Tag Archives: Bucket List

UPDATE: I’m Not One for New Year’s Resolutions

Posted in What's Going On by

It’s crazy to think that June marks the half way point in a year! It never feels like it – All the classes, activities, etc. coming to an end almost make it feel like the year is only starting with a fresh, summer start! For those of you that have been following my 2018 year, you’ll know that in January I decided to grab the bull of New Year’s Resolutions by the horns and make a couple for myself. If you haven’t, you can read my fresh start in January HERE. I know it’s only been six months, but it’s crazy how much you learn when you set goals for yourself. You learn your strengths and your weaknesses quite fast! Even though I set four primary goals for myself this year – I’m learning way more than just “improving” myself in those four things.


I wanted to share how I’ve been doing so far – Not to pat myself on the back, but to encourage you guys that might still be sitting on the fence about some goals you’ve been wanting to tackle in your life. Or maybe you had started some New Year’s Resolutions the same time I did, and you’re starting to fall behind – It’s ok; pick yourself up and keep going! I’m sharing my progress because I hope it encourages you to press on and strive towards your goals!!

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:14

I had previously shared how setting big goals are important, but setting too big of goals is reckless. I had read about New Year’s Resolutions and the best ways to achieve your goals and keep your motivation all through out the year; one recommendation that was stressed in order to accomplish goals was to break down your goals. Let’s say you want to healthily lose/ gain weight this year: What are you going to do each month in order to achieve that? What are you going to do each week, to reach success in those areas every month? Etc. After praying about 2018 and coming to these four goals, I broke them down into lists of what is realistic for me each month to accomplish them. To say the least: it has been incredibly encouraging, uplifting and motivating to feel myself grow and to see results!
In January, I wanted to:

GROW SPIRITUALLY

• Read the complete Bible in one year
• Read everyday in my devotional book
• Write a prayer journal
• Volunteer in my church regularly
• Get connected in a church group and be consistent
• Be open to mentor ship

UPDATE: I have found this area probably the most encouraging after pursing it for months, but also the most difficult to create habits. It’s hard to make time for God everyday. The Devil makes sure that this is not an easy task for us to complete. But I’ve found that the harder you work for it and the higher the priority you make it in your life; God rewards you for it! I know that the Word of God is alive because of how it continually changes a person’s heart the more time they spend in it continually. Not only has it been rewarding to strengthen my personal relationship with Jesus, but also spending time with other Believers both volunteering in the youth program in my church and being more committed to our young adults group. It is so cool to feel God working in and through His Body the way He intended for it to work! Obviously people are not perfect, but when we’re all working together for God’s glory, it’s amazing how the slip ups are easily fixed.

“Serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts If you seek Him, He will let you find Him” – 1 Chronicles 28:9

DEVELOP PHYSICALLY

• Take better care of my skin
• Take better care of my teeth
• No screens after 10:00 pm
• Do three cardio work outs a week
• Drink the recommended water amount daily
• Do not snack after 7:00 pm

UPDATE: I think developing physically is one of the easier tasks only because there is already so much the world has to offer in this area. It’s actually kind of sad when you think about how self absorbed we are about physical appearance. Yes, I totally get that there is a healthy balance of taking care of the bodies Christ has given us, but then there’s a line where it can become too much… But because the world has so much information on dieting, work out plans, skin care, hygiene care, etc. nearly everywhere for free, it makes this area of development more motivational than others because you see results faster! For example, I wanted to take better care of my teeth: Crest has that 3D White stuff where you literally notice a significant difference within 3 days! When you see results right away, it makes you more inclined to keep going, you know?

On the other hand, I started going to spin class 3-4 times a week. This was a slow-gain process and it’s taken months for me to see results in my body. Each class is pretty vigorous and I always leave the workout feeling disgustingly sweaty and satisfied that I gave it my all. I have noticed a positive difference in my stamina, better sleeping, and mentally I feel sharper! My motivation for the 3 cardio work outs a week resolution, was motivated back in December 2017, when I went to a Body World’s Exhibit that taught about so many different diseases, muscles, bones, mental health, etc. Next to each display they had list of a “How to Prevent” what ever negative bodily situation. Obviously these were not 100% guaranteed, but the #1 How to Prevent tip was: Exercise 30 minutes A WEEK. That seemed so easy… but then how many of us do even that minimal amount? It feels incredible to work out in the morning and consistently throughout the week!

