Peering at the world, 24.2 miles above sea level, Felix Baumgartner stepped to the edge of his craft and jumped off. Plummeting to his destiny, Baumgartner was determined to accomplish his goals and go where no man had gone before. Before the jump he had set a world record on highest manned balloon flight, then he broke the record for the highest free fall; but he didn’t stop there, he then became the first man to ever break the sound barrier in a free fall, shortly before he obtained the record for longest free fall time with four minutes and twenty three seconds; accomplishing a total of four prominent world records in under half an hour.
To add to his success and despite the insane ten minute fall, Baumgartner landed on his feet, victorious. Shortly after it became known that he had actually broken yet another record, but a virtual one. He had set a YouTube record of a streaming audience of eight million viewers. Neil Armstrong met up with him promptly afterwards, congratulating him on his success. Quite an eventful day for any person.
Despite his youth, Baumgartner accomplished all this with serious dedication and careful planning.
He had a team of scientists and a crew along with tons of experience under his belt, including previous world records. His immense team included United States Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who previously held three of the broken records himself. After time in the Austrian military, where they had to base jump to small target zones, Baumgartner was able to realize his passion.
After a bunch of his major feats, including the lowest base jump, he even gained sponsorship from Red Bull and dream of breaking the sound barrier evolved into the Red Bull Stratus Program. Through hard work and determination, he achieved his goals: just like the Baumgartner motto, “Everyone has limits-not everyone accepts them.”
His dramatic accomplishments just go to show that anyone can achieve their dreams and do what others think is impossible.
Despite his youth and the tie down of the armed forces, he put his mind to something and broke world records early on in life, and he still is now in his twenties. If more youths applied themselves like he did and where not deterred by social normality’s and dogma, virtually nothing would be seen as impossible and much more would be accomplished.
Yet more and more adolescents feel like their personal spark is crushed instead of cultivated by parents and public schools. Baumgartner gives hope to those circles of unintentional repression.
I am amazed and inspired by what he accomplished and feel compelled to push myself farther in all of my passions. In everyday life I always hear that I work out too much or that I am too sporadic but in truth if I want to become better at what matters to me I need to train more and push forward; that is the kind of message Felix Baumgartner puts across, that is the kind of example he leaves in his wake.
Don’t settle push forward towards your dreams, no matter the difficulty or tribulation. Be like Felix Baumgartner and fly, maybe even literally.
A visual aid of his space jump stunt can be found here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/felix-baumgartner-feel-broke-sound-barrier-article-1.1183735?
or visit his website: http://www2.felixbaumgartner.com
