Check out this video from my bungee jump!

Eight seconds. That’s all it took to turn my world upside down – literally.

I watched my veins throb just beneath the ice-cold skin on my arms and felt my teeth clip together as my they chattered – whether from the cold or from my mounting nerves I could not be sure. Reluctantly, I had stashed my jacket back at the rendezvous hut after our guides mandated that under no circumstances should wear loose fitting clothing be worn.  Now, as the sun began to sink behind the peaks of the Alps, sending flares of red and orange into the sky, my fingers numbed and the effects of the Swiss weather took their toll.

While fiddling with my harness, I analyzed the faces in the crowded cable car. Shai Messingher, a good friend of mine from Georgia Tech, sent me the brilliant, reassuring smile that he was famous for and I briefly swallowed my anxiety to shoot him one in return. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Braydon Dunn, another friend from Canada I had just made on the van ride through the mountains, glanced tensely at me from the corner of his eye.

Despite the techo music shaking my fragile eardrums, I could still hear the blood pulsing through my temples. In the singular most courageous act of my life I made eye contact with our guides and slipped my shoulders under the rope toward the middle of the cable car, separating myself from the group. My breath rattled in my hollow chest as I let them do their work: clipping, sliding, tugging, pulling. They screamed into my ear over the music that I was ready. It was time.

I opened my eyes to see the red, iron- framed threshold three feet before me.  A genuine smile spread infectiously across my face as I realized the hardest part was over and I came to peace with what I was about to do.

“FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE – BUNGEE!” I cackled insanely as my feet left the platform and I was thrust into free fall. I was flying – and it exceeded every one of my childhood dreams.

After several forceful bounces I descended toward the crystal clear glacier fed lake below. Hanging upside down I felt like I was walking on the blazing clouds and I welcomed the peaceful tingling of cowbells that peppered the landscape, reassuring me that my feet would soon return safely to the earth.