Skydiving depression?

[rmcvey 0]

O.K., so I did my 100th jump a few weeks back,
and im real sorry to say that the amazing feeling we all know and love has started to fade to the point where, during the week when im not jumping i get really moody.

Its even got to where as soon as i get home from the dz i can feel a empty feeling iv never had before.

Earlier on in skydiving i could do one jump a weekend and be
Please tell me someone else gets this and im not going mad and if so what you did to bring back the feel good stuff to skydiving.

[rgoper 0]

pursue other avenues in the sport you haven't yet. jump out of a helicopter, balloon, casa, etc...look into base jumping, with the proper training of course, try sky surfing, again with proper training. look for ways to "keep it fresh" i'm sure that every one at some point and time feels the way you do from time to time. i know today it's raining, and i'm not getting to jump, so next time i go to the drop zone, i'll probably get a speeding ticket!

--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

[TomAiello 26]

When I first started BASE jumping, my instructor, who at age 19 had 260 BASE jumps (remember sneaking out of your parent's house for keggers? this guy snuck out to jump the Sydney Harbour Bridge), shared this wisdom with me:

"BASE," he said "is like Heroine. It's dangerous, it's illegal, and it's addictive. Worse yet, the more you do, the more you need to do to get the same high. And the purer it has to be."

Generally (ok, except the bit about illegality, and to a lesser extent danger), that applies to skydiving, too.

I got into such a plunging cycle of addiction that I needed to BASE jump (no joke) 20 times in a week (sometimes I still do, but that's another story). Worse, the jumps had to be more extreme, more dangerous, more plain "out there" to get the same rush. It got so bad that 175 ft freefalls weren't getting me back to the feeling I had on my first tandem skydive. I realized that something was totally wrong when, one day, while tracking down a 3000' wall near my home (yes, that famous one in Northern California), I realized that I had that bored malaise--right then, in the middle of the freefall.

Here's what pulled me out, and saved me: The People.

I'm now at least as interested in the fascinating, unique, worthwhile people I jump with as I am in the jumps. Jump went poorly? No rush? No problem.

For me, it's all about who I'm doing it with. I've found that jumping is worthwhile just for the people you do it with. Now, I'm more interested in the conversation/party/people than in most of the jumps. The people who are drawn to jump are SO much more interesting than the majority of people I meet.

Even better, when the weather, wallet or winds don't cooperate, the people are still there. I can sit and talk (on line, via telephone or in person) any time.

My advice: to bring back the feel good stuff, focus on the people, not the jumps.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[gale 0]

This is not meant as a critism at all, but I have a question:

Why do you skydive if you're only interested in the people (no need to hurl yourself from "a perfectly good plane" if you don't enjoy it anymore)? Do you still actually enjoy the act itself? Like I said, I'm not trying to flame you or anything, I'm just really intersted in your responce.

Gale

I'm drowning...so come inside
Welcome to my...dirty mind

[TomAiello 26]

Two things:

First: It's never really that simple. My motivations are complex. I don't actually, skydive much at all (last skydive was, let's see, June 12, 2001). I do, however do a fair bit of that fixed object parachuting stuff. And my reasons for doing that are, well, complex (it'd be a much bigger discussion, and one I'm not really willing to have on-line).

Second: The way to meet/hang out/party with the people who do something is to do that thing. Imagine if I, a total whuffo, tried to join in at a DZ party. Kind of weird. So, I do it because that's the way to find the people I'm interested in. Also, because guys relate better to people they do things with, generally (girls tend to relate better to people they talk with, in my over-generalized opinion).

But right now I'm riding that line where I can still roll into DZ's, boogies, etc, and hang out. I can talk the talk, at least, even if I haven't made an actual skydive in over a year.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[skybytch 273]

Quote

Please tell me someone else gets this and im not going mad and if so what you did to bring back the feel good stuff to skydiving.

Jump more often. Do more jumps in a day. Jump more days of the week. Cutaway from your real life and become a dz bum.

Or you could sell your gear and take up bowling...

[jtval 0]

usually when someone "stagnates" they lose interest. like they all said, move around a little. I may find myself in the same situation(doubt it)
once I get home I will be jumping a smaller dz regularly. I never REALLY had a HOME DZ! my suggestion...travel to a new dz once in a while. you will meet some cool new people and it will teach you a lot more. their are different pools of knowledge at each dz. taste a bit from all and be a better person skydiver for it. oh yea and date one! I cant speak from experience here but I will be in a town with a dz and hopefully I can find a cool X-girl to hang out with!

go to a tunnel CAMP(if poosible) if you feel like you can afford/benefit from it.
once you stop leatrning you will be bored. there is SO much to learn in this lifestyle that you shouldnt be bored for long. you may just need to taste from a different pool of knowledge.(have your eyes opened to a new aspect of life)
just in case you havent been doin it..smile in freefall.
it changes your attitude, and gets bugs in your teeth!

