When do the nerves go?

[CoderHead 0]

I don't know how this is going to be taken, but I was never nervous. For me, skydiving is a childhood dream finally realized. I've always loved flying, never been afraid of airplanes. At one point I was researching a pilot's license but decided I'd rather jump from them than fly them.

My first jump, I was excited and ready. I felt the ascent took way too long and when I let go of the strut, it was the greatest moment of my life! Every jump since then has just gotten better and better. My first solo jump was almost a defining moment...one I'll not forget.

I respect the danger involved. I realize the risk, and visualize what my reactions will be in adverse situations. Just because I'm not nervous doesn't mean I'm apathetic or oblivious. But I'm going to have as much fun as I can for as long as I can and I'm just thankful that anxiety doesn't get in my way of achieving that.

He who laughs last didn't get the joke.
Freefall Express

[boxhead 0]

First time post! I am a student, and have just completed my first 2 AFF jumps, (actually skydive chicago's program is dubbed AFP) Driving up to the DZ for the first jump I was only excited, but once I met with my instructor and began to review the jump plan, I became VERY anxious. The plane ride up, I chatted with jumpers, which helped a bit, but I only looked calm. I was very nervous. During the jump I felt ok, but landing the chute I remember thinking, "Fuck this, Im not doing this anymore!." Ha, im glad I already paid for my second jump. The nervousness actually stuck with me after landing and didnt go away up until twenty minutes before my second jump. (I had about an hour between jumps)On the second jump I was way more confident, and although nervous in the plane, I was collected. I dont know why I felt the way I did on jump 1, but after overcoming the intense and new feeling of anxiety, I feel more and more excited to jump. Just my 2 cents

[klingeme 1]

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I don't know how this is going to be taken, but I was never nervous. For me, skydiving is a childhood dream finally realized. I've always loved flying, never been afraid of airplanes. At one point I was researching a pilot's license but decided I'd rather jump from them than fly them.

My first jump, I was excited and ready. I felt the ascent took way too long and when I let go of the strut, it was the greatest moment of my life! Every jump since then has just gotten better and better. My first solo jump was almost a defining moment...one I'll not forget.

I respect the danger involved. I realize the risk, and visualize what my reactions will be in adverse situations. Just because I'm not nervous doesn't mean I'm apathetic or oblivious. But I'm going to have as much fun as I can for as long as I can and I'm just thankful that anxiety doesn't get in my way of achieving that.

Nervous is completely different than affraid. I have been nervous lots of times. I can only think of 2 jumps I was truely affraid on, and neither involved a cutaway. Both of these jumps where after I had 400 jumps.

Mark Klingelhoefer

[dunesurfer 0]

The anxiety and fear you feel is a normal response to your body shifting into "fight or flight" mode. Your response will evntually be retrained through the process of completing successful, exhilirating jumps. Your "learned" response to this state will eventually be arousal instead of panic. The amount of time this will take is different for everyone. As you gain confidence in your abilities and in your gear you will enjoy the experience more and the anxiety level will diminish.

Visualisation of successful jumps and relaxation techinques before and during the ride up will help with the process. Different things work for different people, this is something you will want to experiment with and see what suits you best.

[horwichg 0]

I get butterflies every jump between the point when everyone starts gearing up, around 9k feet (helmets on, cameras on, final hand shakes) and door opening at 12.5k. Once the door opens, for whoever is the first group out, the butterflies get sucked out with the wind.

It helps now that I'm on a bigger plane than I started on (caravan from a c-182), so now there's more jumpers talking and joking and carrying on. It helps take my mind off the unimportant parts.

[kashton 0]

When you're afraid, keep your mind on what you have to do. And if you have been thoroughly prepared, you will not be afraid

That John Denver's full of s**t man...

