Deal with it

Now that the skydiving season is in full swing, it’s time to get real about something – lifestyle.

What I mean by that is, figuring out what kind of skydiver you are and coming to grips with that. As the weather warms and many of my friends are out at the dropzone during the week (and tweeting about it, rubbing my sad little face in the fact that I’m stuck in my office on a day where it’s 69 degrees and sunny) this is the most difficult time of the year for those of us who can only be weekend warriors due to prior commitments.

Last year around this time I took a look at a few different types of skydivers and how you can learn to embrace that to enjoy life to it’s fullest – after all, isn’t that what skydiving teaches us to do?

So, the question remains, how do you come to grips with being purely a weekend (or occasional) skydiver?

Suck it up, that’s how!

In all seriousness though, you have to make a conscious decision about how skydiving fits into your life. For some, they just can’t stand not having skydiving play a significant role in their lives, so they take risks, make adjustments, and find a way to make the sport a greater part of their lies. Others, like myself, have a such passion for what we do on a daily basis and, though we wish we could be out there on the nicest days of the year jumping with our friends, we know our other responsibilities help round out our life.

Of course, there are other variations of this – if you didn’t read my post from last April, be sure to do so, I don’t intend to repeat myself and bore y’all…clicky clicky.

Anywhoosits, the point here is this: make a decision about your life, when it comes to skydiving, career, family, and how all those pieces fit together, at embrace it. There’s nothing saying you can go down one path and make a change later on as your needs and preferences change, but there’s also no point in stewing over the fact that the other parts of your life are taking away from your passions (skydiver or not).

So, if you’re a weekend warrior like me, don’t waste your energy on envy when your fellow jumpers are out at the dropzone on a sunny Wednesday afternoon while you’re “stuck at the office” or wherever you are. Instead, dedicate yourself to your commitments, to your passions, and know that come Saturday morning, you can wake up to the smell of Jet A with a smile on your face, knowing that the weekend is yours to play amongst the clouds.

(Note: yep, that’s a bit of a pep talk for myself as well, even the preacher needs a friendly reminder every not and again.)

If you’re lucky enough to be heading out on a lovely weekend for your freefall fix, be sure to enjoy it a little bit more for the rest of us who are with you in spirit.

Blue Ones Kiddies!

Ashley

Awkward…

So my blogging is going through this awkward stage right now – sort of like adolescence: I’m no longer in that giddy student phase where all I care about is getting my thoughts and excitement about skydiving down on paper (or, in Word Press, whatever), and I’m far from an expert who has any kind of authority to talk about or give advice about anything of importance.

Being in this “intermediate” phase is challenging. There are things I’d like to think I’ve become skilled enough to chat about, but then again I don’t want to go around giving advice that could end up hurting someone because it wasn’t the right advice for them.

Though I do have to say I love where I am in my skydiving career – so to speak. I’m finally starting to get it, each and every jump it’s visible that all that I’ve learned in 200+ skydives is finally starting to come together into something, even just simple docks in sitfly. It’s rewarding, to say the least. But of course, I’m no where near ready to start teaching others what they should and shouldn’t be doing in the sky. Hard to believe a D license, which is considered expert, used to require only 200 jumps.

But I still struggle with where I should be in my skydive blogging career.

Earlier this week I took a poll that helped generate a few ideas for upcoming posts, and my readers have even inspired me to do some research to get them answers on things they’re looking to learn.

Skydiving: the ultimate diet

It seems that this summer I found the perfect diet plan – skydiving.

Not that I was exactly in the market to lose weight, but since I’ve started spending most of my weekend time at the DZ almost 15 pounds have dropped off. And probably not in the healthiest of ways.

(The real bummer here is that my RW suit doesn’t fit nearly as well as it used to…though who doesn’t love a new suit, right?)

Eating at the dropzone never seems to be a priority. On a good day, we jump, chat about the jump, pack, chat about the next jump, maybe throw in a dirt dive or two and do it all over again.

Every few jumps someone will hand me a bottle of water that I will gulp down, not realizing how much it was actually needed. Thankfully, I have friends who pay better attention to my hydration than I do.

But when it comes to eating, I tend to ignore the rumblings in my stomach until the day’s end.

Why?

Well, when I was a student, my main reason for not eating was because I was so nervous I feared that at any moment it might come back up. So I avoided food like the plague.

As I’ve progressed, this trend has continued – mainly because that’s the trend to which I became accustom. Although my body signals to me that it needs nourishment, rarely do I actually feel hungry at the DZ. But the moment I come down from sunset load and get packed up, I realize just how famished I am!

Of course, that doesn’t stop me from cracking open a cold, refreshing beer to end the day. And with no food in my system, it’s a quick, cheap buzz, that’s for sure.

I do realize this trend needs to change. Consuming only calories from beer is bound to catch up with my health one day. But, as a girl who typically watches what she eats, accompanying fellow skydivers to the nearest fast food joint for a mid-day bite just doesn’t sit well with me.

During the Work Stinks boogie this year at Start Skydiving, we stocked up on fresh fruit and light protein bars to help get us through the weekend. This was just the ticket. You get quick fuel that doesn’t sit around in your belly for hours.

Of course, since I’ve been back at home I’ve gone right back to my old ways. Next time I head to the DZ, I’ll have to stop at the grocery store to pick up some goods.

What about you? What is your typical eating routine during weekends at the DZ? Do you too find yourself eating less?

Blue Skies!

Ashley

Mystery Wounds

There’s a phenomenon in skydiving that I like to refer to as mystery wounds. 

Your body is in near perfect condition when you exit the plane, but 14,000 feet later you’re bruised, sore or bleeding, and you have no idea why.

You think back through the skydive, did you hit the plane on the way out? No, I don’t think so. Anything out of the ordinary in free fall? Nope, pretty routine. Hard opening perhaps? Not really.

So then why is my finger bleeding profusely?

Of course, we can’t forget about those days when we come home and see the latest bruises that mysteriously appear.

For the about three weeks another jumper and I had matching bruises on the inside of our left knee. It was a huge, deep bruise. Neither of us had any idea how we could have acquired it.

Maybe it’s a newbie thing, but I’ve ended up with multiple bumps, bruises, cuts and soreness that are a complete mystery. 

Secretly though, I kind of enjoy my little war wounds. (Shh, don’t tell.) They’re conversational pieces if nothing else. 

(#1 – Mysterious skin missing incident from this weekend. That knuckle had skin before I jumped! #2 – The not-so-mysterious elbow injury of jump 11. Canopy stall and hard landing. #3 – Bruised knees after my first AFF jump and ground school. Climbing in and out of a wooden Cessna for six hours of practice takes is toll on your knees. And those are just a few of the wounds I’ve captured on film.)

As a friend said this weekend, I don’t want to go to my grave in a perfect body. I want it to be scraped and scratched to know I lived a full, active life.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

What mystery wounds have you ended up with in the past?

Blue Skies!

Ashley