Eat Better. Feel Better.: I jumped off the Stratosphere! I did the SkyJump Las Vegas! All in the name of Scouting!

A couple weeks ago I was offered an opportunity to jump off the Stratosphere for charity - Boy Scouts of America's Scoutreach. I immediately said, "YES!" Two minutes later, I was screaming on the inside, "What did I just commit to?!"

Jump OFF the Stratosphere?!! It's almost 1000 feet up! What if there was a mechanical malfunction? What if the cable broke? What if I wasn't connected properly? My mind raced with ideas of things that could go wrong. My heart raced. My palms got sweaty. I felt like I was hyperventilating. So I googled it.

I googled "SkyJump Death." The only thing I found was some guy that posted a video on YouTube. He's fine. He was just scamming for views. I googled "SkyJump" injuries. I came across an article that said in the 10 years this has existed in New Zealand, no one has been seriously injured. When I told my sister, she calmed my nerves by saying this is basically what they use in movies for stunts of people jumping out of buildings. Thanks, Lindsay! That helped!

As much as I wanted to post this all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and every other possible social media out there, I didn't want anyone to talk me out of it or say something trying to be funny, which in reality would have freaked me out more. I was doing this.

I called my mom and told her I was going to jump off the Stratosphere. Her reply, "No, you're not." and then yelled at my dad in the background what I was doing. His reply was, "WHOOHOO!"

All I knew at the time was that the Sheriff of LVMPD, Joe Lombardo, had been asked to do this and he said he didn't want to jump, but he'd cover the pledges for someone to jump. And somehow it trickled down to me. (Yay me!!)

My parents ended up coming to town the day before, which worked out perfect! They came (and drove) with me to the Stratosphere. I also had an awesome friend, Manuela, meet me there that morning. Somehow she was in the right place at the right time and she got to jump, too!

Reality sets in when they start suiting you up to jump. Empty your pockets. Take off any bracelets, bands, watches, necklaces, etc. Take off your shoes. And then fit you to a flight suit.

The employees at SkyJump were awesome! With all the double and triple safety checks, I felt pretty good about this. Still nervous, but pretty good.

After they suit you up and a fit a harness to you, they weigh you and mark it on your wrist. I'm guessing that's for the guys at the top to know they are using the right equipment and cable size. Then they took three of us up the elevator at a time. This is when it starts to get even more real.

One at at time,they call you into the secured, glass room to do another safety check, weigh you again, and then start strapping you in....

The scariest part for me was stepping out onto the ledge.
And this is my face when he's telling me to come out to the ledge...