It's a great day to be alive

[kefran 0]

at 400+ jumps i have to say that i have a very different feeling than on my firsts ones. at first i was afraid of jumping out of the plane, now i must say that many other factors are going to stress me : who i am going to jump with, what is the plan for this jump, how many groups before and behind etc ...

but at least i'm saying to myself that as long as i have a kind of fear in me : it's that i am normal and absolutely conscious of what i am going to do !

enjoy the thrill !

--------------------------------------------------
I never used 2 rocks to start a fire ... this is called evolution !

[darrenspooner 0]

Read Brian Germain's book. Other than that, you just have to keep doing it over and over. It gets better as you get more competent. Remember your first ever driving lesson? If you were as scared as me you would have thought you'll never be able to do it. Now I bet you go from A to B without a thought in the world

[grannyinthesky 0]

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When people say that there will definitely be a malfunction at some point, well the thought of it makes me nervous. I generally try not to get nervous about what might happen and make sure I check my emergency procedures and my equipment time and time again.

And ya' know what, IF a mal happens, the training and practice sure pay off. When I had my mal, I had no hesitation about what I was supposed to do. I just did it. It's a nice feeling to know that I can do what I am supposed to do.

"safety first... and What the hell.....
safety second, Too!!! " ~~jmy

POPS #10490

[blacksha 1]

The nervousness will hopefully never go away but some of it is what keeps you safe...

Some days I'm alot more nervous jumping than others...Ultimately the key is to stay positive, and do the things you have to do to make sure you get to the ground safely, from noticing that each pack job is better than the last one you did, from staying altitude aware and pulling at the right altitude and stable, to landing in a clear area with no obstacles, landing straight (not recovering from a turn), and flaring for landing, most of the nervousness will gradually go away...

Every jump practice your EP's becaues this may be the jump you use it, don't get too nervous about it, yes it is gonna happen its only a matter of time...I've heard people that never have a real mal until their 10,000th jump to me having one on the 19th jump...I was really anxious about hearing that to, and even had dreams about it (and dreamed positive, did the right thing) to when it actually happened I just did what I had to do without hardly thinking about it, then thought about it more on the ground like WHAT just happened?!?!

As far as calming yourself down on the airplane...smile & laugh with other friends, close your eyes for a few minutes and take big deep slow breaths while you rehearse through the jump including pulling your handles if something goes wrong, it does wonders for slowing your heart rate down

Initially I would get so nervous jumping that I wouldn't even drink coffee before jumps, but that's all passed now...the nervousness still isn't gone, but the confidence is there enough to reassure myself before I go out that door and there are no second thoughts...focus focus focus do not get distracted from the exit until you're standing on your two feet again
Lonne

[stevesimms 0]

During my AFF, i used to get very nervous when I looked down at the alti, and saw it was almost time..
I found a song that fitted in with my feelings at the time, and going up I just used to sing it to myself...
And then when the door opened, I was feeling good and confident, and ready for the jump..

Now, even with my solo's and license, if I dont sing to myself, I start thinking about all those "What are you doing?!" But by sitting back, thinking of a song, and running through the lyrics... Yeah, that helps me all the time!

[kkeenan 14]

I think that you can make a rough analogy to swimmimg. To people who cannot swim, jumping into deep water is the most horrifying thought that they can imagine. When you learn to swim, you do it gradually in shallow water to get used to the whole unusual feeling of it. As you get better, you are still nervous and want everything to be just right and not upset your procedures. Then, somewhere along the line, you become conscious that you are leaping into the water without a thought about the depth, or how far you are from the edge. You feel comfortable in the environment because the act of swimming, holding your breath at the right times, etc. has become second nature. You concentrate more on your tasks in the water-or just having fun- than on the act of surviving.

Some day, as you stand in the door, you will be thinking about the exit, the maneuvers, or the beauty of the sky. You know you have checked your gear and your EPs are programmed and ready to run if necessary, and you just don't think about it. As you exit, your body reflexively goes to the right positions and you react to changes instinctively, like staying balanced on a bike.

