Jump: from Suicidal Depression to Skydiving and Reality's Edge

Hey guys, a friend suggested sharing my new book here on Dropzone. I wanted to write about the first 100 jumps especially because, when I first started skydiving last year, I somehow sense that a very personal and fundamental change was about to take place, and I should probably record those early experiences to look back on and talk about with other people along the journey. This sport - even in such a short period - has had such a profound effect in my life: it's basically what I keep going for now: everything from the sense of community and camaraderie to the psychological and emotional transformations to what unfolds at the edges that we seek. Also, I am a (kind of) lucid dreamer and dream about skydiving virtually every night.

If any of this or anything in the book itself resonates, I would love to hear more. For me, writing - like skydiving - becomes real when we share the experience with others.

Technically this post is advertising,  which is not allowed in the forums, but hey, congrats on getting published!

Skydiving has helped a lot of people fighting depression and other mental health issues.  But that depression comes back with a vengeance should you have to stop due to injury or other circumstances.  Especially if you have wrapped your whole life and identity around it, which is easy to do in such an amazing activity. 

That's what I experienced anyway. 

1 hour ago, skybytch said:

congrats on getting published!

Indeed.

Pity you needed to resort to obscenities to sound cool.

I did not realize that - I was seeking connections and dialogue. Also, this is a rather negative beginning to my first experience here and I'd like to leave. How do I delete this post?

3 minutes ago, ZoeJD said:

How do I delete this post?

You can't.

39 minutes ago, ZoeJD said:

Also, this is a rather negative beginning to my first experience here and I'd like to leave

Sorry, i didn't realize telling someone about a forum rule is a negative thing. 

As for what Erroll said, he's right. While I often find it to be a useful word,  not everyone appreciates the word fuck. Using it on the back cover description might drive away potential buyers.  . Pointing out something that could affect your sales is constructive criticism, not negativity. Negative would be telling you that you're an asshole for putting it on there.

At least that's how I would take it.

29 minutes ago, skybytch said:

Sorry, i didn't realize telling someone about a forum rule is a negative thing. 

As for what Erroll said, he's right. While I often find it to be a useful word,  not everyone appreciates the word fuck. Using it on the back cover description might drive away potential buyers.  . Pointing out something that could affect your sales is constructive criticism, not negativity. Negative would be telling you that you're an asshole for putting it on there.

At least that's how I would take it.

Honestly I don't give a fuck. Just - how do I delete this and get out of here?

43 minutes ago, ZoeJD said:

Honestly I don't give a fuck. Just - how do I delete this and get out of here?

You can't delete it. 

Door is open, you can leave anytime. We won't lock it behind you. 

Nice positive attitude btw. You should probably go jump now.  

54 minutes ago, ZoeJD said:

Honestly I don't give a fuck. Just - how do I delete this and get out of here?

Feeling is rapidly becoming mutual. Bye, good luck in your publishing career. And from now on you would do well to remember that all the crap you, or anyone else posts to any social media is permanent. We all live with that if we play online.

.

I don't think ZoeJD's post really was advertising, more like a product announcement, so calling that out was unnecessary. Having said that, I don't think what Lisa said was actually negative. ZoeJD, if you read this, this site could use a little spicing up, so I for one hope you don't run off.

10 hours ago, ZoeJD said:

Honestly I don't give a fuck. Just - how do I delete this and get out of here?

If it helps:     Although advertising isn't technically allowed, a little bit of occasional product announcement tends to be tolerated. So it shouldn't be a real problem to mention a skydiving related book that is new to the market. But that's just my opinion.

If someone from a company wants to mention their totally new product and let people discuss it (for better or worse), I think people are OK with that and the post won't be deleted or anything. If they want to talk about how they just released version 3.2.11a, or how they have a 5% sale this month, that's going too far. So it tends to be a "Just don't be a jerk about it" sort of rule. Although you are now tending slightly in that direction...

On 10/4/2019 at 9:02 AM, ZoeJD said:

Hey guys, a friend suggested sharing my new book here on Dropzone. I wanted to write about the first 100 jumps especially because, when I first started skydiving last year, I somehow sense that a very personal and fundamental change was about to take place, and I should probably record those early experiences to look back on and talk about with other people along the journey. This sport - even in such a short period - has had such a profound effect in my life: it's basically what I keep going for now: everything from the sense of community and camaraderie to the psychological and emotional transformations to what unfolds at the edges that we seek. Also, I am a (kind of) lucid dreamer and dream about skydiving virtually every night.

