January 25th, 2011 | 70 comments | Skydiving, Unfiltered

My parents told me I can be whatever I want when I grow up.

This is the underlying theme of my existence since graduating college.

I also read somewhere that the only barrier between you and success is yourself. Or something.

Cue massively inspirational and thought-provoking metaphors, quotes, proverbs and thoughts.

When I started writing as part of the #Reverb10 project in December, I didn’t really consider how much the reflecting and manifesting would change my life. But it did. I have also had my mind totally blown by the likes of Jenny and Jamie recently as I’ve been making some pretty hefty steps towards a major life change.

What I’m about to write is 99% terrifying and 100% the most excited I’ve been about anything in a long time. Yes I’m aware that adds up to more than 100%. No, I’m not worried about that.

If you’ve been a reader here for more than five minutes, you know that skydiving became a huge part of my life last year. It consumed me, as it tends to do with a certain percentage of people that are ballsy enough to jump out of a plane in the first place.

I spend a lot of my time with my head in the clouds. Daydreaming of where I want this road to go. Where I want to be, and more importantly, what is important to me and WHO I want to BE.

My dream life isn’t about riches and picket fences and big houses and snazzy cars. I want more. I want experiences that are rich, challenging, and most importantly, something that I’m absolutely loving and something that inspires me to share that insane energy with the world.

My dream life involves living in/around Chicago at the dropzone during season, doing everything I can to make that place the best dropzone in the country by coordinating bombtastic events and being the smiling face of the sport that I love so much, write my column for Blue Skies Magazine, handle the PR/Marketing stuff for CSC, and jump my face off so I can eventually be an AFF instructor, and live wherever I want in the winter. This is my “someday” plan. Someday, I’ll quit my job in corporate America, start my own LLC and be a skydiving/marketing princess gypsie with a pet unicorn to boot.

And that is exactly what I’ll be doing, starting in February. Just need to find my unicorn.

::jumping and dancing, and by dancing, I mean flailing my body parts in a a wildly odd and strange fashion::

I’ll be working with Chicagoland Skydiving Center for the season (remember that place, my second home this past summer?), and concentrating on another leg of the business, PROskydiving, in the off-season. I’m extremely excited to help them open the new location, help coordinate some awesome camps and events, and help grow their experienced-jumper base. There are a lot of people that come through CSC – and I’d like to see more of them come back and be part of the family.

And yes, you can now say “I told you that planning events at your first job, despite the fact that all you wanted to do was tweet, would someday pay off.” Go ahead, say “I told you so.” I’ll respond with a big, fat, smiley thank you. Your card is in the mail.

Of equal importance, I’ll also be working toward another goal of mine, to get my coach rating and, eventually, my AFF rating so I can be a skydiving instructor. I’d say “hello dream job” but I hardly think of skydiving as work, so I’ll say – “hello dream life!” Much larger than the adrenaline and all that, I want to have the opportunity to teach people how to skydive – and see their lives transform as a result of it. This is something I can do that can change lives. And I’m BEYOND stoked about it.

Obviously I’ll absolutely miss Austin and everyone that has quickly become a mini-family to me since I arrived in October. I’d likely forget someone if I tried to list you all out, but you know who you are. And to my mentors that have been so rock-solid in helping me sort all of this out in the past year – a gigantic thank you. Your votes of confidence mean the world to me.

Is this the worst decision I’ve ever made in the history of my decision making? Maybe. But probably not. I know exactly what I’m “giving up” or “throwing away” by choosing this route. And in return, I know exactly what I’m gaining. My life, my love, my passion, my hobby, my friends, my family and a life that I’m living for me, for my dream, because at the end of the day, I’m the one that I answer to when it’s all said and done. I’m choosing a path that is centered around fun and happiness and perhaps even a little instant gratification (I call it a “sense of possibilities”). But why shouldn’t I pursue exactly what I want when I want it? I’m the only one to blame if this totally sucks. And I’ll be happy to share all of these crazy emotions every step of the way.

So yeah. That’s the next chapter in the life of Sydney. As I said in my first #Reverb10 post, I anticipate my word for 2011 will be Freedom. This is most certainly a step in that direction. Blue skies!

Tags: 25 Things Austin Mentors