My First Bungy Jump! / February 12, 2020 by Monique Nadeau

I never thought in my whole life I would ever bungy jump but I did it. I bungeed off the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, New Zealand.

How did this happen? Well with much hesitation at first. I had to watch quite a few people jump off the bridge before I decided to go through with it.

Once I was going to pay for the jump I asked the girl at the desk a few questions. I asked the girl “is skydiving scarier than bungee jumping?” I wanted to ease my mind a bit hoping she would say “yes bungy is less scary than skydiving” haha. Side note - I haven’t skydived yet but I will at some point after tasting the adrenaline rush of bungy. The girl at the desk responded, “skydiving and bungy jumping are different. In skydiving you are tied together to someone and they jump off the plane for you. Whereas in bungy jumping you have to jump off yourself and only you can do the jump.”

So after getting everything sorted and signing my life away, I walked on the bridge and waited in line for my turn. I was talking to the woman behind me to calm my nerves a bit. This was her first time too. She seemed excited but also nervous. With this kind of experience the longer you wait the more anxious you get.

It was finally my turn to sit on the ledge entry and one of the staff checked my harness again and attached a more cords, etc. I was concerned that my harness wasn’t tight enough but he responded that it had to have some give. The harness was more around my waist as they couldn’t do the traditional ankle harness due to previous weather and the water level in the river was too high at the moment.

It was my turn to go up on the plank. Eeeek! They attached the bungy cord and I’m on the ledge of the bridge. They have music playing in the background so it feels less tense but my nerves were running high.

I’m about to go off and I make the mistake of looking down. Holy shit don’t ever look down!!!!! This created the most fear. I’m about to jump 43 meters and there is a canyon and a roaring river below me. Shit!!!!

I tell the guy on the ledge “I can’t do this”, I start to freak out a bit. And he responds, “Yes you can I promise” The moment he said that was the moment I mustered up all my courage and bravery to make sure that I did this jump somehow.

I’m still quivering with fear as they tell me to wave at the cameras for the video. My smile to the camera is fake, it’s not a smile of joy it’s a smile of fear haha.

I’m determined to do this but shitting myself at the same time. The guy tells me to look out and go straight ahead like a swan dive. I was so sure in my head I was going to swan dive but at the last minute my survival instinct kicked in and I went feet first instead. Oops, I had to make the jump anyways. There was no turning back now!

The free fall went so fast I don’t even really remember how I felt, it was a bit of a blank. There was no time to think at all, I just fell through the air. Before I knew it the free fall was over and I bungeed back up. As I bungeed back up I had the time to scream.

During this moment I thought to myself I fucking did it. I did it even though my form wasn’t a perfect swan dive, I jumped off a bridge and survived!

This experience was insane and exhilarating at the same time. It’s basically an emotional rollercoaster. I knew deep down I wanted to do an extreme sport in Queenstown and I followed through with it.

What I learned from this experience is that I conquered my fears and never thought I would be this brave. You are braver than you think. I guess in the end I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie as I liked it. I would bungee again and do other high adrenaline sports/activities.

You feel so alive when you do these unnatural and extreme experiences. By all means I’m not saying this is a piece of cake unless you do this all the time, but it is an exhilarating feeling you will never forget. I understand why people do these experiences, it’s amazing.

With extreme fear also comes extreme bliss and joy. It’s hard to explain but that’s how I felt. I’ve never felt so free and alive before in my life.

Check out the video here: bit.ly/MoBungyJump

Until next time, lots of love,

Monique XOX

Why Social Media Kills Me / December 2, 2019 by Monique Nadeau

I’ve wanted to write about this for a while now. This rant is completely based on my experience with social media so please don’t interpret this as an attack to anyone who uses social media.

Why does social media kill me but I’m still a part of it? Well the main reason I’m involved with social media platforms is because I’m a musician and nowadays you HAVE to have an internet presence. If you are not actively using social media you cannot be known to the world and are not taken seriously in your art. Yes, I know some artists who refuse to have social media accounts but realistically you need it if you want to get any gigs, promote your music and put yourself out there in the world. The music industry has changed a lot and the internet is an essential tool to promote your art.

The web is saturated with millions of musicians which makes it a very exciting time but also a frustrating time. Anyone is able to create music, post it on the web and promote it. It’s pretty awesome that you don’t need thousands and thousands of dollars to record and promote your music but it does make it very difficult for people to hear your music in the massive ocean of musicians on the web.

How do I feel when I scroll on my social media platforms? Well firstly I get completely overwhelmed and sucked into spending a lot of time just trying to keep up with what people are posting, doing, etc. It’s too much information and it makes me anxious. I am definitely a person that has a hard time responding to things quickly as it stresses me out. I try to limit my time on my social media accounts.

People wear masks as they only want to show what they want the public to see. I’m 100% guilty for doing this!! No one, I mean NO ONE has a perfect and happy life all the time like they post on their profiles. We want to look like we are successful and awesome at every moment in our lives. Why does this bring me down? Well because it’s like a slap in the face that constantly says: “Why isn’t your life perfect? Why isn’t your body perfect? Why aren’t you pretty enough? Why aren’t you travelling the world and seeing amazing places? Why don’t you have your dream job? Why don’t you have a lot of money? It’s the constant pressure that says “you are not good enough!” People only want to share the positive things in their life - I get it. Who wants to hear about negative things that are happening? I do feel like that the spectrum has gone all the way to one side saying that we need to be perceived that our life is amazing all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely see people also post negative, unhappy experiences or subject matter, however it’s definitely not that common. There is the constant expectation that we put on ourselves that we need to be loved, beautiful, successful and famous or else our life is a piece of shit! Not true at all, it’s all bullshit.

You are probably asking why don’t I just get rid of all my accounts? Well like I said before I can’t as a musician as I need a social media presence or I might as well just perform to the birds outside as my audience. I’m going to try to be as genuine and real in my posts from now on because I’m not perfect, no one is!

If you think I’m full of shit that’s totally fine, I won’t be offended. If you feel any kind of anxiety, depression or pressure to be perfect on social media please share! We are all in this mess together so I’m trying to stay positive.

I’m trying my best to stay real, stay weird and be myself.
Peace out and lots of love.

OXO

Christmas Cookie Recipe! 🎄 / December 13, 2022 by Monique Nadeau

My First Bungy Jump! / February 12, 2020 by Monique Nadeau

Why Social Media Kills Me / December 2, 2019 by Monique Nadeau