Hitting a wall (not literally)

[mattskinner77 0]

I am a novice jumper and I seem to have these periods where I don't really have a burning desire to jump. I'm curious who has had the same issue and how have you approached it. I think part of my problem is skydiving for me is a hobby and I have a hard time justifying the money I am currently spending on it. I'd appreciate any advice or feedback that anybody has. I want to get good at what I do and I know that is not terribly feasible without an investment of time and money. Thanks.

[Chiemel 0]

Quote

where I don't really have a burning desire to jump.

And that's just fine! If you don't feel like jumping, don't jump, in essence you're throwing money out of that airplane.

There will always be funjumpers who just want to a jump in every once and a while, and there will always be jumpers who spend (almost) every last penny jumping their ass off every weekend. The only person to decide what category you fall in is you!

They both have their up and downside, and you've basicalled summed it up in your post: if you don't jump regularly, you will not get good at it. That means no larger formations, barely any freeflying, ... But it does mean you still get to save some money.

Safety can be a bit of an issue, since you will never be current, so you might just be stuck doing solos whenever you come down to the DZ. If that's ok with you, perfect! Keep in mind, you not being current can be a danger to yourself and other jumpers, so you might not get to be part of "the gang", and get alot more supervision during fitting/ride up. For your safety and ours.

Since you're still a novice, you're better off talking to an instructor at your local DZ, and tell him about what you want to do in skydiving. He can probably give you some good advice! And he might suggest you try to jump a bit more right now, so atleast you've got some basic skills you can carry with you!

Stay safe and have fun!

[Di0 2]

Personally, I think that the biggest motivation in skydiving is to have some goals and work toward achieving that.
Skydiving for skydiving's sake, you get that done with your first couple of solos, when you get to do "backflips and shit".
But then you realize how expensive, time consuming and energy draining skydiving is, not just the money aspect, but the long drive, entire weekends at the DZ, not hanging out with your "normal" friends, etc. You start asking yourself for what.
You said it, it looks like you hit a wall.

You need goals. Have a look at the sections of this forum to get a few ideas, talk to you instructors (which personally I still consider "my instructors" even after getting my license and coach ratings myself), ask experienced people at the DZ. Ask-ask-ask.
Look at what people are doing and ask questions about what they are doing. Talk to the most "respected" skydivers around the bonfire. Ask them if they want to jump with you the day after.
The license merely opened the door for you, but now you have to walk the path yourself.

Whether you want to build an Relative Work (RW) 4 Way team, become one of those "Big Way Guys", fly a wingsuit, a videographer, become an instructor yourself, be a CRW Dog, or one of those swoopers that flies rocket-ship canopies. There are so many disciplines that add another dimension to skydiving. They all have their competitive aspect, if competition interests you. Personally, competition (at any level, from the dream of taking part at the USPA Nationals to the little friendly competitions, scrambles, etc. that the local DZs often organize) is what pushes me.
Be honest, don't cut corners and do what you need to do to get there.

Some people are happy doing gorilla exits and backflips and shit and big rounds that work once every blue moon for the rest of their skydiving days. And that's perfectly fine.
Some people get bored of that and need some goals to keep working toward. That's great.
Some other just decide that the payoff from skydiving is simply not worth overall. That's good too, be honest with yourself.
If when you throw yourself out of that damned door, looking at your jump mates diving after you, moving to your slot, you don't find yourself thinking "right, that's why I do it", then don't do it.
You're still one of the very few people in the world that had the balls to get a license and could do it if they want to. :)

I was lucky, my instructors are big RW people so they showed this to me after my AFF level 2:
http://youtu.be/67oOZ1LJ708
This is one of the best RW team in the world and that was the moment I decided, ok that's what I want to do.
Some people with hundreds of jumps don't even know what competitive RW is because they never got "exposed" to it.
I was once dirt-diving a 4 way jump on the creepers in the hangar, when this student approached asking "can I ask what are you guys doing?" - I briefly explained him that we were doing a Relative Work jump and we were "going to build" those figures in that sequence in the air, he got instantly interested, I told him to talk to the instructors about that. He is now going to create a collegiate team to compete at the collegiate nationals.
How can it get better than that?

270 jumps later I am working toward that directions and to build those skills with almost every jump, looking for people about having our own team, organizing little 4 ways, and even if I now am 1% where I need to be, and probably 0.01% compared to a pro RW team, I know I didn't waste money and time because I build something working toward that and nobody can take it away from me.

I went from being the guy that "screws up the jump" (and don't worry, we've all been through that, but if you show good attitude and desire to learn, most people will keep teaching you because the license is the bare minimum to skydive without killing yourself, there is more to it) to the guy that get asked to jump by people organizing big ways or days before doing 4 way with people with thousands of jump people will ask me to jump with them.
The guy that had to be helped and "beaten" in a 4 way jump to stay in the slot, to the guy that is able to assist a less experienced guy flying another slot.
I still have such a long way to go, but they - I feel like I am moving in the right direction so I keep going.

That is in itself an accomplishment I am actually very proud of and I owe it to my curiosity and to the help I received at the DZ by tons and tons of people. People that used to give honest but often blunt feedback, I always respected it, accepted and worked to improve what I could, one thing at a time, are now the people that say "you did a fucking great job on that jump". Don't be afraid of feedback and keep asking what you can do to improve.
Learn to stay away from bad advice and figure out the people you can trust (this is very hard to do but also VERY VERY VERY important). For any of the disciplines I mentioned (and probably many more I forgot), you can get good instructors, coaching, mentors and build relationships and friendship that will last years. You'll know people, you'll get to create your own "myths" and living legends in the sport. Then you'll randomly and casually meet them at the bar of a boogie, talk to them, jump with them. It's awesome, it is a sport where even the "super-stars" are often still relatively "accessible".

It's a hard, long, at times frustrating and expensive journey, but I consider it totally worth it.

I'm standing on the edge
With a vision in my head
My body screams release me
My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

[KirstyM81 0]

What an amazing response to post Di0 . . . Encourages me to get back up there after a reserve ride and heavy landing on my first consol! Thanks! x

[dzswoop717 5]

Just taking the time to type all that, to some one you don't know, and the answer that you gave, tells me you are on the path to 4 way success. Stay grounded and don't get a big head and you will go far.
For the OP. It is not worth risking your life for something you are not passionate about. If you don't feel "IT" in the next few jumps, find a new hobby. Skydiving isn't for everyone. You gave it a try, even earned a license, something so few of the populous has done. No shame in quitting something that just doesn't turn you on.

[boxhead 0]

I have the same approach. However, for me it applies mainly to tunnel flying. I work at a tunnel and hence, have the opportunity to fly a lot. It is awesome, but from time to time I have periods of lower motivation. I found that taking a short break is the cure. After a short period of time away, I get excited again and usually come back a better flyer. Doing this helps me break through plateaus in my
progression. Forcing yourself to skydive or fly when not in the mood, because you feel like you should be, is a fast way to get burnt out on a sport you probably love. If after a break, you don't get re excited enough to justify the financial sacrifices, well. . thats ok! Pick up a cheaper hobby, you can always come back to skydiving in the future.