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” – 1 Timothy 4:8

 

EXPAND MY SKILLS

• Publish a blog post once a week
• Read one book a month
• Accomplish one task on my Bucket List a month
• Take risks in my career to grow & learn
• Learn to cook more full meals
• Spend more time doing activities that do not involve screens

UPDATE: This resolution has been the most fun to work on! I’ve loved sharing my life more consistently on the blog instead of bumming around the house. I’ve loved sitting in a big comfy chair reading a book instead of wasting time on my phone. I’ve loved planning and researching new adventures to check tasks off my Bucket List and make memories with friends and family! I’ve loved feeling growth at work and I’m looking forward to more growth in University! All in all, I just feel like I’m using my time more wisely and thinking through my days instead of just wondering where the months have gone. My Day Planner has been awesome for this because I log everything into it as if it were my diary.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” – Psalm 16:11

 

CULTIVATE MY FINANCES

• Set up budgets in all of my spending categories and stick to them
• Record my income and spending weekly
• Give generously
• Think before spending
• Grow my savings

UPDATE: Finances are tricky. You don’t want to become a money obsessed jerk that is too cheap to do anything, but you also don’t want to go out every night and have more month left at the end of the pay cheque… It’s also important to balance what you spend, what you save and what you give. This is a lesson I’m currently learning. It’s not about how big your bank account is by the time you retire and it’s not about trying to make six digits in a year. I’m learning that financial goals are a slow and steady process. It’s good to work yourself out of debt, to have a savings fund for a rainy day – because when it rains it will most definitely pour and to be generous. Recording my spending each week has totally opened my eyes to see how much I’m actually spending on eating out, or going to the movies. After the first couple weeks, I was quite shocked at how much I was spending because 5 bucks here and there adds up fast!

Every month I’ve tried to set small “financial goals” for myself like: Spend less than $x eating out this month, spend less than $x on gas, and spend less than $x on shopping, etc. What’s been cool, is that in these months I’ve noticed that when I am actively working towards each goal. When I want to spend less eating out; I do better at prepping my meals at home, which then domino’s into helping me make better eating choices! When I was to spend less on gas; I do better at walking more places or planning more organized Errand Days to maximize my productivity while driving. And when I know I need to shop less I do better at reusing things instead of just going out and picking up another/ new one.

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” – Malachi 3:10

 

Thanks for encouraging my guys – I’m looking forward to seeing how the second half of 2018 plays out – God is so good and I’m excited to see what He will continue to do in this glorious new year! 🙂 I’m sharing my progress because I hope it encourages you to press on and strive towards your goals!! 2018 is not gone – You can still do this and make progress in your goals!

– Stay Satisfied

Bucket List: FAIL – Donate Blood

Posted in Bucket List by

So as many of you know by this point, I’ve been actively working towards checking things off my Bucket List. This year alone has been pretty successful and I’ve been able to do so many things that I’ve been thinking of doing for a long time! 🙂 I’ve also been able to share some fun stories with you about Bucket List items that I completed in the past like: Why I Started My Blog, Skydiving, Ice Fishing, Getting a Pixie Cut, Dying My Hair Pink, Taking a Pottery Class, Bungee Jumping, and Going to the Seattle Gum Wall!

Sometimes, plans don’t always go the way you plan for them to go. Obviously, by the title you know that my attempt to Donate Blood did not go the way I expected it to go! I had convinced my Mom to donate blood with me because I had never done it before and neither had she. For those of you that don’t know, I am extremely needle-phobic. I go into a cold sweat. My eyes make a deer in headlights look calm. When I was little and in elementary school, the dreaded Needle Lady would come to our classroom and give the teacher a notice about when the next date of vaccinations would be. I’d ask what day it was, mark it in my agenda and promptly schedule a severe headache that day. I missed needle day for years. I was actually quite proud of myself. It wasn’t until the other summer when my sister and I went to Rio, that I had to get countless shots to catch me up from the many I missed growing up… Anyways, I was going to face one of my biggest fears and I was going to try something new and I had full intentions of dragging my mother along with me! 😉

I had booked our appointments online at the local clinic. My mom would go first, then if she survived, I would go afterwards. “WHAT? Really…? That’s mature of you…” she said to me when I told her. That Saturday morning came and we made our way to the clinic. My Mom and I went through the “First Time Donor” procedure and the nurses there gave us both stickers, “Be Nice To Me I’m New!” At first I thought the stickers were cute, but then it got me thinking that the staff must need reminders so that victims are suckered into returning and donating again. Afterwards, we waited for our individual examinations.

