bored with the sport

[Croc 0]

Didn't realize that I was being unfriendly.

"Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so."

Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

[airtwardo 7]

Strap some pyro on ya and jump at night!


It's a lot of things....but BORING ain't one!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[skyjumpenfool 2]

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Strap some pyro on ya and jump at night!


It's a lot of things....but BORING ain't one!

.... with the Shell team flying tight circles around your canopies??

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[airtwardo 7]

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Quote

Strap some pyro on ya and jump at night!


It's a lot of things....but BORING ain't one!

.... with the Shell team flying tight circles around your canopies??

And 'Robosaurus' breathing fire below ya!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[mwabd1 0]

No pyro but we did rig some large aicraft landing lights on some Protecs and did night CrW......

That was alot of fun!

.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own!

[airtwardo 7]

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No pyro but we did rig some large aicraft landing lights on some Protecs and did night CrW......

That was alot of fun!

I did a night jump with Tom Sanders once, he pulls up along side under canopy and turned on a couple of those landing lights.... 'bout stained my skives, I thought IT WAS an aeroplane!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[mwabd1 0]

That would have been funny....if you were Tom!

I can take the critism, no problem and agree that the people are among the best in the world. 90% of my friends today are skydivers and I would not have it any other way.

Perhaps the term "scaring myself" is a bad phrase. We all went after that first jump to get the adrenaline rush........so not so much scaring myself as it is seeking that same 1st jump feeling again.

I also agree that you never stop learning in this sport, there are many avenues that I can follow, certain rating to get....etc

Maybe time off is the answer which is no problem right now.........work is in the way. I took a year off after I found out I was a type 1 Diebetic to get myself strait and I put on a safety harness at work and got that old familar feeling and hit the DZ the following weekend.

Either way thanks for the suggestions.......I will be at another Boogie in a couple weeks with a fist full of jump tickets, hope to see some of you there.

.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own!

[SKIandSKY 0]

I only have 16 jumps so far and have been addicted since jump number one. I notice that I think about skydiving at least 50 times a day and have a hard time not talking about it to everyone I meet.

I am a skiing instructor and am addicted to that too....skydiving is going to be like skiing: always a new challenge to master. I'm already trying to figure out how to land in my parents' backyard and in my school's football field...I'm planning ahead on keeping it real! LOL

If I didn't have this HUGE and ANNOYING online assignment due tomorrow I'd be at the DZ jumping a PAK 750!!! Hopefully Saturday.

SKIandSKY

[Bramble 0]

I can't imagine getting to a place where I am bored with this hobby! While journalling the first two static line jumps I did yesterday, my hands started to shake and I had to take some time (DZ.com helped!) away from it before I could finish what I was writing.

Good grief, if I can produce an intense adrenaline spike thinking about what I've already done, will I get through the next 21 jumps? Eeek!

Maybe you should mentor a freaked-out newbie at your DZ and get a vicarious adrenaline rush that-a-way.

[emmiwy 0]

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So as I sit and sip my tasty beverage I must ask.....how do you deal with getting bored in this sport?

For those that do not think that it can happen, just ask someone, it happens. I used to just try to scare myself and get the heart pumping but that does not do it anymore.

I was hooked from the start but spent many years doing tandem videos and i do blame that for some of the boredom but now I can do what I want and find myself just wanting to hang out and it seems that the nightly Bonfire is becoming a lost art. Maybe I am getting too old for this?

I work on the road so I get to visit alot of different DZ's and am still making new friends everywhere I go. I just seem to have lost that spark that made me wake up at 6am on a Saturday to get my butt to the DZ.............

So what do you have to do to stay interested?

Funny you post this at this time--the last few weeks I've felt like you, that it has become work, that I lost the spark. Last weekend was the first I've not jumped in over 3 months, and it felt good to take the break. Skydiving almost became a routine, which for me involves driving to the dropzone 1.5 hours one way, packing what I need when I sleep over there, getting up early in the mornings or not sleeping well in the bunkhouse, not eating enough or staying well hydrated when I'm at the dropzone. All are factors that had begun to wear me down. It was nice to just stay home, sleep in, take time to cook a real meal, and do "normal" life things.

With that said, that one weekend not skydiving was enough for me to realize how much I missed it and it is a part of me now. I feel like a more satisfying life is one that is well-balanced with different pursuits and interests to enrich your life, to re-invent yourself.

Credit goes to Mel Curtis for this wisdom: I like to challenge myself by setting and achieving short and long-term goals. This sport is simplistically complex, with so many dimensions I dare say impossible to master all. So I don't think you can ever get bored if you enjoy challenge, learning a new aspect or discipline in the sport, or to just do it for the same reason why you made your very first jump, because it's fun. Of course, I'm a fun jumper so have no idea what it feels like to be skydiving full time and as an instructor.

I've been very focused on belly jumping, which also contributed to skydiving becoming routine--the rigidity, discipline, and focus that generally characterizes RW can be a little stifling at times. To battle this, I am learning how to free fly. Do a jump just for the sake of falling out of the sky. Don't think just jump. Feel the air, look at the things that make your dropzone beautiful while in freefall and under canopy. Do a sunset track dive, do a high altitude hop and pop. Do a zoo dive. Hopefully this will reinvigorate your passion for the sport that got you hooked in the beginning.