My photos

My Videos

[Jessica 0]

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Its even got to where as soon as i get home from the dz i can feel a empty feeling iv never had before.

I know exactly what you mean. And it makes me feel guilty. It's raining today, and I think, how dare I feel sorry for myself about being unable to spend the daily wage of a migrant worker hurling myself from a environment-polluting aircraft purely for the sake of amusing myself?

But I do. I feel terribly sorry for myself.

Just re-read this, and it sounds sarcastic. But it ain't.

Skydiving is for cool people only

[freeflir29 0]

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about being unable to spend the daily wage of a migrant worker

Either you don't jump much or I need to get a job as a migrant worker.....

[Jessica 0]

See, I'm too depressed even to muster up the energy to give you the verbal beating you deserve.

Anyway, rmcvey, we all suffer from the same malady. That's why we spend so much time on dropzone.com. If we can't skydive, by golly, we'll web surf skydiving sites.

Skydiving is for cool people only

[jtval 0]

speaking of which jess...go see the new posts

My photos

My Videos

[PLFKING 4]

The way i read it, mcvey wasn't depressed about jumping....he was depressed when he was AWAY from jumping.

Do like Lisa says.....become a DZ bum. Had i started this in my 20s, I guarantee you I would have.

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See, I'm too depressed even to muster up the energy to give you the verbal beating you deserve.

(where's the ROTF icon ?)

You are too much....of what, i don't know. Just too much...


Don

[rmcvey 0]

I think also there is a point in skydiving where your stuck between student status and being experienced enough to try new stuff.

Ive started head-up stuff with a coach when i was in the states a few weeks back, but now im back in rainy england money and the WEATHER (you brits know what i mean) 4 jumps a week is good going.

Im not experienced enough to BASE, skysurf, jump camera, instruct, etc. and over here jumps are so much more expensive ($24 in your money) that coaching can take up a lot of cash.

So your stuck doing solo sit, flat stuff (which when your jumpship only fits 5 max is pretty limited)
or 2way sit if you can find another freak.

Oh, well, it could be worse, i could not be skydiving at all so i may as well count my blessings.

BSBD

[AggieDave 6]

During the week, I usually hit a post jump blues time frame. You know, the valley after the rush you get from jumping. Although the rush is very different now, its not the fear rush, its like a release. Well, I've got other things to keep me going during the week, like this great group of people here on this site, that and weekday jumps... Oh, and drinking beer...and well, just all the other areas of my life...

If skydiving its self is getting boring, then you've got to change it up, start freeflying, do CReW (that's a rush the first time you do it), try it all! You'll find something that'll keep your intrest for a while, then its time to try something else and get good in that, then something else...

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[ernokaikkonen 0]

>(which when your jumpship only fits 5 max is pretty limited)

limited? limited??

At 110 jumps you think your options in a 5-person jumpship are limited?


If you've done all this and are totally bored of it all then you might have a problem:

-A five-way flat?
-A five-way flat with N points?
-serious 4-way with a cameraman?
-2-way sitflying and N preplanned points?
-3-way sitflying and N preplanned points?
-A 3 to 5-way hybrid dive?
-tracking dives?
-speed skydiving?

Seriously, even if you think freeflying is your thing, good solid flatflying skills will make it easier to learn(so being "stuck to flats" isn't necessarily such a bad thing). And before you start jumping head-down, there are tons of stuff to learn while sit-flying...

Erno

[freeatlast 0]

I know what you mean about this Crap UK weather !!!

But you could always head for Empuria on a cheapie flight (a life-saver when the weather is bad!!) or you could head to the FFC if you have the money/time. Or you could quit work and become a DZ bum ... which is my current plan
Only 3 more weeks till I'm in the US again

Ps the weather in London really does suck at the moment !!!!

James

[Blinky 0]

We all know better than this! Skydivers more than any other people I've met know about positive mental attitide. Sod the depression and live for the good times. I think we all suffer from no-skydives-today type depressions to a certain degree but that's only cause we know what totally-alive means - more than any whuffo. It's a fair exchange in my book.

Blue skies.