Skydiving for the first time is all about facing your biggest fears

I remember being six-years-old, looking up at the Ferris Wheel and thinking "No, no, no, no." 

As a youngest child, you don't have a lot of choice when it comes to rides. Up we went.

I know now that it was beautiful. At the time, I was too terrified to open my eyes. The chairs swayed back and forth and I thought I might be sick.

I went through a similar set of emotions recently on a plane 7,500 feet above the ground, as I waited to jump out of it and plummet. 

When the side door opened, my heart skipped a beat. I started second-guessing my decisions, my mind flooding with doubtful thoughts.

"Why am I here? I could still back out."

Luckily my worries were soon overpowered by another thought.

"Well I've come this far, might as well jump."

Facing a fear

I'm told fear of heights is common. I feel like it makes sense, given the possibility of death. My phobia has dimmed over time, but it still lingers just a bit.

Recently I took it upon myself to face my fear head-on by jumping out of a plane.

It made sense to go local. Skydive South Sask is a non-profit based outside of Regina. Their purpose is to share the activity they love.

Pablo Moreno, the instructor who would be attached to me during my tandem jump, was ecstatic the whole way up in the plane. I was impressed by how excited he still gets after so many jumps.

Moreno first skydived after he saw a friend with scraped arms from a rough landing. For some reason, Moreno thought, "I want to do that," instead of, "That looks painful."

Ten plus years and more than 2,400 skydives later, he still loves it.

"Think about the funnest thing you've done and you want to always do it, it's the same feeling," Moreno said.

"Some people give you the 'Oh, why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?' "

Moreno said everyone is nervous about their first jump. That helped me.

"I have done around 400 to 450 tandems total. I have yet to take somebody up and land and they're like, 'That wasn't for me,' " he said. "They always enjoy the experience."

Moreno said his favourite part is getting to experience the jump with first timers.

"For a lot of people, this is like a really big step — like they're facing big fears," he said.

The actual jump happens fast. 

First, you hold onto the edge and you put your feet outside the little door. There's a small bench you place them on and basically tuck yourself up then somersault out of the plane. I don't even know how many flips we did.

The next thing you know, you're free falling toward the ground.

I feel like I should warn you about the parachute opening. You're jolted back in a way similar to a car when slamming on the breaks. Don't hold your breath or it'll knock the wind out of you. Trust me on that.

Going down once the parachute opens is the best part. You can see the surrounding towns, farm yards, everything. Saskatchewan is like a big quilt. It's beautiful.

The landing was smooth — thanks to Moreno — but there was one last unexpected complication. After all the flips spinning from that height, I threw up.

It turns out that's normal. Once everything was out of my stomach I felt a lot better.

Looking back over it all — the nervousness, sickness, everything — I would absolutely do it again. It was an experience unlike anything I've ever done.