By Maria Rodriguez
On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace made a 14-Minute Drop from the stratosphere all the way down to earth. The way I see it, it’s not just your regular Guinness World Record, but a life lesson on overcoming adolescence.
I had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing Alan Eustace personally through a video call. He is a former Google Senior Executive who made the highest human free-fall from almost 135,000 feet up in the Stratosphere which was shown in the NetFlix documentary film, “14 Minutes from Earth.”
Alan’s skydiving journey began during his younger years when he hesitantly went skydiving with a friend of his. During that time, skydiving wasn’t as easy, or less accident-prone as it is today. On his first jump, landing hurt, but still perfected it, according to their instructor. It’s like when we were kids, and we try out something new. We get hurt along the way, but it’s ok, it only makes us stronger.
Alan’s highest-altitude free-fall jump (which broke Felix Baumgartner’s record) took 3 years of preparation and planning. There were mishaps and malfunctions during preparation, but the final jump went well. On the night they scheduled their official jump, the balloon that was supposed to bring Alan up to the stratosphere caught fire due to “the fuse mechanism meant to bring the balloon down after Alan releases from it in space.”
As with adolescence, the balloon represents the event of achieving our dreams; and sometimes, it gets blown up, then it seems like you are back to square one. But in truth, you earned a lot of knowledge and experience from your last attempt. Don’t worry. Your own “October” will come. After all, isn’t it wonderful to live in a world with “Octobers?”
As we go through “Identity vs. Role Confusion” (Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development), we make a lot of mistakes, feeling confused, losing our way —just like when the GPS got detached from Alan’s suit. His team even got the wrong-sized plane during one of their test runs. But knowledge comes with time, and then we know better.
I honestly wondered what was in Alan’s mind during his 14-minute fall? He told me that he was focused on landing the parachute. Good thing, he did not collide with a cactus! His family was scared regarding the jump — just like how our parents worry about us when we go through “Identity vs. Role Confusion” stage. But just like Alan’s family, our parents are still there, supporting us. Alan also told me that his daughters have no interest in skydiving and don’t want to hear a single word about it, since they associate it with their father’s near-death experience.
I haven’t resolved my current “Identity vs. Role Confusion” crisis yet, but I wonder whether I’ll miss it or be happy that it’s over, and have absolutely no desire to go through it again. I realized that we need to age; we need time to be limited. Otherwise, if everything were abundant, would we make the most out of it?
The stages and “crises” I go through in adolescence will further prepare me for Adulthood — my big jump. But I wonder: What will life be like once the big jump is over?
Alan is still happily living his life, enjoying his time with his family. As we grow old, we learn to appreciate a lot more things in life — what we used to take for granted. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to sincerely realize and understand that now, even though we’re young?