Like a kid again

There’s something about jumping on hotel room beds that makes people smile from ear to ear. I’m not sure why we’re so inclined to take these jumping mid air photographs but I’ve definitely photographed my fair share of them.

For me, it’s not the act itself where you voluntarily launch your body into free-fall but the small moment we have with ourselves when we land. I have noticed this in several sets of photos. As we get ready for the jump, our bodies subconsciously prepare our bodies for a fall. The body switches into a “fight or flight response". The heart rate spikes, adrenaline kicks in, and your pupils even dilate. Your body is on alert in a sense even though your logical brain knows you’ll land onto a hopefully soft surface (assuming you’re coordinated enough to find the bed and not the floor).

For a tenth of a second in mid-flight, there is always that small doubt or fear that you might not land so gracefully. Your brain knows you’ll be safe but your body thinks otherwise. Your body prepares by tensing up and may even clench your eyes closed right before landing.

You jump anyway, taking this leap of faith knowing that you most likely will be met with a soft bed. The “thrill” of being in mid air and the free falling sensation stimulates parts of our brains but I think something more amazing happens when you land.

There is a small sense of euphoric high when your leap of faith is met as you land safely with all limbs in tact. In that same moment, you open your eyes, relax your body and for a brief moment there is that pure genuine smile only produced from kids on Christmas morning. Logic, skepticism and cynicism that crept into our adulthood mentality took a moment’s vacation. For that brief moment, we’re kids smiling all over again.