How Writing is like an Adventure Sport

I feel as though I’ve been jumping through hoops ever since deciding to write a book. Many of these hoops fully shove me out of my comfort zone. If you’ve read my About Me page, you may laugh.

“You? You have a comfort zone?”

I know, it seems ridiculous. [bctt tweet=”I’m a skydiving-motorcycling-horseback-riding-backpacking writer with a comfort zone.” username=”jamifairleigh”] But do you want to know what these adventure sports and writing have in common?  They scare me. You know what else scares me? Having my picture taken. And that’s where You come in (more on that later).  We writers often toil in a safe cocoon. We write and maybe if we’re brave enough, we’ll share a little of our content to a few trusted reader or a writing group. We sometimes fail to push our own boundaries or step outside of our comfort zones. And we definitely should.

I took my first skydive at age thirty-three because I was tired of living in a responsible and meek manner. I wanted to do something totally out of the norm. And it was my birthday. So I gathered some of my favorite people and went to fall out of a plane. It was terrifying to drop out of the door but as soon as I was in the air I was amazed. I was flying.

In my experience, more than 90% of tandem students feel exhilarated when they get their feet back on the ground.

“I did it! I skydived! Bucket list, Check! I want to do it again!”

That exhilaration slowly ebbs and within a week or two, while they’re still happy to recount their adventure but the desire to go back up has faded. But a few of us get obsessed. We start perusing the dropzone’s website thinking about booking one more tandem. Just one. Then, maybe we click on the link that says “Licensed Skydivers” or “Up Jumpers”. Curious, we follow it and find out we can actually do this. Like as a hobby. People do this.

This is the point that I truly scared myself. It was one thing to take that leap of faith out of the airplane with a trained tandem instructor. It’s quite another to think that I could go and get my license and jump on my own. Fall through the sky by myself. Save my own life, over and over, by not freaking out and deploying a parachute when I was supposed to. And then flying the parachute correctly and landing it safely.

I debated joining the student program for weeks. I even called friends and family to see if they thought this new personal obsession goal was selfish. Did I have a responsibility to my people to stay in my lane? Keep living my meek and responsible life?

For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.

Leonardo da Vinci

Throughout my life, I’ve approached the things that scare me head-on because they make me stronger. They make me braver. So I decided to take that leap of faith in myself. It wasn’t easy. Really. I would leave each lesson flush with the excitement that I had completed my jump, that I was closer to that shiny goal, my A License. But every time I arrived at the drop zone for my next lesson, I’d sit in the parking lot and fret and worry.

“Should I do this?”
“Is this dumb?”
“I could just turn around and go home…”

Now, how is this related to writing, you ask? I equate deciding to write a book with the decision to go for my first skydive.

“It [skydiving, writing a book, etc.] will be a lark, and exciting, and hard, and new, and may permanently change the way I relate to the world!”

We imagine what it will be like and concoct fantasies about what could be. We may even finish that first draft and think,

“Wow! I’ve written a book! Bucket list, Check!”

Deciding to really do it, to actually try to publish the book you’ve just written is a lot like making that decision to go for your skydiving license. It’s also exciting, but can also be terrifying. Talk about stepping outside of your comfort zone! Like my decision to pursue an A License from the United States Parachute Association (lots of great info for those of you inclined to pursue a skydiving license!) I found that there was a lot to do once deciding to try to publish my book. I find the number of steps between where I was and the final book to be overwhelming.  Here are the steps that I’m aware of so far:

And of course, for many of the tasks listed above, there are subtasks. Which brings me back, in a round-about way, to my topic for today: shoving me out of my comfort zone.  As a part of the Marketing materials/website/social media steps, I realized I needed headshots. Like real, grown-up kind of photos, not me creatively cropping myself out of a picture that I like from Facebook. So, that’s where we’re at today. I put on my adultish pants and booked a session with a real photographer.  And that’s where you come in Favorite Reader!

As soon as I figure out how I’ll be sending the headshots finalists in a survey to my subscribers.  You all get to pick which image I’ll use for the various social media platforms and this website. If you haven’t subscribed already you should do so soon as only my tribe gets to pick the picture!

Even though this subtask scared me, I decided to do it, to really give this “becoming a writer” thing my everything. And you know what? Freedom comes with taking that leap of faith in yourself.  You come out the other side stronger and more sure of who you are. Even if you fall. And I’ve learned that falling can be a lot of fun. So do something that scares you. Decide to publish your book. Jump out of a perfectly good aircraft. Make sure you buy the video. It will be worth it.

What scares you? And how did you feel after you faced it head-on?