I was taken into one room and she was taken into another. The lady on the other side of the desk asked the basic health and medication questions and then told me would take a sample of my blood to test for iron and sugar levels. I know she only pricked my finger to draw a drop of blood, but I feel the urge to say that she stabbed me… Anyways, she took a sample, popped it into a small machine that displayed some numbers. After reading the results she looked back at me, eyes wide. “Sooooo your iron levels are incredibly low…” she paused, probably for a dramatic affect. “We can test again, but your iron levels are nearly thirty points lower than the average person your age should be, so I don’t think another try will change anything.” The lady stabbed my finger on the opposite hand and popped the second blood sample into the machine. The numbers increased by two points. “Sorry, I can’t let you donate your blood today. Instead, I would highly recommend you booking an appointment with your family doctor to explore your iron levels more closely.” I didn’t know what to say. I sat there quiet. Thinking. And then it hit me – I wouldn’t have to give my blood at all today! I was done! But then it also hit me….. what about Mom?

I exited the small office and saw my Mom seated in the holding pen gripping her bag of tubes. She was smiling – probably thankful that she wasn’t going to be donating alone… As I sat next to her, trying to suppress my laughter of relief, she looked at me anxiously, “Where’s your bag? Didn’t they give you a bag of tubes?” “Well….” I started to say, then burst into giggles. “They won’t let me donate today – They tested my blood and deemed my iron levels too low!” I was covering my mouth trying to hold back the laughter. “NO. No, no, no!” My Mom argued, “I AM ONLY HERE BECAUSE OF YOU!!!! I didn’t want to do this – I was supposed to be YOUR support!!” I was laughing. I had no words. As she looked at me in shock, her name was called. “Charlene, we’ll get you started over here”.
“I can not believe this is happening…” My Mom said in disbelief as she got up and made her way to the massive chair. As the nurse prepped her I tried to apologize, but there was no way it was coming out heartfelt. “I’m going to get you for this.” She said to me. As the tube turned red I held her hand and made sure that I was supportive of the good thing she was doing. “You are saving a life today Mom! Look at this good thing you are doing Mom – This is happy!”
   When the bag was full and the lady had unplugged my Mom we made our way to the resting area. They had loads of snacks for everyone to regain their energy. I was halfway through my juice box and pack of cookies when my Mom said, “HEY. You do not even deserve those! I can’t believe you’re actually eating these snacks right now…. You still have all of your blood! There’s a bag of me back there – Those cookies and juices boxes are for people like me.”

So in the end I did not get to check “Donate Blood” off my Bucket List – But I will most definitely be trying again. I’ve been able to observe my Mom for a couple weeks now and she seems pretty healthy 😉 “You know, I am thankful for that experience. Even though we were aiming to donate together, it was fun to try something new with you!” Mom and I talked about other things that were on my Bucket List, specifically about things that could only happen by chance like winning the lottery, having twins, and being summoned for jury duty. “Why on earth would you want jury duty?” she asked. “I just think it would be cool to serve as a Canadian citizen in that way”. Literally the following week Mom received a letter in the mail summoning her for jury duty. It seems her and I are on a road to accomplish Bucket List tasks together!!

Enjoy this life guys and embrace new and old, scary and fun 🙂

– Stay Satisfied

 

Bucket List: Seattle Gum Wall

Posted in Bucket List by

Often when I travel somewhere I’ll Google what the top tourist attractions are in a city. Yeah, yeah, I know “Tourist Attractions” are the worst and ultra tacky and should be avoided at all costs – But really when you think about it, they’re popular places to check out for a reason. However, I did not have to Google the famous Seattle Gum Wall to know that I wanted to stick a piece of my own gum to the wall 🙂 For those of your who don’t know; the Gum Wall is a brick wall covered in used chewing gum in an alleyway in downtown Seattle. It’s located in Post Alley under Pike Place Market with a unique fragrance of fruit + mint.

