Chrissy: Follow your passion and you’ll be successful 

She swapped her desk chair for a paragliding harness, her view of a computer screen for a view of the mountain tops, her apartment for a caravan. Meet Chrissy, the graphic designer who says: “Follow your passion and you’ll be successful”

How did you become a paragliding tandem pilot?

I was at home with some friends and I didn’t know that one of them was already paragliding. When I found out I wanted to know everything about it. How it works, how it feels to be in the air. I imagined this feeling to be in the air all by yourself, you are charge, you control where you are going. I was hooked. We talked about it all night. That day we all decided: This summer we will start paragliding. Usually it’s just a „bla bla“, but we really did it. It was awesome. The following summer we went to Austria, rented an apartment and started flying. I did my first two flights and it was just incredible. This was the moment when I knew: This is it, this is what I want to do – I have to follow my passion!

How do you feel when you are paragliding?

When you fly with someone, it‘s really cool. But you hand over the responsibility to someone you don’t know. When you fly on your own, it’s totally different because you are 100% responsible for yourself. This is something that we usually don’t experience in our everyday life. If you have a question or problem, you can just ring someone and ask for help. Well, in the air that’s just not possible, which is super exciting. My first two flights without instructor were insane.

Have you ever regretted your decision to quit your job?

Not at all – I don’t regret anything. Swapping my job as a graphic designer to follow my passion was the best decision ever. Look, I live in a campervan now. I love my job as a tandem pilot. You were just paragliding with me, so you know how fascinating it’s to be in the air. I can make a living from my biggest passion- how much better can it get? Of course, it’s exhausting sometimes. Physically and mentally. You must be really concentrated all the time. And, it’s a seasonal job. But it’s worth it! I don’t want to do anything else right now. Sharing this incredible feeling of pure freedom when you are in the air is amazing.

The most important thing you learned so far?

When did you realize that you weren’t happy anymore?

What made you come here to Mayrhofen in Austria?

I had a six-week break in my mental coaching course. All I wanted to do was paragliding. So I put a mattress in my car and took off on a road trip through the Austrian Alps. I didn’t get very far. What happened is that I was standing on the mountain top ready to start my flight. Next to me was a guy…who had exactly the same paragliding wing. Long story short: This guy’s my boyfriend now! We simply fell in love. As he was doing his paragliding teacher’s course in Austria I skipped my road trip to stay with him. It’s amazing how suddenly everything fell into place if you have the courage to follow your passion: On a rainy day we visited a paragliding school in Mayrhofen. When I was talking to the boss, telling him that I was a tandem pilot he said: “Heaven has sent you here” as he was desperately looking for a tandem pilot. I started the next day. So did my boyfriend. And we are still here.

Update:

We did it! We experienced a tandem jump with Chrissy. It’s worth a try! If you are ever in Mayrhofen, Austria, book your “never forgetting experience” here.*

*unpaid advertising