I’ve decided to kickstart a new initiative, where I share a fun anecdote about me! I’m going to begin this with the craziest thing I’ve ever done:
It was Labor Day Weekend in 2015. Three friends and I decided to go to the lake to swim and… cliff dive?! I figured it’d be a nice bonding day with the girls, all of whom I’d known since two years prior. We had to walk through some woods and up a hill to get there.
One of the girls had insisted that everyone went there, and I figured “Okay. It’s not like people have died doing this. We’ll be fine.”
I was proved right when, as we neared the drop-off point, we started passing others leaving the lake with speakers, chairs, and towels. We got to the drop-off point where people were slipping into the water and jumping off the rocks. I was scared of slipping in my shoes and spraining my ankle, so I basically slid in on my butt!
Meanwhile, the bravest of us girls quickly climbed to the biggest rock and jumped in feet first. I was impressed, but not impressed enough to try it myself. I was scared I’d slip and get hurt.
Ironic, considering what happened after that!
We had basically been swimming around some bigger rocks at the edge of the lake, but there was a legitimate 70 ft cliff. There were a group of probably ten people our age, maybe a few years younger or older, crowded around watching other people jump. Only one or two of them had gone for it.
I decided to walk up, on my own. I slipped out of the water unnoticed and trekked up to find the group of people, all huddled around the edge, the majority too scared to jump.
I was scared to jump. I thought I’d hit a rock going down and break my neck, or end up paralyzing myself and drowning.
This is probably the worst time to think of this quote, but a Taylor Swift line flashed in my head: “Fearlessness isn’t the absence of fear. It’s having the fear but jumping anyway.”
The Hell with it, I thought to myself. Either I live and I can say I did it, or I die and I don’t have to pay my student loans. Win-win.
I took a step toward the edge of the cliff. One of the girls in the group was filming on her camera and asked if I was going to jump. When I said yes, she and her friends cheered. I told her my name and to tell my mom I loved her.
They counted me down 3… 2… 1…
I jumped.
Holy heckin’ bob, my heart’s pounding just remembering it. Have you ever played a video game where a character does a big leap, and you watch them slowly fall in the air until they stick their landing? That’s how I felt. For what felt like a full minute, but was probably barely five seconds, it was absolute silence. I wished I could control gravity, so I could have stayed floating in midair, looking at the sparkling lake from that point of view.
Then the water came.
I cut into the lake like glass and felt pain rising up into my body. I hadn’t seriously injured anything, but going that far that fast isn’t like jumping into the pool from the low diving board!
I felt my entire bathing suit slip, both the top and the bottom. I was shocked to feel my bikini bottom falling off, because that had never happened ever! I hoisted them up as I rose to the surface, and clung on to the top of my bikini to make sure I didn’t flash any nearby swimmers. I cheered and the group up top cheered too, seeing that I was alive!
I paddled over to a nearby swimmer and asked them to reclasp my swimsuit and they did. That was nice. I dog paddled back to the other side of the water to tell my friends that I had done it!
I probably should have brought one of them along for evidence. Who cares though, right? I know I did it.
The next day, my body took no time in reminding me that I had done it. EVERY body part felt bruised. My arms, my legs, my chest… even where my bikini bottoms covered felt sore! I remember going to the gym, promising to take it easy on myself, and then nearly sliding off a workout bench with the pain of sitting on it!
Naturally, though, the pain was worth it. That day was just a part of an even greater summer. Now, I can say I’ve done cliff diving, at least once. I never have to do it again.
With that in mind, does that mean I need to go sky diving, or shark diving? Either way, it might be time for another high-stakes jump!