Bungee jump from a bridge.

“They pass ropes from one bridge to another, and hook me up with carabiners as thick as my thumb. I climb over the edge , and look down, a 60m drop beneath me. I notice that I’ve started to sweat, and I can hear thumping in my ears. I’m not scared of heights, but something strange happens when you’re staring down at such a heigh drop, palms slick on the rail. Memento Mori kicks in, and that little survival instinct voice in the back of your head says “hey buddy, maybe don’t jump down there, it’s quite high“. The instructor grabs onto me, and tells me he’s going to count down from 3, then, before I have a chance to think, I hear him reach 1, and I jump. The first half of a second is pure panic. My vision flashes black, then white, then nothing. Then back again. The air punches me in the face so hard I forget to breathe, even if I could. My cheeks peel back, eyes water and the wind screams in my ears. I accelerate faster than I’ve ever felt before, too fast to keep up. Every cell in my body is convinced that I’ve just made the last mistake I’ll ever make.”

“Oh gosh, this is really happening,” was all I could think as I approached the edge. I could feel the tension of the cord pulling me forward closer and closer to the edge. Without a moment’s hesitation I hear… “3, 2, 1, Bungee!” And I jump. I have no recollection of my brain signaling to my body to jump. The second seems almost surreal. Before I knew it I was plummeting to the water below me, and less than two seconds later I was defying gravity bouncing back up towards the bridge. I bounced several times as all the blood slowly made its way to my head. My head felt like it was encompassing half my body weight before I was lowered down to a raft below me.”

“The rope bites. A firm tug that drags me out of the cruel maw of gravity and pulls me tight. My eyesight is working again, and I’m swinging, shooting under the bridge, and arching perfectly out the other side, high into the air. It’s impossible not to shout, and I let out half holler, and half roar as I reach the apex of my swing, before spinning around and falling back towards the ground, gliding back under, and out of the other side.”