Your story about David struck a particular note with me. After
jumping off the tower time and time again, one day I hesitated and
got stuck up there for the whole afternoon. Good thing that my
instructor wasn’t abusive (he was really understanding, actually),
but my confidence was seriously undermined. I spent weeks psyching
up for my first airborne jump, and it didn’t help that the first
two jumps were cancelled. When the time came, though, I jumped and
never hesitated after that.