Spread your wingsand fly!

by Mel Allan

Do you dread getting to old age, looking back
and thinking “was that it?!”?

That was how Mel Allan felt
until she discovered skydiving…

Don’t get me wrong I haven’t had a bad life, I grew up in a stable home and have a decent job and great friends, but it seemed for much of my adult life I was getting more and more lost. A series of bad decisions and bad luck left me divorced, not really knowing who I was anymore or what really makes me happy. Things hadn’t turned out how I had planned or expected them to. I kind of bumbled along for a while, switching between locking myself in my flat, I didn’t want to face the world, and going out for the sake of it because I thought that would make me happy. I had little motivation for anything and used to dread that question on a Monday morning “so what did you get up to at the weekend?”.

Then, a few months ago, I willingly jumped out of a perfectly good plane and everything changed. It was a challenge opened up to anyone at my firm in the name of charity. I jumped at the chance to do something for a good cause that would really make me test myself. However, the road to this didn’t run smoothly (cue a broken foot and family illness) but seven months later than planned it finally happened.

The skydive itself was the most exceptional and exhilarating thing that had ever happened to me. It brought on a feeling of euphoria I didn’t even think was possible, but it was what happened afterwards that surprised me, and everyone close to me, the most.

Look up…there’s a whole world out there

Literally overnight my whole outlook had changed. I was understandably immensely proud of my achievement but I honestly thought the buzz and feeling would disappear after a few days.

It didn’t.

The whole world was different. I started to appreciate everything around me a lot more. I just wanted to go out and do things, seize the moment and experience life!

I looked up to the sky and thought “I’ve been there”.

My mindset had switched to a positive one. I was the one putting a positive spin on everything, trying to share some of my newfound love for life and the world with others. I’d smile when I was walking down the street and you know what, people actually do smile back! I started working out again seriously and taking care of myself. I had to, I had so much energy I didn’t know what to do with it! I was bouncing out of bed in the morning ready to grab the day. Weekends that were previously spent hiding away from the world were now being spent outside, taking in the scenery, running or visiting skydive centres just to soak up the atmosphere. Things that I would normally shy away from, like challenges at work, I started pushing myself to do by telling myself “If I can jump out of a plane I can do anything”.

It’s gone so far now that I am actually taking up skydiving as a full blown hobby and will hopefully be, in the not too distant future, qualified to jump solo. For me, skydiving is the thing I was looking for that I didn’t realise I wanted.

I’m not telling everyone to go out and start skydiving, not at all. What I am saying is go out and try new things, however unconventional, as you might just find that thing that makes you jump out of bed in the morning and smile when you’re walking down the road. When you do, you’ll never want that feeling to go away.

Mel is a Legal PA , newfound adrenaline junkie and reborn optimist. Follow Mel’s journey in skydiving at www.melskydiving.strikingly.com.