COURAGE, CONFIDENCE & EXCELLENCE!

My love for adventure sports developed from the need to break away from fear and develop a true sense of faith - in myself, and in my Creator. An abusive childhood instilled in me a sense of urgency, passion, and tenacity to break through mental barriers, and adventure sport is one of the ways I do that. So I decided in my early 20’s to do as many fun sporty excursions as possible to test my courage, and have some fun along the way. I’ve done gliding and paragliding, hang-gliding in Brazil, parasailing, jumping off high cliffs into beautiful oceans in various countries, mountain climbing (the first time was the last time, thought I was going to die), I’ve scuba dived in New Zealand’s beautiful waters, bungee jumped in South Africa, New Zealand, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Macau, China.

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I learnt to surf in Hawaii and I’ve done 6 solo parachute jumps, by far the most challenging and frightening of all fun escapades. I trained at Oribi airport and back in the day, you had to climb out onto the wing of the Cessna, ‘trail’ (hold onto the wing and let your feet trail in the wind - not so easy when you’re 5’6 then let go when the Instructor yells “go””!). I had a line twist on my very first jump which meant I dropped like a heavy stone at a rapid pace! I was petrified that I would get my left and right wrong by pulling my reserve before releasing my main! That meant certain death. So I frantically kicked my way out of the twist (picture undoing yourself on a twisted swing) and eventually, my beautiful parachute opened up and everything was quiet and beautiful! It was effing petrifying and utterly exhilarating.

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So when I discovered that there is actually a Guinness World Record for the most bungee jumps in an hour, currently 19 jumps, held at Face Adrenalin at Bloukrans Bridge in South Africa, I decided to go for it! It scares the crap out of me but where there is fear is where I go. I cannot sleep at night knowing that I chose to back down when I could choose to rise up. I applied to the GWR office in 2021, met all the criteria, and started training with the goal of jumping on my 50th birthday on 10 May 2022. Not long into my training, I pulled a back muscle which has been frustrating, painful, and debilitating. Fast forward through lots of bio, physio, dry needling, stretching, and walking, it still hasn’t healed but I am mobile again. I took a break and decided to attempt the jump end of 2022.

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Except, in June ‘22 an email landed in my mailbox one day from my colleague, who said a TV production company had picked up my intention to break the record with the GWR office, and they were doing a 10-series documentary on 10 South Africans attempting to break world records. We had 6 weeks. And here we are.

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I started training on the 4th of July, my dry run is on the 1st of August, and my jump day is 15 August 2022. 44 days from start to end. I find myself flanked by excellence. One, my husband Jan believes I can smash this goal. Second, I met a guy at gym who just happens to be a former SA rugby coach - Eugene ‘Loffie’ Eloff - who is mentoring me through the process. And he set me up to be trained by Corne Steenkamp, a Biokineticist and mother of 4 whose pretty, petite, smiling frame might fool you at first - she is a highly professional powerhouse who is kicking my butt into position.

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The 4:15 am starts are a shock to my system and my body has been screaming “WTF???!!!” for a week, but she is flexible and is only mildly cussing me out lately. I’m not a good sleeper and typically get 5 to 5.5 hours a night, so I am learning about rest. My health mentor of 21 years, Mary-Ann Shearer, prepared me long ago on what to eat to be in good shape so as a plant-based eater, going raw for a few weeks is not a big deal. It boosts my energy, gives me clarity and focus, and helps me fall asleep and wake up easier.

So here we are, friend! I’m a woman, a wife, a Mom, and a business owner, just turned 50 and I am going for it!

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Why am I doing this? 2 reasons: I’m doing this for myself, to prove to myself that I CAN. I want KICKASS CONFIDENCE, and I want to live a bold, meaningful, confident life. I know the game is in my head. And for a few seconds, I get to fly and feel totally and utterly free. And secondly, I want my children, Jamie and Paige, to have a Mom who role models courage, confidence, and excellence to show them that they can do anything they put their minds to…and have some fun along the way! And if it inspires just one person to get up and go for gold, to go after something that they really want to achieve, that would be awesome.

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I would love for you to join me on this journey. Take a leap of faith with me! You can participate in a few ways:

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1: DONATE a certain amount of money per jump (we are aiming to hit 20 or more) on the day as we raise funds for the community sports centre in Franschhoek via the Pledge Form below

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2: JOIN my Dress To Connect Group on Facebook where more and more women are getting up, dressing up and expanding their self-confidence, self-esteem, and having more fun with fashion, or

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3: FOLLOW the remaining few weeks on Instagram with @lindapaigefashion or on Tik Tok with LindaGailPotgieter (yes, I’m 50 and on Tik Tok!!! :)) and watch LIVE on the day