Skydiving and stress

If you have ever completed a skydive, bungee jump or something equally petrifying I doth my cap to you! I am in awe. The official party line is that I’m saving that particular ‘bucket list’ activity for somewhere spectacular. You know, the likes of; Queenstown in New Zealand, Dubai in UAE or Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The reality is, whether I’m surveying one of those magnificent landscapes or a car park in Skelmersdale at a pop up bungee experience, there is a big fear factor associated with this activity.

If I transport myself in my mind and imagine being stood on the precipice, it fills me with dread. I can almost feel that nauseousness in the depths of my stomach, hands leaking with sweat and legs shaking like Elvis in his pomp. If I stay in that thought, I can’t help but contrast what I’m exhibiting with that of the instructor. Cool, calm and collected they deliver their instructions with such conviction and assertion that it provides assurance and even relief that they are entrusted with your life, rather than your own clumsy self.

It’s this that got my thinking, there must be something in that. Why is it, that whilst both of us are about to flirt with Newton’s law of universal gravitation, they remain entirely unflappable, and I shrink further into a shell of the man I once was? The fundamental difference is their experience. Taking novice jumper me out for a spin may well be this instructor’s 1000th sky dive.

Of course, with that accumulated time in the air the instructor is becoming increasingly familiar with anything and everything that happens during a skydive. Less is left uncertain. Confidence is grown as they time and time again repeat their drills without any major catastrophe occurring. There is no fear or stressing about things going wrong because, well, why would there be? They know that any threats to life are mitigated by meticulous planning and preparation.

All training has been done, calculations made, drills rehearsed and executed. Probability of accident-very small, probability of amazing views and huge endorphin rush- very high. Worth it, on the whole, you could say?

So, the demands and stresses don’t weigh heavy on the instructor’s shoulders. That little bit of stress causes laser focus. Focus to correctly perform all procedures safely to facilitate an enjoyable experience.

What can we learn from this to be applied in our more conventional occupations? There are many activities in life and work that cause us stress and anxiety. Particularly when it is something new or something we feel is too demanding for what we perceive our capabilities to be. It helps if we accept that this is a fact- big stuff is scary and stressful- (but it is for everyone). If big stuff is scary and stressful for everyone how can I be the type to ride the stress rather than succumb to it?

As Ben Franklin so explicitly put “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail”. The fear of failure, accompanied by the fear of judgement and fear of punishment, which rear their ugly heads when we do something new or scary can be neutralised through preparation- quite simply so it is no longer something new or scary. If you have a big presentation coming up preparation might include; researching your content, gathering facts, rehearsing and receiving feedback, rinse and repeat until you’re feeling so good that you’re looking forward to it, getting the opportunity to test yourself and demonstrate your newfound competency. If you’re worried about your finances this month; scope out your outgoings and devise a budget, plan affordable activities, seek out discounts, again a little preparation and you’ll find yourself much more at ease.

I’m sure there are people reading this who will say that their stresses are beyond this. That their stresses are more significant, try; caring for young children, elderly parents, bullying at work, antisocial behaviour in your locality. Yes, these might not be as easily solved as the aforementioned stresses, the principle of preparation can still be applied however, and will certainly help to some degree. In these circumstances, preparation might be; batch cooking and freezing food to save you time, arranging a family member to help with caring duties for an afternoon to free you up, keeping a diary to detail scheduled appointments or preparing a grievance for HR to read.

This preparation doesn’t mean obsess over every minor detail, that’s just going to cause more stress! If you can prepare across enough facets of your life so that you’re feeling slightly less stressed than if you were leaving it up to fate, then you’ve made a good proactive attempt to combat the stress. After all, if the fear of the unknown and uncertainty is a big driver in stress, then by removing that from the equation you’re bound to feel happier.

Going back to that skydive, I’m already thinking; how can I prepare to get the most out of this experience? I want to enjoy it, not be left crippled with fear by it. I’m definitely only going to do this once, so multiple jumps are out of the question. If I instead, listen thoroughly to the instructor, practice breathing techniques, repeat the instructions over in my head and rehearse the moves they’ve given me, I’ll be as prepared as can be for a novice skydiver.

Whatever it is that is causing you stress, instead of spending your time getting stressed, spend the time preparing as much as is possible and you’ll be in a much better place to thrive rather than just survive. Give it a go, and see how you get on.