If any of this or anything in the book itself resonates, I would love to hear more. For me, writing - like skydiving - becomes real when we share the experience with others.

Hey!  I hope you decide to come back and get to know some of the people here.  Erroll, like his avatar, tends to be a grumpy person.  Every DZ has at least one!  And Skybytch is maybe one of the most thoughtful posters on here; always with good intentions.  It's a pretty small group and sometimes things might seem to be heated, but I don't think there's a person on here that I wouldn't jump with, and crack a beer with afterward.  I will look for your book; I don't have any fucking problem with fucking profanity!

3 hours ago, yobnoc said:

Skybytch is maybe one of the most thoughtful posters on here;

<Quote> "As for what Erroll said, he's right. While I often find it to be a useful word,  not everyone appreciates the word fuck. Using it on the back cover description might drive away potential buyers. </Quote>

3 hours ago, yobnoc said:

I don't have any fucking problem with fucking profanity!

<Quote>"Pity you needed to resort to obscenities to sound cool.</Quote>

1 hour ago, Erroll said:

<Quote>"Pity you needed to resort to obscenities to sound fucking cool.</Quote>

Fixed it for you 

6 hours ago, piisfish said:

<Quote>"Pity you needed to resort to obscenities to sound fucking cool.

Fixed it for you </Quote>

The irony of your post is clearly lost on you.

13 hours ago, Erroll said:

<Quote> "As for what Erroll said, he's right. While I often find it to be a useful word,  not everyone appreciates the word fuck. Using it on the back cover description might drive away potential buyers. </Quote>

 

<Quote>"Pity you needed to resort to obscenities to sound cool.</Quote>

Yep.  Not looking for your approval bro.  I pity the self-righteous, on the rare occasion where I decide to tolerate them.  Go find your safe space where people don't curse; DZ isn't that place, snowflake.

11 minutes ago, yobnoc said:

where people don't curse;

Having been an instructor in the army, a skydiver and being a keen fisherman, I assure you I can curse with the best/worst of them.

My original comment was aimed specifically at the use of profanity on the back cover of a book. That was all.

7 minutes ago, Erroll said:

Having been an instructor in the army, a skydiver and being a keen fisherman, I assure you I can curse with the best/worst of them.

My original comment was aimed specifically at the use of profanity on the back cover of a book. That was all.

I can appreciate that; perhaps it would've been more welcoming to engage with the person first before critiquing their use of some of the finer words English has to offer.  Also, while skybytch elaborated on that, you did not.  You simply shat on her for cursing in general.  And now we have one less member in an already slowly dying community website.

But the curse word on the book - was it an adjective or a verb?

42 minutes ago, dudeman17 said:

But the curse word on the book - was it an adjective or a verb?

Well fucking played, sir

On 10/6/2019 at 4:09 PM, ZoeJD said:

Honestly I don't give a fuck. Just - how do I delete this and get out of here?

Is this the same attitude you display in skydiving if peoplpe don't give you what you want?
You go to DZ B if DZ A won't let you jump the canopyt you want?

What happened to this community and cameraderie stuff you were on about?

8 hours ago, Baksteen said:

Is this the same attitude you display in skydiving if peoplpe don't give you what you want?
You go to DZ B if DZ A won't let you jump the canopyt you want?

What happened to this community and cameraderie stuff you were on about?

What happened to skydivers having a thick skin? 

What's hilarious about this thread is that ZoeJD instantly got all bent out of shape with the first line of SB's reply (despite it seeming completely fair to me), but missed the unbelievably good advice contained after.

Using skydiving as a tool to help get out of depression is fantastic, but the reality is that you can't do it forever, or even all the time you might want to. Having a backup plan to ensure you don't crash hard if you have to stop and are susceptible to depression is critically important.

30 minutes ago, yoink said:

What happened to skydivers having a thick skin?

Yeah, ZoeJD seems like a pretty emotional person, which makes sense if she struggles from depression, and having a negative reaction to some "innocent" comments may be part of the package. It is interesting though that she is a lawyer, as I would having a thick skin / emotional resilience would be part of the job requirements for that.

I was hoping she would come back here to stir up some shit and drop some f-bombs, but not going to happen it seems.