Fall Like You Are Flying...

The moment when you're about to take a leap of faith...
everything's a blur and all you see is
how your life matters to you...
that is the reason why when you jump,
all you feel is fear...
fear of losing your life...
fear of not seeing the light...
fear of "FEAR" itself...

"I want my jump to be perfect... a perfect dive perhaps..." 

These were the words I kept playing in my mind weeks before our Bungee Jump Adventure. I was scared, but then again, the adventurous me wanted to challenge thy self and face one among the many definition of FEAR... 

Bungee Jump or otherwise spelled as Bungy Jump... 

Well don't be confused with the spelling.. according to UK Bungee, the two spellings are correct... "Bungee" is commonly used in  UK, Europe and America while "Bungy" is used as a spelling commonly throughout Australia and New Zealand... 

So much for spelling scrutiny... let me tell you how this jump scared me to hell!

May 25, 2013... the day I was the scariest and the bravest of my entire existence... WOAH! Quite heavy isn't it?!... he he he... I even marked this day as EXTREMES 2013. We had our Paragliding activity the morning of May 25th, while we did the Bungy jump in the afternoon. I will be posting a separate entry for our Paragliding experience so you might want to read it as well... hihihi... 

We went to Minakami, Gunma Prefecture, Japan just to experience FEAR! o_O We had a reservation at Bungy Japan. A friend of mine rented a car and we went to Minakami by car... it was a long ride but then again, it was totally worth it... 

There were 8 of us who took the Bungy Jump Challenge... I was the 6th person to jump and seeing my friends jump one after the other and finished the challenged, I was encouraged to do the same but was scared even more... 

lub-dub...lub-dub...

lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub

My heart beat gone wild when it was my turn to jump, the Bungy crew requested me to step on the scale to re-check my weight in kilograms (I was 54 kilos... what??? I gained weight?... OMG!) yeah that's me still able to be shocked at my weight midst the scary moment I am about to experience... I was then lead to sit on a mini chair while they harness me and checked the rope and carabiners not once but twice... observing what they did, I was able to relax a little (thinking to myself... this is a safe extreme sport...) Bungy Japan crew value safety as their first priority... 

lub-dub...lub-dub...

lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub

And then I was asked to step at the ledge... and I said to myself.. "this is it"... I tried to hold the bar at my side but the crew won't let me... my mind was racing... "why?!?! oh please... just let me hold the bars... I'm scared..." and then the crew asked if I'm ready... I replied... "no. I am not" then there goes my heart beat again... 

lub-dub...lub-dub...

lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub

ub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub

I said "wait a minute"... but then I thought... a minute wait is way too long... and then I said... "ok.. I will jump now"... and then the crew counted... "5...4...3...2...1...BUNGY!!!"

lub-dub...lub-dub...

lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub

ub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub

And then I jumped... I felt my heart stopped for a millisecond... there was silence.. and then I heard the CHEERS!!! I've made it.. I was able to jump (teary eyed)... 

While the Bungy Japan crew were working to lower me down to the raft... my whole body was shaking... shivering not because I'm cold.. but probably because FEAR was able to touch my innermost being... I want to touch something... and then I heard one of the crew shouting "touch the bar"... I saw him lifted a long bar and I hold it.. He grabbed me and then released me from the harness... I was still shaking and he praised, smiled at me and said... "Congratulations... you've made it... you kicked FEAR's ass!" I laughed... it was a great way of comforting somebody who for a split of seconds, experienced Hell... so great.. it gave a tingling warmth to my heart ^_^... I was grateful!

Here are the pictures they took during my jump... 

YEEYYY!!! I am so proud of this!

The best thing about the Bungy Japan is that they can capture the "moment" and you'll be given a Certificate of Courage that you can hang on your wall for bragging purposes wahahahhaha... I paid 2500 yen to get a copy of the photos during my jump and the photos were great \(^_^)/...

My friend Van recorded each one of our jumps and created a cool video out of it... please check out the video... I just want to quote her message here as well since I was deeply touched at what she wrote... 

"Certificate of Bravery is not enough. Gold medals should be awarded."

Seeing the video and the photos again and again... I then ask myself... where is "the perfect jump... the perfect dive"?!? WAAAAAH!!! I then criticized myself at how pathetic my jump was... LOL... the 2nd and the last jumper had the best jumps... they really had their best jump moment... then again... so what?!?... when you are about to jump... you can't think of anything else... rather, you cannot even think... 

all you feel is the fear... 

all you hear is your own racing heart beat... 

Nevertheless, if you don't have health problems... you should at least include this Bungy/Bungee Jump in your Life's Bucket List... you should try this to face your fears head-on! The experience of facing FEAR can eventually be helpful, it can mold you to become a stronger person... may it not be today but may be tomorrow or someday...

Fall like you are flying, 

because COURAGE is after all, not the absence of FEAR,

but the ability to MOVE FORWARD despite it's presence...

till next time...

ja ne...