There are many challenges in life just from living. The one that most folks have a difficult time with is fear. One way of dealing with fear is to never engage in situations that instill a fearful moment. Some folks are afraid of heights, some of water, and some of snakes. So stay away from water, tall places, and of course, snakes, and those fears don’t need to be addressed. I’m not great with snakes myself. Some organizations have been created to give you the chance to get over those fears. They artificially create a situation and guide you through it so you can challenge a particular fear so that it neutralizes it in your mind as a fear. There’s the ropes challenge that strings ropes between trees. You then put on a harness with a safety rope and walk across from one tree to the other high above the ground. Once you make it across the idea is that you don’t have to fear heights as much anymore because you have challenged it and won.
Jeff and I got hired at the Flagler Beach drop-zone to do an Accelerated FreeFall course with a couple of people who were attending such a course in Daytona. They were challenging the fear of heights. They had the choice of doing a tandem or the AFF course. Most did the tandem but these two guys who came to the event together decided to go through the beginning of the course. When someone takes on the fear of heights it is most often about heights that you might find from a building or mountain. Freefall deals with altitude which is a different element. Once in freefall, the feeling of falling is only evident from the wind going by. There isn’t much awareness of movement otherwise. Still, these guys came to challenge a fear more than learn how to skydive so I was apprehensive of what might happen once we were out on the step ready to go. These guys did great. After the sensory overload wore off they did everything fairly well. I think there was a bit of male rivalry involved though. They came to the event together and it felt like they weren’t going to fail in front of the other. The way we taught got them to believe in what they were capable of and they invited us to the final challenge of this event, firewalking. It was scheduled for the last night of a weeklong course. This course wasn’t cheap and everybody was staying at a high-end hotel on the beach in Daytona. The attendees were all professionals. There were Doctors, lawyers, CEOs, Nurses, Chiropractors, etc… So we, the dropzone crew, showed up we represented a very different social factor.
On the way there Jeff asked me if I was going to walk through the fire. I had talked to some folks who had done it before and they had told me that you ask the fire if it’s ok to pass. I said that was what I was going to do and would make up my mind at the last moment. He said “I heard it’s not really a fire and it’s like walking on hot pavement. Ok, that’s not what I heard but we will have to see when we get there. We arrived out front of the Hotel, a big 15 plus story building, and made our way into a big conference room full of well-dressed professionals all standing around waiting for the Master of Ceremony to get things going. When he got to the microphone he started with a very positive shpeal about how everyone had done so well and tonight was the final challenge. He started with a mantra. When you are about to walk across the coals say to yourself “Icy hot” Icy Hot” Say it over and over so when your body feels the heat it will respond to it as if it is cold. So he got all these people practicing the chant and then walking a few yards practicing the stroll through hot coals. Then when they got to the far side they were to celebrate and everybody would cheer. In the middle of all this chanting and celebrating were the three skydiving instructors standing there taking in this choreographed chaos and celebration, not moving. The MC called us out. Come on Rocky(the guy who owned the Drop Zone) you need to practice this. Rocky just pointed to his head to convey the thought that Im doing it in my head. So after a few more practice walks it was time. Some of the women were hugging each other excited that they were going to actually do this. A few of the guys bumped fists to express this same reality in a more macho fashion. We made our way out the side door of the building to an area back behind and between the hotel and the beach where the event was to be held. As soon as we were out of the building we could see huge billowing smoke wrapping around the building as it climbed into the sky.
“Wow, that’s a lot of smoke,” Jeff said mostly to himself.
When we got around to the back there was a big fire with large pieces of wood. ” We’re not walking through that are we”? This was the fire they had to build first, then as it burned down they took out the big pieces and left the hot coals. Still, it was a big fire and I’m sure Jeff wasn’t the only one concerned about its size. Soon the firemaster, (yes there is a firemaster) got the big chunks out and a nice bed of coals about 20 ft long and 3ft wide. Of course, the MC walked right up to the edge, turned to everybody”ICY HOT” turned, and strolled across. The challenge was laid before everyone else. The line started forming but only about 5 deep cuz everyone wanted to watch a few attempts before taking it upon themselves. When I was about 6th in line with Jeff right behind me, Rocky was just starting to walk across. He stepped across Very matter-of-factly and with no pain. When I was about 3rd a little kid about 8 years old cut in front of me in line. This was the one time I wasn’t about to get mad at someone cutting in front of me but still how could I be behind this little shit and not go. Now it’s my time, my mantra was a little more relaxed. “This is going to be fine I’m not going to feel a thing” and stepped out onto the path of coals. There was no sensation of heat, I put my mind in a different place. They had to stop me at the other side as I didn’t feel any difference once I was out. The folks on the other side seemed more excited than I was. I turned to watch Jeff who didn’t just walk across, he strolled across with a No Big Deal stride. When he got to me I reached out to shake his hand and say” Ok Buddy we are fire-walkers”. We stepped off to the side to watch the rest of the folks come across. The energy was large and most everyone was wide-eyed and ecstatically cheering on the next person. There was one guy who started across but halfway across his “ICY HOT” mantra melted and the last few feet were high steps. When he turned around his eye’s flashed pure hate at the MC as if to say “You lying mother fucker, that hurt like hell”. I only saw one other person high-stepping it. Out of probably 30 people, the average of folks that did believe was high. I don’t want to sound too cool for school but it felt like any other time I had challenged myself with the belief I could do anything and it worked. These guys that we were teaching how to skydive hung around a few more days till we could get them to level 6 which only needed one jumpmaster to watch over them. They could go back to a drop zone closer to home and finish the course if that was what they wanted to do. One of them, the really rich guy, took both Jeff and me off to the side to ask us a particular question. He asked Jeff if he could do anything, and what would he like to do. Jeff replied he would like to get his eyes operated on so he didn’t have to wear glasses. We both were wearing them at the time. To which this guy replied, “My best friend in Georgia is the best doctor in the country fradial Carotatomy. I might be able to get that done for you guys.” When he took me off to the side he asked what do you think will be the next big advancement in the sport? And I said Wind tunnels. There are only two in the country and they are very primitive at best. About a year later I heard that he had hired an engineer to design the next generation wind tunnel. He bought some land in Orlando next to the freeway across the street from Universal Studios and was building a Tunnel with a new design that didn’t push the air up like the others but pulled it up from the top allowing much smoother air and way faster. This is the same design that has been built upon to this day. So in the end both Jeff and I are firewalkers who can now see what we are doing now.