I’ll confess that I did a little bit of research on the history of this place because I’m a nerd and I like knowing these things. The wall is by the box office for the Market Theater, and the tradition began around 1993 when people would stick their gum to the wall and push coins in the gum blobs. Theater workers scraped the gum away twice, but eventually gave up aftermarket officials deemed the gum wall a tourist attraction around 1999. It was named one of the top 5 germiest tourist attractions in 2009, and it is a popular site with wedding photographers which I find ultra weird… Like, I understand wedding photos in back alleys and industrial areas but this one is covered in gum… why is this a romantic place for couple shots? My sister and I are a different story – We’re two girls checking events off our Bucket Lists 🙂 Our family made the pit-stop to all stick pieces of our gum to the wall! What was crazy, was that a couple years ago – My sister and Dad were in Seattle visiting our brother at school and they went to stick a piece of gum on the wall, but when they went, they happened to be there when the gum wall was receiving a total scrub down for maintenance and steam cleaned for the first time in 20 years!!! SO CRAZY FOR TIMING. When we looked into it, we learned that it was announced by the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority that to prevent further erosion of the bricks on the walls from the sugar in the gum, it would all be stripped on November 10, 2015. Apparently, it took 130 hours to complete, and they removed over 2,350 pounds of gum. My Dad and sister were there that day watching it being cleaned!! I can’t imagine Gum Wall before it was stripped – That was over a decade of chewed bubble gum built up! It was probably repulsive – Especially in the summer heat… At first people were wondering if they would allow the tradition to continue but sure enough after the cleaning was finished a couple days later, gum began to be re-added to the wall immediately.

Keep chasing those Bucket List tasks guys!

– Stay Satisfied

Bucket List: Bungee Jumping

Posted in Bucket List by

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go bungee jumping! At the time I was living on Thetis Island in BC, Canada – There aren’t many places people can go bungee jumping in the flat prairies of Saskatchewan. Obviously, I was thrilled at the chance to jump off somewhere of high altitude! We had found out a couple months prior to the jump day; I was so excited I called my family back home to tell them. “ABSOLUTELY NOT.” My Mom stated. As I listened as to my parents explain why bungee jumping is not the brightest idea, I got more excited about the event.

The day finally came where my friends and I would all hop in a giant 15 passenger van and drive a few hours to the bridge we would all willingly jump off of. I had decided to not tell my parents until after I had jumped. A couple weeks previous to this glorious moment, I had spent the weekend at my Aunt and Uncle’s place. While I was there hangin out with the crew, I told them about my plan. The catch was that I was too young at the time to sign the waiver for myself…. so I asked my Aunt to sign the waiver for me. I had brought the forms with me and she agreed that as long as I wouldn’t die, she would sign.


In all honesty, when I look back at this adventure, I relate to Rapunzel from Disney’s: Tangled. “I CAN’T BELIEVE I DID THIS!!!” As we were driving we took a quick pit stop at Tim Horton’s – everyone was getting snacks and coffee but there was no way I was able to consume anything! I was way to excited!! Once we finally got to the bridge, we walked through the forest to the bridge and up what felt like a million stairs. With each step I felt my palms sweating and my heart racing. I kept looking up to the top of the bridge where the stairs finally ended and I couldn’t believe what I was about to do!

Walking across the bridge to the center where we would soon jump off, I looked over the side and saw the river below. My eyes were wide like coconuts and I was grinning ear to ear. I felt like life was happening in slow motion. The bungee jumping team came and gave us the safety low-down but I did not hear a word they said. I was getting so excited. I watched as my friends one by one had their ankles tied and jumped off the bridge. It was incredible to even just watch someone else jump! When my turn finally came they opened the gate, sat me down and began to tie my feet with the bungee cord. My heart was beating so fast I swear I could see it pounding in my chest. Before I waddled out to the ledge, I texted a photo of the ledge to my Mom with the message, “Guess what I’m doing today”. Then gave my phone to the jump team and made my way to the ledge.

It’s incredible, even though I had previously looked over the edge of the bridge just minutes ago, it looked so much higher with my ankles tied, toes over the edge and no banister in front of me. I stood on the ledge. For a really long time. The 2 minutes felt like a decade. It wasn’t until my friends watching starting counting down, “10   –   9   –   8   –   7” they yelled. I slowly raised my hands above my head, “6   –   5   –   4” I closed my eyes, “3   –   2” I slowly tilted forward, “1!” My body fell. I couldn’t breath the feeling of free fall engulfed me.

