It’s hard to explain the emotions I was going through as I began my ascent to the top of the Auckland Bridge in Auckland, New Zealand. It was only 3 weeks before this that I jumped out of a plane at 15,000 feet. Why would jumping off a bridge from just 130 feet up scare me?
We’ll, all I can say is that jumping off a bridge was far more terrifying to me than jumping out of a plane. My heart was pounding and my palms were sweaty. As the instructor told me what I needed to do, I felt almost paralyzed. My main hope was to make it back up to the bridge.
As my name was called, I remember that feeling in my chest. Not just butterflies but thousands of angry ones fluttering around in my stomach. I could imagine my body wondering why I would put it through something like this.
I had the bungy strapped to my ankles like ankle cuffs which made it hard to walk out to the ledge. I felt like I was a prisoner being walked out to the plank by pirates waiting to throw me to the bottom of the sea.
There I was, finally reaching the ledge of the platform, standing more than 130 feet above the ocean. The instructor told me to smile for the camera which I tried nervously to do while all my muscles were concentrating on the fall I was about to experience. My knees were trembling out of control and I felt like I wouldn’t have the energy or the ability to jump if I wanted to.
I remember that the instructor told me to jump as soon as they said 3 because:
A. If I hesitated, I may never jump; and
B. They monitor all the sailboats passing underneath and wouldn’t want me jumping into one.
and with that, they began the count. [Read more…] about Who Wants to Jump Off a Bridge This June?