Kevin K.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[scootstevens 0]

Once you are off student status and jumping on your own, you will start to build up a level of comfort and confidence in your equipment. Around my 15th jump I started to really relax. Having said that, every once in awhile i'll still be sitting in the plane and get a cold chill down my spine, just go with it, take a deep breath and try to relax. This feeling always disappears when the door gets cracked!

You can always scream out "EXTREEEEEEEEEEME"

[matt6242 0]

Embrace the jitters. They will go away, I assure you, and when they do dont let complacency replace it.
My progression was
0 - 50 jumps fear.
50 - 100 jumps cautious concern
100 - 300 no sweat ( mabey a little false brevado)
300 - 500 feeleing conformfortable in the fact that I love what I am doing and doing more advaced skills, while taking all precations to minimize the risks and staying accutley aware of them.

[matthias 0]

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Do the nerves ever give way?

This answer varies from person to person. I have 2 years in sport with 175 jumps, and during this time I've had have some nerves go away, and some come back. After two cutaways and a few rough landings, I mainly get nervous when I pull and while on final if I'm doing solos. If I'm with other people it depends on what were doing and what my experience level is.

Being nervous is a good thing tho, it keeps you focused and ready, rather than complacent. If I don't feel nervous during gear-up up to jump run...I start debated whether I should be jumping or not.

[SmoothAl 0]

Hey buba,
I hear ya. Although during the first couple of years of jumping I showed no fear and was always rarin' to go, I find myself a little nervous. I'm coming back in after a 5+ year hiatus, with a newly healed shoulder, and although I know it's like riding a bike, the feeling of reliving the excitement - that addiction to skydiving, and testing my skills again, makes me a little nervous.

After my first cutaway I had people ask me when I was getting back up. They thought I would be hesitant...I just figured what the cost of that day ended up being (financially) and decided I'd be back the following week...not because I was scared.

Best thing I've found for other times I've been nervous about stuff...breath. Just take some deep breaths. Be strong, be safe, buba.

SA

[humanflite 0]

Quote

Once you are off student status and jumping on your own, you will start to build up a level of comfort and confidence in your equipment. Around my 15th jump I started to really relax. Having said that, every once in awhile i'll still be sitting in the plane and get a cold chill down my spine, just go with it, take a deep breath and try to relax. This feeling always disappears when the door gets cracked!

You can always scream out "EXTREEEEEEEEEEME"

I found that up until I was on my AFF consols I was very nervous on the plane ride up but I kept telling myself the reasons I wanted to learn skydiving....and also had an outwardly confident front which helps no end Trick yourself using your subconscious so that you keep telling yourself your not scared.

It works (for the most part anyway!)...I still am anxious to some degree and get the odd 'panic moment' on the plane, but if you take a deep breath and think nice thoughts, that helps for me.

When I recently got on to my consols I found after about the 5th one that I was really starting to enjoy the jump run a bit more and a lot of the fear had turned into focus....

Focus on my exit.
Focus on having fun
Focus on staying safe
Focus on my EPs
Focus on landing pattern
Focus on no low turns and a good flare at the right height (still dont always get the flare height right though)

[sapplegate 0]

My nerves haven't completely gone in 19 years. Not scared, just a little anxious. I think it's good, it keeps me from getting too complacent. Getting control of the nerves???.....poop BEFORE you get into the plane. Just works for me.

[siddacious 0]

For me, nerves come from performance anxiety more than anything else. This was true for AFF and continues to be true for the big ways that I've done. In the grand scheme of things, it seems like I have more to worry about now, since I sometimes jump with 40ish people. I worry not so much about the safely concerns (which I am well aware of) but more so I worry about screwing up the jump for two planes worth of people.

With that said, I find that the key to getting over the feeling of being nervous is to focus on taking full, deep breaths whenever I feel nervous. For me at least, the physical feeling of being nervous comes from shortened breath, which I can easily fix within the first one or two full exhalations of a deep breath. After I've calmed myself down I then focus on visualizing what I have to do, to raise my confidence.

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