“I am so tempted to do it...”
If you are like me and are into chasing the thrills, you probably have said that sentence multiple times, and probably more during this summer. Watching people screaming as they do the dips, then drop with insane speed towards the ground, always invokes a secondhand excitement within me. Naturally, the next step comes intuitively, “I am tempted, so let me try it!”
But really, should you?
Why you should think twice
Many of us are guilty of seeing people’s highlight reels and normalizing their 5-minute-excitement as the way to experience life. Some of us vicariously enjoy the adrenaline rush and tell ourselves that we want that, and we can do that. And we probably can. However, the less glamorous side of the heightened emotions rarely makes it to your feed, especially if the algorithm decides that you are interested in cliff diving because you liked a friend’s post doing it. Suddenly, everyone seems to be doing it and you can’t be left out.
But now that you are here, you might as well know this stat:
“[...] injury is the No. 1 cause of death of Canadians ages 1 to 44.” (1)
This is not to scare you into not trying extreme sports. This is just a way to let you know that there are real risks behind all the memorable moments that you wanna record and share with your friends. And even before you decide to slide down something for fun, think of what is underneath the surface. If you are not 99.9% sure what is gonna happen, it might not be worth the injuries.
How to make sure that you are safe
There is no 100% way to make sure that no accident will happen to you unless some of us invent a time machine and travels to the future! However, while we are waiting on that, there are always ways to identify, and evaluate the risks, without basing the entire decision on the urge to participate in that not-that-dangerous activity.
If you are getting into a sport, that sounds like great fun and you should totally do it. You will be safe if you get to know the proper ways to transition your body and mind into doing it, which you can find out more from this link here about 10 ways to prevent injuries: https://www.gpoa.com/blog/how-to-prevent-injuries-in-sports-10-ways-to-prevent-injuries
However, reading about it will not stick well enough, because even professional players trip on their own multiple times. Therefore, it is also advisable that you have some guidance from more experienced peers or coaches, given these people are knowledgeable about both the right ways to do things and what wrong ways to avoid.
However, not all injuries result from just sports. Many of us are prone to engage in somewhat risky situations without realizing how badly things can go because we are purely curious. There is no good guideline to tell you to take this risk but not that. However, if you need to assess whether or not you should do something, just remember:
If you have the urge to do it immediately, DON’T!
The rule of thumb here is to tame your first instinct to be cooler than you already are and to ask yourself realistically how much you are prepared and ready for what is gonna happen, physically and mentally. And do not forget to think about the worst-case scenarios, because they do happen, quite often actually!
If you are ready, and still willing to take the jump after considering all the factors, then have fun! At the end of the day, you know that the only one who takes the best care of you is no one else, but yourself!
Sources:
“National Injury Prevention Day.” Parachute, parachute.ca/en/program/national-injury-prevention-day/.
