we've planned.  I have backup plans in case something goes awry, and I have backup plans for the backup plans in case they really go awry.  Finally, I remind myself what those first 5 seconds are going to feel like, which is why I do what I do.  

Then when the door opens, I take a deep breath and get ready to exit.  And for the next 5 minutes or so, I get to experience something that is incomparable to anything else that I do in my life.  

 

[Squeak 17]

As Wendy stated this is an expensive way to freak your self out. 

Question for you 

Why do you want to be brave enough?

 

You are literally risking your life for fun.  Skydiving is not for everyone, no life threatening sport is.  I have 20 years jumping and that;'s not where my fear lies.  There are many sports out there that scare me too much to undertake.

I'm brave enough to skydive by not near brave enough to do other things.

Brave enough is not the way I would gauge what I risk my life on..

If skydiving is that scary to you, you don't have to do it.  You certainly dont have anything to prove to anyone.

You jumped already that's more than most people on the planet will ever do.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Squeak

[funjumper101 15]

I had similar issues way back when I was a student. 

My instructors suggested that I do an observer ride before my next jump. Doing this  burned off a lot of the adrenaline that was causing the issues.

In a 182, sitting with my back to the instrument panel and watching the experienced jumpers climb out, take grips, and launch the chunk helped me immensely.  The ride down was pretty cool as well.  

I was charged one normal jump ticket for the ride.  One of the best deals ever as I had no further issues.

YMMV

[ChrisF 0]

Dear OP,

how did your next jump go? Would be interesting to know!

 

These kind of discussions help me a lot to work through my own fears, so I somehow feel obliged to share how AFF is for me:

I just did my first solo jump yesterday and I also had lots of anxiety and fear the jumps before. I made the experience, that the fear gets replaced with focus once I step to the door and throughout the skydive. 

The first jumps with two instructors were quite easy for me, as I felt very secure. I got quite terrified after Jump #5, when I didn't find the pull handle and my instructor pulled for me. This made me realize that I'm the only one who is responsible to pull and to land safely, it was a good kick in the butt. The drives to the dropzone and the jumps after this was quite terrifying, but I had an awsome instructor who practiced lots of pulls with me and then the rejump was going very well. After this, the first solo exit, the first salto, the first dive exit - all things I was very anxious about, but everything worked flawless. The first solo was then a piece of cake compared to the other jumps;)

 

My advice:

- I went to the tunnel for 10 minutes - this was well spent because it gave me lots of confidence that I can be stable in the air without randomdly flipping to my back. It's amazing how quick you get the feel for it.

- Be aware of the risk and use it to your advantage; be alert, practice emergency procedures, make a good plan for the landing. At the same time, visualize that most of the skydives end with a pull at the correct altitude and with a proper parachute above you. Learn to check the gear thoroughly yourself. I made a checklist that I follow... This gives me lots of security once I'm in the plane.

- Be open with your anxiety towards peers and your instructors. The other students here are anxious as well, some more and some less. It seems to be part of the game. Being open to the instructors helped me a lot as well.

- BTW, in the early jumps I had severe tunnel vision. I was very clear in my head and followed all instructions, but didn't remember much afterwards. This went away suddenly at jump #6.

 

For sure, the motivation for skydiving must be very high to work through all those panic and fear. Skydiving is an insane thing to do. At the same time - I'm only 9 jumps in, but I have never experienced anything so blissful and rewarding. I feel alive like a child. And, seldomly I met so many cool, relaxed and rational people in such a short period of time.

 

So i encourage you to stay at it, if this is something that you really wanna do.

 

[David Wang 56]

7 hours ago, Chaskydives said:

After I left the plane I didn’t feel anything and I felt amazing once I landed. 

awesome!! I felt the same every time I landed too :) After I landed safely I often told myself " See? I did it. " haha. 

7 hours ago, Chaskydives said:

But I’m wondering if this will ever go away?

your anxiety/fear level will not completely become zero but it will gradually decrease over time. you don't want it to completely become zero because you want to avoid complacency. 

 

7 hours ago, Chaskydives said:

My next jump is tomorrow 

Best of luck! Listen to your instructor, take some deep breaths and you will be fine! Keep us posted on how your jump goes!

Edited June 25, 2021 by David Wang