So many people say that they would not be able to bungee jump because their back wouldn’t be able to take the snap back once the whole bungee cord is stretched out. I’m happy to tell you that there was absolutely no snap back because when you jump, the cord slowly stretches out and slowly retracts while you are in the air. Even after my jump I had no light-headedness. As I fell and bounced up all I could do was scream and laugh – This was AMAZING.

As I hung upside-down, I could only giggle. I wanted to jump again and again! I was vibrating I was so happy. They slowly lowered me to a trampoline floating  on the river. As they untied me and we made our way to the river edge, I continued to watch the rest of my friends jump from the bridge screaming with joy. We all wanted to jump multiple times but unfortunately there was only enough time for one jump per person.

I hope to one day bungee jump the Grand Canyon – I think it would be an incredible experience now that I’ve tried [and loved] bungee jumping off this bridge!

– Stay Satisfied

Bucket List: Dye My Hair Pink

Posted in Bucket List by

I finally did it! I coloured all of my hair pink. I am ecstatic! This has been something that I’ve had in the works for a couple years now – Of course only a few people knew this was something that I was ever actually planning on doing – Which made it all the more fun to show up to work and church the next day and get to see people’s surprised looks all day! Originally I was planning on colouring my hair pink at the same time I had cut it off into my pixie. But in the moment I felt one extreme change was enough. Roughly a year ago I told my hairdresser; Kara, what I wanted to do and she was totally in! “YES. I think you definitely need to do this! But we’ll work you up to it.” She explained, “It’s not healthy for your hair to do all at once. What we’ll do is over the next couple of months, is slowly weave more highlights into your head and lighten it one level at a time. Then when your ready and your hair has gotten light enough we’ll throw the pink in!” The idea even a year ago made me beyond excited!

It’s been years since I wanted to colour my whole head pink and as the trends came and went from ombre-ing a non-natural colour in, to having a couple streaks or dip dyeing the ends – I knew the whole time that I wanted to cover my entire head with the glorious, happy colour. What slowly adding highlights did was allow my hair to take the toner without becoming weak, dry and brittle. It allowed me to take care of my hair between 3 month treatments to maintain the strength, shine and overall hair health. I’ll be honest, for the past while I’ve been doing natural Do-It-Yourself hair masks using just a couple kitchen ingredients. One of my favourites has been 1 or 2 raw eggs, a tablespoon of honey, another tablespoon of aloe vera and sometimes I’d add a scoop of my own extra strength conditioner. I’d whisk it together and smother the goop in my hair and leave it in a shower cap for 20 minutes. Afterwards, I’d rinse it out with cool water. Seriously, the Saskatchewan dryness is the worst….

Anyways, after months Kara had gotten my hair to a light tone to take on the pink! I booked my hair appointment immediately after work and once I showed up she worked her magic! Kara had done research herself for the best brands and colouring agents. She ended up mixing four different bottles of colours to achieve the perfect ash-pink. I had told her that it would be my worst nightmare come true to have flamingo/ bubble gum pink hair…. Kara completely agreed.

As she weaved my hair and worked it into foils my stomach was doing summer-salts. I couldn’t contain how thrilled I was that this was finally happening! Obviously my sister knew what was going down and all day my Mom had been grilling her with questions about how she thought I was up to something with Kara. As the time went by in the hair dressing chair the more anxious I was getting! I have to confess that I absolutely love getting my hair washed by other people – the head massage is simply incredible. Kara added the pink toners and conditioners and I knew I was SO close to seeing what I have hoped for, for years!

I took off my glasses right at the start because I’m as blind as a bat and wanted the finished reveal to be a surprise. As we walked from the chair to the sink I avoided looking in all of the mirrors – I refuse to let my curiosity get the better of myself!Sure enough, at the end Kara gave me he grand reveal and she just crushed it. The colouring was everything I had hoped it to be! The best part was that she had ordered extra product for me to maintain the colour myself at home. You’ll be seeing the pink locks for a little while now ❤ I want to encourage you guys to keep chasing those dreams and taking the risks! You will never regret it – even if things don’t always turn out the way we hope them to. I know I’d rather try and know instead of always wondering and wish I did 🙂

