“I thought I was going to die, but I felt so alive”
“I thought I was going to die, but I felt so alive”
I am going to give you all a little back story with this ‘flying stunt planes’ situation I got myself in…
I went to a really awesome high school called Jasper Place HS in Edmonton AB Canada, and there I had met a gentleman named Ryan (I won’t mention his last name)… He was amongst the group of guys who were alot smarter than I in certain areas…
There is a reason I mention this, trust me.
I was the guy who skipped math class to go to the gym, Ryan and his friend group were solving world problems, studying to be doctors/lawyers/mathematicians and academics – BUT even though we had different life pursuits, we all were friends at the end of the day.
The reason I mention this, is because it is no wonder that Ryan became a pilot – flying stunt planes!
You know what, I am going to go on a little side tangent right now, and bring it right back. This is something that I feel I should share with you, as well something I need to remember for myself:
Read this carefully, ponder on it, and we will get back to the story!
Ryan is an extremely intelligent, hardworking, smart guy – so much so he actually became an engineer!
I forget the exact form of engineering he was involved in, for there are many fields in that industry, all I know he was making great $$$ doing it.
Get this though, HE QUIT!
He took a massive pay cut to fly planes, and live a life of his passion.
The reason I know this, is because I had asked him how he got into flying stunt planes… I knew he was an engineer at some point, plus we hadn’t seen eachother in many years, so it was par for the course that I ask what he has been up to.
He said the money was amazing working as an engineer, but it just wasn’t doing it for his soul. So instead of waking up everyday going to a job that he is not fully invested in mentally/spiritually/emotionally, he had the scary leap of faith to do something different.
This resonated with me!
There is a lesson here, and something we all can learn from Ryan… If you do not like what you are doing, YOU have the power to change it. Now this change is going to be scary, trust me, I’ve gone through it… and actually constantly go through it all of the time. I feel it is neccessary to a successful happy life.
(success = the progressive realization of a worth ideal)
There was my side tangent, and I truly believe there was some great value there, now we will get back to the story!
Ryan and myself bump into eachother at a wedding I am hosting, and get to talking. He tells me I should go up in one of his planes, and we will fly around for a few hours. I take him up on his offer, and in a couple days I am booked in for a flight!
This was such a fun experience of feeling like you’re going to die, and ultimate excitement at the same time!
I haven’t felt something this extreme in awhile… The stunts he was doing with me, totally went against my natural instincts of self-preservation… When the plane you are flying is nose diving straight into the ground a few thousand feet above the earth, it definitely gets the whites of your eyes showing!
I am sure there are levels to these things, and over time one would get used to such an experience, it may even become boring – this is where adrenaline junkies come into play and you end up in one of those squirrel suits – I don’t think it gets anymore extreme than that. Actually, there are guys who throw their paracute out the plane first, then dive after it…. Fck me right?!
We were up in the air for close to an hour I would say, and then I honestly got a little air sick, and we had to go back down. I felt flushed, and cold sweat/feverish… Ryan was telling me it is because my body doesn’t really know what to do, and is not orientated to being upside down like that – it just goes against our natural senses…
Anyway, here is a quick edit I whipped up of what went down!
Check it out!
( If the video does not work, click here to view )
