I Believe I Can Fly

Not only do I believe I can fly, but I’m sharing that message. I started earlier this year at TEDxDurham and tomorrow I will be continuing this journey at TEDxHousesOfParliament.

Flying a wingsuit in the mountains provides the ultimate freedom. Freedom that I never thought possible. It’s an exhilarating experience that I find hard to accurately describe.

But it’s not all about that freedom. It’s also about the journey and where that journey takes us. In the early period it’s about friendship, it progresses into building those friendships further, strengthening the relationships and making new friends. It’s about the hike (or sometimes helicopter flight) in the mountains to get to the exit point, the difficulties on the way and the most amazing views on earth. Sometimes the jumps can be complicated and technical and require in-depth planning. It’s all part of what wingsuit BASE jumping and human flight is about.

But the journey, for me and my team, Jump4Heroes, The Royal British Legion Extreme Human Flight Team, goes a step further. We can do something, we can fly. And we can use our skill and ability and to help others in two ways:

We inspire and motivate others to step out of their own comfort zones, to push their own boundaries and to do something special.
We help others less fortunate than ourselves. We do this not by raising money for charity but by something far more powerful; by raising awareness for charity. In this way we can motivate and inspire others to raise money and awareness for our charity, or any charity.

By placing high value viral content across the global media and internet we strive to achieve this. We’re approaching 6 million views on our YouTube channel. Our flying, and the freedom we strive for, has a purpose.

I am privileged to be able to share this journey tomorrow, Friday 14 June 2013, at TEDxHousesOfParliament alongside some extremely distinguished speakers. For those that haven’t got tickets (it’s sold out) there will be a live simulcast.

I’ve got a great slot, closing the first session (of three). You can tune it to watch it all from 1245 but, if you’re short of time, I’m probably starting at around 1400. So click here for the Live Simulcast.

Please let me know what you think.