She is the MNC Enfield Town Manager and a life coach for teenagers when she is not jumping out of a plane for charity. Liz is celebrating a milestone birthday this year herself so when the opportunity came up to tandem skydive for charity, she jumped at the chance, excuse the pun…
Here is her story in her own words.
I overcame my extreme fear of heights through Emotional Freedom Technique. Went to a Go Ape locally in North London with my 8 year old daughter leading the way, to test out whether the fear had gone (amazingly – it had) and then successfully tandem skydived for a local charity In Sue’s Name.
When a friend in business, David Taylor, announced that he was getting together 51 people to raise money for a charity that he set up in memory of his daughter Sue who died from brain cancer, I knew I had to say YES. She would have been 51 on 15th March 2019.
I had not had a great experience of my first charity skydive 20 years earlier than had caused my extreme fear of heights so I was nervous about committing to another skydive.
It was too windy to jump on the planned day, 15th March, so it was rescheduled for 17th March instead.
I met my lovely instructor Keith who instantly put me at ease and started to brief me individually about the jump, this is what I needed. I had found the previous group briefing a bit overwhelming so he told me all the info I needed and didn’t tell me all the stuff that I didn’t need to worry about.
I put on the charity vest and we are off walking to the plane. My daughter had given me a good luck card which was a lovely touch and I was all set. I decided to pay for a video and stills photos of the jump as it would be my last charity tandem so it would be great to have a permanent reminder of the jump. I had decided to wear my sparkly trainers and my superman socks for fun, I thought they would give me good luck.
We got into the plane and I sat down. I wasn’t feeling nervous it was more excited …. There are a number of solo skydivers in front of us and we were the first tandems out of our plane. Before I knew it, we were at 13,000 feet and it was time to go ….
I remember all his instructions, he positioned me in the correct position for exit (this wasn’t the case in my other tandem) and we were off …….
Flying through the air head first at -31, my face was frozen ….. I remember the instructors words in my ears “if you don’t smile you will look weird in the video”, so frozen face smiling and waving started then every time we saw the cameraman.
We were very lucky the sky was very clear and before I knew it, I was being asked to lift my knees up and legs forward for landing and we were down ……
My face was still frozen so when I was talking to video it was really funny.
We were transported back to the building in a golf cart, probably just as well as my legs felt a bit like jelly!!
I had a hug and kiss from my partner and daughter and another card saying well done which was really cute and I appreciated that a lot.
I am so pleased I took up the challenge of this charity tandem, no more tandems for me though …
This is my first MNC blog ever and I thought I would share my experience of overcoming a 20 year extreme fear of heights to successfully complete my 2nd skydive – something I didn’t think I could ever do.
It is never too late to get rid of fears that might be holding you back in your life, whether that is your personal life, your business life, your health or in your family relationships ….. it’s good to talk it out and move forward.
I am grateful for everyone who has donated so far, if you would like to donate now – here is the link to use
0 Comments