– Stay Satisfied

Bucket List: Get a Pixie Cut

Posted in Bucket List by

I have had long blonde locks my whole life. Until I cut it all off not even three years ago and got the pixie cut I’ve wanted for years. Although I wanted a pixie for years, almost everyone told me that I would absolutely hate myself after I cut it all off. Even still, I couldn’t stop that nagging feeling of wanting to chop it all off! I was in my last couple months of Interior Design and one random night I decided I was going to do it. I was going to cut all my hair off. The next day at school I asked one of my girl friends if she could hook me up with her hairdresser in town – because I obviously didn’t have one. A couple hours later the appointment was booked and I was ecstatic! I didn’t tell anyone except for my friends who also demanded to come with me so that I wouldn’t back out. Later that afternoon I called my sister because I had to tell someone from home – it was too much to keep to myself! “YEEESSSSSSS DO IT!” I remember my sister encouraging me over the phone when I told her. “I won’t tell anyone – you should just come home for the Easter weekend and see what people’s reaction is!” Brilliant. So I decided not to tel anyone else.

Before Hair CutHowever, I did end up caving and telling my Dad over the phone just before I left to go get it cut because I was so excited. “Mmmmk, well I guess do what you want – it’s just hair.” My Dad told me, ” Have you told your Mom?” he asked.
I laughed, “No I haven’t told Mom – she’s the one that doesn’t want me to get it cut off the most!”
“No, no, no – you have to call her and tell her! Because, if you get it cut and just come home without saying anything; she’s going to see you and pretend to love it. Then, when we are going to bed that night she’ll ask me if I knew about this and I’ll have to say yes!”
Valid. So in order to keep my Dad out of the dog house, I called my Mom on the drive to the hair dresser, “Mom…..” “What…?” “I have a hair appointment booked.” “NO!!! No! No! Don’t do it!” she screamed. I laughed and told her that it was too late- I was excited and on my way there.

When I got to the hairdresser, she took one look at me and refused to cut my hair. “No way woman! I’m not cutting all your hair off! I am not dealing with you crying in my chair 10 minutes from now!”
“But this is what I want! Trust me!” I remember telling her.
“Nope – I’ve been caught in this situation before and last time it was horrible. I’m not doing it.” She argued.
“Well then give me the scissors and let me hack it off, then you’ll have to fix it.” Her eyes widened; she realized that I legitimately wanted a pixie cut and grabbed a cape. She sat me down in the chair.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She put the cape around me and pulled my hair back into a long thick braid.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
She held the scissors open next to my braid.
“Are you sure you are sure???”
“Cut it.”
She started to clip. I could feel the hair being cut away.

Cutting the Braid
I reached back and felt nothing. I was SO HAPPY! The hair dresser was laughing, my friends were in shock that I actually followed through and I was beaming. After cutting off a 16 inch braid she buzzed and clipped the rest of my head into the pixie I always wanted. My head felt so light. I was so weird to shake my head and not feel my hair whip to the left or right. I had a bare neck….

Getting Up

What was awesome, is that after she finished cutting my hair she squirt the gel in my hand and showed me how to style my own hair right there in the salon! I had been watching YouTube videos all week about how to style a pixie but this was fantastic! I loved my new hair!

Finished

To be honest, it’s crazy to think that this was only a couple years ago – sometimes I see photos of myself with long hair and I don’t recognize myself. Classes were wonderful the next day. My friends that came with me didn’t say a word to anyone. When I showed up to classes the next morning one my profs introduced himself. I enjoyed seeing everyone’s faces drop and hearing everyone’s reaction. I had finally gotten my pixie cut and donated 16 inches of my hair to cancer patients. Guys, there are a lot of things in life that God has given us the freedom to do simply out of joy. I want to encourage you to live your life on a limb. Have fun with God and do things you’ve always wanted to do – God gave us this life to be lived in the fullest through Him. Don’t hold back and be free!

 

– Stay Satisfied

Bucket List: Sky Diving

Posted in Bucket List by

I love the feeling of falling. When your gut jumps up into your throat and you have that brief sensation of being weightless… Gahhhh I live for that feeling! The fact that sky diving was on my bucket list isn’t a huge surprise to anyone that knows me. A couple summers ago I was going to Steinbach, Manitoba for a cousins wedding – their wedding was on a Sunday and we drove up on Friday which gave us a day to kill. I was digging around finding things to do on the Saturday and I came across Adventure Skydiving. After perusing their site I learned that they had the highest tandem jumps  available in the prairies; up to 11,000 feet which would give jumpers roughly a minute of free fall. I was instantly captivated.

