THE FUN IN
FE AR story by Jacqueline Saguin photo by Adrianna Santiago
diving certification and bungee jumping under her belt, she’s proud of her adventurous identity. In 2015, during a trip to Canada, Mercatante volunteered first out of her tour group to walk along Toronto’s CN Tower for the sheer fun of it. Swear words fell from her lips, a few new ones made up on the spot, as a single bungee cord dangled her over the ledge of a building stretching 356 meters above the ground. Each person who makes the trek is awarded a Guinness World Record for the “Highest External Walk on a Building.” She’s one of the recipients. On her way home to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Mercatante made a detour to Sebastian, Florida, deciding to fit in a quick skydive. She studied abroad in Australia going into her second year of college. Her parents thought she might come back with a tattoo and skydiving under her belt, and she did – along with bungee jumping
Wait for it. These three words reappeared to Shannon Mercatante
and scuba diving.
at random moments in her life: through her favorite television show, “How I Met Your Mother,” and her favorite musical, “Hamilton.” It’s
Terri Brown Crawford, a licensed clinician who specializes in trauma,
the push the 19-year-old needed to backflip out of an airplane and
said people seek out adrenaline in different ways. Crawford helps
bungee jump over a man-made pond in Australia.
veterans who return home from intense war zones. Their stability is thrown off, which typically causes thrill-seeking behavior that may
She took these coincidences as a sign from the universe, even
lead to danger.
tattooing it on her body as a permanent reminder. It tells her to look past the butterflies fluttering in her stomach as a tiny, rickety
In regards to activities like skydiving, it’s only negative if people
plane carries her and a skydiving instructor strapped flat to her
constantly seek out a way to keep their adrenaline pumping, she said.
back. She’s about to free-fall for a minute at a thousand feet up, a parachute carrying her the rest of the way down. She knows that
“As far as doing positive activities, it’s OK,” Crawford said. “It feels
afterward, it’s euphoria.
good when our adrenaline is flowing, and we’re having fun.”
Mercatante thrives on taking risks. It’s something her parents
It’s all about moderation. Although these activities seem extreme to
instilled in her, she said. They always tell her, “The way to achieve
people, anyone can become addicted to anything. It’s the motivation
your aspirations is by taking risks.” But, little did they know she’d
behind these acts that determines a problem.
take it to heightened levels. Someone can take up something as simple as running and do it “I always feel a rush of adrenaline,” she said. “I want to do it again.”
constantly. But, if a runner, for example, only ever runs and finds him or herself losing an abnormal amount of weight, it’s a sign of
Her bright green eyes light up like a child on Christmas morning
unhealthy risk taking.
when Mercatante talks about her first big adventure: a family excursion to Italy in 2013.
Mercatante takes risks because it helps her grow and see the world
She’s in Tuscany, gliding across the sunrise in a hot air balloon with
scuba dives to see it from below.
from a different view. She skydives to see the world from above and her family. She floats about 1,000 feet in the air, ascending over stretches of mountains and miles of vineyards. Love and fascination
“We really are so small in comparison to everything on earth,” she
swells inside her from seeing this whole different world from above.
said. “It puts life into perspective.”
From then on, she knew she wanted to see more of this beauty.
So, Mercatante asks, “Why not?”
A toothy grin never fades from Mercatante’s face as she tucks her
Her skydiving instructor told her that people are more likely to get hit on
voluminous amber hair behind her ear. With three skydives, a scuba
the head by a coconut than get injured from skydiving. Of course, there
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