Did you ever dream to fly like a bird? Or ever dreamt of jumping from an airplane? Or just curious to know how does it look down from soaring high up in the sky? Well, I was fortunate enough to experience all this when I leaped from 18000 feet above the ground. Yes, Eighteen Thousand feet!! World’s highest tandem sky dive!

Skydiving was never on my bucket list and I won’t be lying if I say I was scared of heights. Did I do it for adventure then? No, I was not an adventure loving person either before trying it. You must be thinking then why the heck would you leap down from 18000 feet above the ground from an airplane when you were not even interested? There is a little and sweet story behind it.

As I mentioned earlier, skydiving was never on my bucket list but it was on my husband’s. He would come back from office everyday and would try to convince me the whole week to go for a skydive over the weekend. I would always make excuses to not go and we would end up fighting over it that we were not considerate of each other’s wishes. It went like this for a couple of months. Then on one weekend, I gained all my strength and told my husband that I’m ready for it. He did not ask me twice if I was sure about doing this. We just went to the sky dive center closest to our place without making any reservations. It was like 40-45 minutes drive from the place where we lived. We reached at the center and as expected were put on a waitlist. We were not sure till last minute if we were going to fall on that day. Infact, even if one has scheduled in advance, they are not sure until last minute because the weather has to be in good condition for the dive. Then came the point when we had to sign our lives away. My husband didn’t want me to go over the waiver either, he thought I would get scared and say no at the last minute. But honestly speaking, I was not scared by then. There were so many people at the center who were so excited to fly. Seeing their excitement, I felt I was ready.

After sometime, we were told that we were not in the waitlist anymore. We were harnessed to our tandem instructors and were given some training about free fall positions, positions while flying in the sky, landing positions and how to exit the plane etc. We both knew that it would be our once in a life time experience, so we decided to get the videos and pictures taken for our dive.

We were six people in our plane, along with 6 instructors. My husband went first in the plane and I went last. The airplane was called Super King B90, the fastest climbing skydiving airplanes in the country which took us 18000 feet above the ground in 8-9 minutes. I thought, first entered in the plane would jump first. But no, since I was the last one to enter, I was close to the door, I had to jump first. I was so nervous that I was pulling myself backwards and the instructor was literally pushing me towards the door. When we got to the edge of the plane, I literally gasped for my breath because it was so windy up there. Then I looked in the front, all I was seeing was just white clouds and blue sky. Then I looked down. At first I could not believe I was standing up so high above the ground. Then I folded my arms on the chest and we jumped. That was the most thrilling moment when I realized that all my fears and nervousness had disappeared somewhere all of a sudden.

My skydive experience taught me so many lessons. It taught me to stay mindful. I was fully present in the moment, fully aware of what’s happening and how everything was feeling. I smelt and tasted the fresh, clean and crisp air which one is not used to taste and smell at the ground level. I could barely hear anything other than the loud rush of the air which was so loud to carry on any conversation.

When we leap down, we have almost no control on anything, we just keep on falling freely, enjoying the ride. I learnt that sometimes we should just let things take their course and enjoy the life as it comes to us without any fears and judgements.

When we put ourselves in a vulnerable situation and do something out of our comfort level, the experience only makes one strong and confident. It was a powerful experience for me. I conquered my fear. I realized all the barriers are in one’s head. I had overcome my fear the moment I had made up my mind to go for sky dive.

After the free fall, just about 5000 feet above the ground, the instructor opened the parachute. Everything got so calm and quite all of a sudden. I became even more mindful. I wanted to soak up everything I experienced during the free fall. I could now see the earth from a viewpoint that I was not familiar with. It taught me that one should see a situation in their lives from different perspectives. Things make more sense if you change your perception sometimes.

The views were just incredible. I could see the clouds, the sky, the mountains, the trees, the land, the bay all at once like on some page from a story book. The feeling was just indescribable. I was in awe of nature’s beauty.

Then we finally landed on the ground. After the dive, I felt utter confidence in me that nothing is impossible to do. I felt I can do and achieve anything in this life. Before I leapt, I thought I was going to dive for my husband because it was his wish. But after the leap, I realized that I actually did it for myself. It helped me win over my fear, made me more focussed and mindful, empowered me, built confidence in me, showed me how brave I was, taught me that its absolutely fine to let go of things which are not in your control, taught me so much about life.

In short, my skydiving experience was not just a thrilling and adventurous experience but was more of a powerful and mindful experience for me.

Caution: Tandem skydive is a sport. So, if you are ever interested in skydiving or any other sport and suffer from any special health conditions, make sure you consult with your doctor first.

P.S. I’m so thankful to my husband for convincing me to do this. Though we thought earlier that we would be trying it only once in our lives but now we are waiting for our daughter to grow up so we all three can fly together one day.