I contacted one of my other cousins who was traveling to the wedding on the same day. I was so excited and thought it’d be great if we were able to jump together! The tandem skydive enables the skydiver to experience the full magnitude of a skydive, including free fall in terminal velocity of up to 230 kpm of vertical speed, and a canopy glide to the ground – The tandem skydive also didn’t require any prior knowledge or training for jumping because we’d be strapped to someone who was certified. My cousin was instantly on board and we booked our jumps for that Saturday morning.


Weeks went by and Jump Day finally came! Her and I showed up to the jump site to get our brief training which pretty much explained what we shouldn’t do during the jump so that we didn’t kill ourselves along with our instructors… My body was vibrating I was so eager to get in the air! The training taught us how to jump out of the plane, how to steer our bodies during free fall, how to steer ourselves once the shoot was pulled and how to land without breaking our legs – Nothing major though… 😉



By the time we had completed our training, we were told that we might not be able to jump due to an excessive amount of wind. My heart sunk. The instructor began to explain that there was a storm approaching the outskirts of the city – pretty much where we’d be landing and that the wind was starting to swirl making it unsafe to land. “We could get ya up there just fine and most of your jump would be awesome. But as soon as you got 300 ft from landing, your parachute could collapse due to the wind changing directions unpredictably and you could just drop the rest of the way…”

The instructor left and said they’d keep us updated on the wind, but if the situation did not improve within an hour they would cancel our jump due to weather. My cousin and I were crushed. As we waited, we prayed. Knowing that Jesus had calmed the storm before and He could certainly do it again for us. We read about how Jesus calmed the wind and the ocean waves in Mark 4:35-41, “On that day, when evening came, [one of the disciples] said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.”Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

So we prayed. I don’t believe in coincidences, but after we both finished praying and submitting our jump and the weather to the Lord, the radio began to play 1989’s Tom Petty – Free Fallin’ and we were stoked because in that moment we knew God would work on our behalf. Sure enough, the instructor came blitzing into our waiting room saying a clear window showed up on the scanner and we had to get in the air within the next 30 minutes in order to have a safe jump! God is so good. So we suited up and hopped in the plane and began our climb to 11,000 feet.


The plane was small and we were all cozy but the adrenaline pumping through us made us anything but comfortable. As the airbase below grew smaller and slowly vanished out of site, the clouds began to engulf the tiny aircraft. My heart was beating wildly and my hands were sweating. We climbed higher and higher and it began to click in my mind that I was about to jump out of the plane in midair. The pilot yelled back to us that we had finally reached our 11,000 foot altitude and we were free to jump. Without a moment to lose, my instructor squeezed my shoulders to ask if I was ready and we crawled over to the plane door. He opened it up and I could not believe how clear the sky was from so high up. I felt like I was looking down on Google Maps. This was not real. I swung my legs out of the plane and began to lean forward to fall out. As my instructor and I fell forward I jumped from the step and the plane soared away. My gut jumped higher in my body than I ever thought possible! But the feeling didn’t go away. Not like it does on a roller coaster were the dropping feeling only lasts a moment. I glanced over and could see the plane just a dot in the sky and watched as another dot disbanded from it. We continued to hurtle towards the earth and the wonderful falling sensation seeped into every part of my body.

I can’t describe to you how incredible it was to fall for a full sixty seconds. It was magnificent. I loved every moment. We pulled the shoot and continued floating towards the ground. I felt like I was stuck in the sky for an hour. It was so quiet – You would expect it to be loud with all the wind that high up and the fact that we were still “falling” but it wasn’t! My instructor began pointing out landmarks and different crops that were growing in all the fields below us – It was phenomenal to say the least!

For those of you that have not yet checked Sky Diving off your Bucket List, I strongly encourage you to go. The jump is awe inspiring and it’s quite a sight to see the world from so high above without being protected in a plane or helicopter. To be so exposed and so free. If Sky Diving isn’t on your Bucket List, maybe reconsider adding it because my story doesn’t do the experience justice!

– Stay Satisfied