From infancy, humans evolve mentally and physically. We go from crawling to walking to running and jumping. But some of us jump farther than others.

Three years ago, I took a 10,000-foot jump from an airplane with a tandem master at Adventure Center Skydiving Inc. in Hollister to celebrate my 21st birthday.

Although my nerves were shaky – especially after passing a speeding ambulance before getting to the airport – the instructor assured us the process itself is extremely safe, saying that the most dangerous part of skydiving is walking into the door.

This month, I took another leap of faith.

I joined a friend and autocross junkie at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows for an open test day. It involved taking 15 turns on a 3-mile course in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

After putting on a long-sleeve shirt in the 90-degree weather, securing a helmet on my head, locking my car seat snuggly in place and gripping whatever part of the car I could for security, we were ready. He inched the car toward the lineup, waited for the green light and soon enough we were zipping around corners and up hills, topping out at 120 miles per hour with approximately 15 other cars.

And we were both grinning from ear to ear as we whizzed around the track with the scenery changing quickly. The thrill of it all helped me forget what I had seen on the track just a few hours earlier: a car fire and a brushfire.

There was something about the experience that gave me a greater appreciation for every second of my life. Not only for the adrenaline rush it created, but also for the knowledge that the other drivers were car enthusiasts and thus took the rules of the road seriously.

Extreme sports have roots in 1960s countercultural movements, and they have grown especially popular since the late 1980s. There is still debate about what makes a sport “extreme” – is it the level of danger or the fatality rate?

People who take part in such activities use their skills and experience to control the risks.

Many see autocross as a fun way to learn car control, handling techniques and braking safely. And because nearly everyone at the track is there to learn, it is often safer than a cross-country road trip or a short drive home from a friend’s house on Fourth of July weekend.

One of my thrill-seeking friends reminded me that people are always looking for some sort of stimulation, whether it’s through amazing food, a good laugh or physically strenuous or dangerous activities.

For some people, thrills are like a drug. The ability to tempt fate and throw caution to the wind makes them feel invincible.

But it is also important to take safety precautions and properly suit up before jumping out of planes or gearing up on the racetrack.

We all have the ability to learn from our activities, whether they grow to become our hobbies or a once-in-a-lifetime experience we can cross off that bucket list.

Everything, including extreme sports, provides us with a potential to evolve.

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