Love On Adrenaline
Image Courtesy: @louanna.gamio
How often does a first date begin 8,000 feet in the air?
For Louanna Gamio, 25, and Erick Macias, 20, it did.
Their relationship began somewhere between the clouds and the ground, with two people stepping out of an airplane and trusting themselves to fall. Literally.
For most couples a first date might mean dinner or mini golf. For Gamio and Macias, it meant raising the stakes. Both now having achieved their skydiving licenses, and what could have been an intimidating introduction became the first chapter of a relationship built around curiosity, trust and a shared desire to experience life at full speed.
From the outside, their relationship can look like a collection of stunts: jumping from hot air balloons, skydiving, exploring the East and swimming with sharks. But behind the rush is something quieter.
Discovering a way to give importance to every second.
Gamio was born in Lima, Peru and moved to the United States when she was six years old. . Adventure was part of her childhood long before she ever jumped from an airplane. She remembers cliff jumping, climbing rocks and watching waves toss her and her friends around. After moving to Florida, her mother continued feeding that curiosity.
The thrill clung onto her.
Gamio eventually earned a bachelor's degree in marine biology while building a career in content creation, freelance video editing and social media. Her interests have merged her personal and creative life abundantly.
Macias grew up between Mexico, the United States and France. Sports were woven into his childhood, starting with waterskiing when he was three years old. For him, adrenaline was never something he consciously went searching for.
When reminiscing of when this extreme hobby originated , “I honestly don’t think there was one specific moment when I developed an ‘itch’ for adrenaline,” Macias said. “It was normalized for me from such a young age that it just felt like part of who I was.”
His relationship with risk developed alongside his understanding of failure. Falling was part of learning. Fear was something to understand rather than automatically avoid.
Skydiving eventually changed the way he viewed both.
Years ago he witnessed footage of like-minded thrill seekers base jumping in Dubai, he told his mother right then and there that this was the goal. Years later, after completing his first skydive as a teenager, the experience made something that once seemed impossible feel like the beginning.
It also changed his relationship with fear.
Like Pandora's box, the ideas were endless as the rest of the world seemed to be one big unsolved puzzle. More experiences worth understanding, outside of his personal consciousness.
Gamio found a similar kind of freedom.
“Emotionally, these experiences give me moments where I feel completely present,” Gamio said. “I can spend a lot of time in my head, but being in the ocean or in the sky gives me something beyond my thoughts to focus on.”
For the couple that presence became something they can share. The world gets smaller when there is nothing left to focus on except the person beside you, the environment around you and the decisions in front of you.
But there is another side to loving someone who willingly puts themselves in situations where things can go wrong. Fear does not disappear just because both people understand the risk.
In fact, sometimes it becomes more complicated.
Gamio said she can become more nervous watching Macias take on something new than she is when she does it herself. But fear has become part of their communication. Both understand that sharing a passion does not mean automatically agreeing to every risk. They still have limits, schedules and moments when one person has to watch the other take the leap.
Loving someone who seeks adrenaline means learning how to separate fear from control.
Gamio's family, for example, struggled with her involvement in extreme sports at first. Her parents were terrified, even as they eventually became more supportive. She understands why. To her, the sports may represent freedom and adventure, but to the people who love her, they also represent the possibility of something going wrong.
There is preparation. There are boundaries. There is trust. Ultimately the cushion is knowing there is someone waiting after the rush is over. This may be the most ordinary part of their extraordinary relationship.
Because despite the Bali beaches, salt flats, sharks and airplanes, their relationship does not thrive on adrenaline alone.
Shared adventures give them memories that few other couples can understand, but they still have to make time for each other on ordinary days.
“Feeling chosen, making time for each other, communicating, and showing up when something is difficult matters a lot to me,” Gamio said.
The adventures may give them a reason to run toward the unknown together, but the relationship itself is built in the moments between.
There is something intimate about having someone who does not need an explanation.
Someone who understands the mental exhilaration, not only the fear.
Someone who is willing to watch you take the risk.
For Gamio and Macias their shared understanding is part of what makes their relationship special. The experiences give them the spectacle, the nerves and the memories. But beneath the surface is still a human relationship that takes work and practice and time.
Maybe that is what makes their love different. Not that they are willing to dive into the deep end, but they have someone to explore it with.
The adrenaline makes the moment exciting.
Passion makes it personal.
Strike Out,
Sofia Ortiz
Boca Raton
Sofia Ortiz is a South Florida writer and media student with a love for fashion, pop culture, travel and all things that make life a little more fun. Her writing explores modern womanhood, self-discovery and the culture shaping young women today. To contact Ms. Ortiz you may reach out to her email sofialortiz04@gmail.com or Instagram Sofiaa_Laurenn .
