Ive been on 25 jumps in my life and I can sum it down to two phases as well, the "Oh shit" phase and the "This shit is for real" phase.
I was a paratrooper in the 82nd airborne division so I had a lot of fun jumping from airplanes, but we hit the ground at 24mph so we couldn't land standing up, we had to roll.
I have always wanted to do a civilian jump, but now that I have survived 25 military jumps, I am counting my lucky charms, might never jump again.
What was the highest you ever jumped from? I got to jump from 13,500 since I was in S. Florida. If I had the money/time I'd get certified to solo jump. And what about those people who do those wingsuit jumps. Now that's really flying like a bird.
13500 is very high, like the height of a tall mountain. As a paratrooper, we only jumped from a maximum of 1200 feet, but sometimes we would jump as low as 500. It was a quick trip, which I assume was that way because they wanted us to get on the ground as fast as possible.
I can't imagine jumping from 500 feet. That barely gives you time to get ready to roll.