Who Packs Your Parachute?

If you know me, you might describe me as loud, outgoing, and opinionated.

When I feel comfortable, I’m very extroverted and can pretty much socialize with anyone. I like that about myself. But I never realized that I’d never really ventured out of my comfort zone.  

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I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and basically stayed in what we call the “Birmingham bubble.” In high school, I hung out with friends that I’ve known since kindergarten, and after I graduated, I went to Auburn with most of those same people. Auburn was a bit of a change for me, but nothing shocking or out of the ordinary. So naturally, at the beginning of my sophomore year, I was itching to do something new and different. I started looking into things to do over the summer and came across a study abroad trip through LeadAbroad that really caught my eye — a five-week trip to Cape Town, South Africa that included activities like skydiving, shark cage diving, and bungee jumping. I called my parents and signed up that night, not knowing anyone else that was going.

The motto of LeadAbroad is “Boldly breaking through boundaries,” and boy did I break some of my own boundaries during those five weeks. The other students on my trip ended up being from all different schools around the country. It was hard not to bond with the other students when we were all doing things we had never done before.

In class, we did a lot of reflection activities, which I was not a fan of at first. I got used to them, but I was never really invested or thought deeply about things. But if I could choose one activity to sum up my entire trip, it would be the parachute packers activity. It was one of our last few days in Cape Town, and we had all been skydiving at that point. At the skydiving facility, over to the side, there were two guys whose only job is packing parachutes into backpacks, all day long. Our professor, Ilya, stressed to us how important these people were. The parachute packers gave us the tools we needed for a successful jump, and without them, the jump was not possible. Ilya then asked us “Over the course of the trip, who packed your parachute?” The class sat in silence for a few minutes. No one really said anything. I sat there and thought about what he meant.

The people I had become friends with are what made the trip so incredible, and I thought about how I was scared to leave my comfort zone and go on this trip with so many strangers. We had done so many incredible things together. While I really enjoyed doing all the crazy dare-devil activities, I started to realize that my entire trip was one big “jump.” The people I had developed such close relationships with were the people that packed my parachute — they helped me realize that leaving my comfort zone is not so scary, and the world has tons of awesome things and people to offer.  

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I believe the parachute packers exercise should be applied to everyday life. We all need that person that encourages us and gives us the confidence to make the jump, whether the jump is running for that position you’ve always wanted or taking the scary class you think you can’t pass. We should always surround ourselves with people that pack our parachute and strive to be a parachute packer for a friend that needs it. I finally left my comfort zone and pushed myself to do something that I was scared of, and I am incredibly glad that I did it.

Be well, Auburn.

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Photography: via Frances D.