Hello All!! My name is Brandon and I have recently passed my AFF course in 7 jumps at Paradise Skydives in Iowa. I can definitely say that I am happy to have finally found a lifestyle where I truely feel alive.
I'm a dedicated skateboarder, snowboarder (after finally having money to travel to real mountains), and avid motorcycle rider. I enjoy each of those activities but I believe skydiving is really where my home is. I've been a thrill seeker since a near death car accident when I was 13 (that's when I took up skateboarding) and while exciting and breathtaking at times nothing even compares to how I feel in freefall.
I've alway had my eyes on skydiving but never the passion to pursue it. I decided that I was actually going to go for it this year and set aside some money over the winter. I started my AFF course at the end of May and graduated this past weekend. I've also made 1 coach jump and a solo post graduation on Sunday.
The weird thing was that I didn't feel anything at first. I've always been a very calm and collected person and have learned how to convert any fears of a situation into awareness. For all of my AFF jumps I was never nervous or scared of the plane ride, entering the door, or even jumping out (seems to me that reading this board that those are some of people's biggest fears). I would run every dive flow through my head a hundred times before jumping out of the plane and executing the dive flow felt almost second nature by that time. I had mishaps like everyone else, like getting in the muscle memory of the arch or ending up on my back after an exit, but never once did fear or panic cross my mind.
It wasn't until my solo jump after AFF that I actually felt the excitement from skydiving and now it is the only thing I can think about! Every free thinking moment I've had over the last 3 days has been skydiving. Reliving each moment from each dive remembering mistakes successes. Saying that I am eager to get back up in the sky would be a horrible understatement. I've never felt this way, this alive, in my life and I hope I can continue to feel this way till I die.
