May 20, 2009
A clinical hypnotherapist and professional speaker, Rebecca Carswell settled in Florida in 1998 to pursue her passion for skydiving. Born and raised in rural New Hampshire, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Plymouth State University, where she later completed graduate courses in psychology. Following graduation in 1989, Carswell spent a year backpacking solo through Greece, India, and Asia. An avid participant in a range of outdoor sports, she learned how to fly small planes and took up parachuting in her early 20s. To date, Carswell has logged over 700 jumps, most of them in freefall formation.
A major turning point in her life came in 2002, when she broke her back in a near-fatal midair collision with the plane from which she had just jumped out. Told by doctors that she would never fully recover, Carswell remembers thinking, “I felt like a victim, angry, sad, depressed, like there’s no hope. And I began to realize that what I was thinking was actually creating my reality. So I began to focus on positive, empowering thoughts, like Everything happens for a reason, I will find the gifts in this experience.” As a result, she was ultimately able to resume a normal life, and even returned to skydiving.
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