100+ Dives And I Still Suck

[W8less]

I have 43 years and close to 5K dives in a lot of varied conditions, I have never been deep inside of a cave, I have never taken a GUE class and I have never been on a rebreather. I am sure I would suck initially at all three.

There is an apprenticeship to everything in life. No short cuts.
It can be one of the greatest mental (humble pie) and physical challenges for a person/athlete to surrender to going back into the baby pool and working your way out.

 

[TSandM]

everything in between, my suckiness varies with the conditions and how mental I am.

Oh, man, SO true. Last week, I did the world's simplest reef dive with a bunch of other folks. Among them was a cave instructor I've worked with and very much like, and a GUE instructor from Vancouver, BC, who had never seen me in the water. So, at the end of this 50 foot dive, we're doing a direct ascent, and I can't be still in the water to save my soul, because I wanted SO badly to do well in front of those two guys.

Doc Intrepid told me years ago that buoyancy control was 80% mental, and he's right.

 

[kathydee]

There is an apprenticeship to everything in life. No short cuts. It can be one of the greatest mental (humble pie) and physical challenges for a person/athlete to surrender to going back into the baby pool and working your way out.

Well said.

 

[Diver0001]

There is an apprenticeship to everything in life. No short cuts.
It can be one of the greatest mental (humble pie) and physical challenges for a person/athlete to surrender to going back into the baby pool and working your way out.

Yes.... absolutely.

My initial training was like this.

Learning about DIR (even though in my area it was mostly about being a cyber-diver super-hero wannabe) was like this.... learning *real* DIR probably still would be....

learning how to be a North Sea wreck diver

taking my initial tek training

taking my PADI OWSI training....

and every single class I've taught since then....

they've all thrown me back into the quadrant of "unaware/incompetent"

You konw the quadrants, right?

1) unware/incompetent
2) aware/incompentent
3) aware/competent
4) unaware/competent

these are more or less the stages of the learning curve.

Basically, in terms of the learning curve, even after may years of diving I'm still somewhere between 2 and 3 on some things. on some thiings I'm between 3 and 4. on a few things I'm a definite 4.

Where was I going with this....

R..

 

[TSandM]

Oh, I wish I got thrown back to unaware/incompetent! Instead, I'm painfully aware . . .

 

[Blackwood]

Sometimes I think we're too hard on ourselves. So often I read people on scubaboard berating themselves, and I wonder at the efficacy. It's one thing to recognize ones' weaknesses and intelligently work to overcome them.

It's another to say "I suck/ I'm incompetent/I'm whatever."

I feel it's unwise to take those negative feelings into the water. Instead of saying "I suck at this" say "this could use some work."

The mere recognition of one's own weaknesses in diving suggests a level of awareness that I don't often associate with incompetence. If you think you suck, you probably don't.

Personally, I get by. I'm not one of the best, but I don't suck. I imagine that's true of most people who've self flagellated on these forums.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You know the quadrants, right?

1) unware/incompetent
2) aware/incompetent
3) aware/competent
4) unaware/competent

these are more or less the stages of the learning curve.

The worrisome one is "overconfident/undercompetent" ... and I suspect a lot of us passed through that phase at some point ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Damselfish]

Instead of saying "I suck at this" say "this could use some work."

But then the thread wouldn't read nearly as amusing.

Really, when people say they suck in this context I think there is a degree of humor to it and everyone isn't necessarily berating themselves.

 

[Blackwood]

Really, when people say they suck in this context I think there is a degree of humor to it and everyone isn't necessarily berating themselves.

Sure, but I tend to think that even jokes can give insight to deeply held feelings. I dove with someone who every day talked about how much he sucked, and in the water he was so consumed with "diving well" that I'm not sure how he could have been enjoying the dives.

But then the thread wouldn't read nearly as amusing.

lol, fair 'nuff.

 

[Chief Dave L]

I have to thank all of you. This has been one of the best threads I've found on SB. I dive a lot of different places and conditions and they are all a learning experience. But then I love that. Maybe I'm not as smooth as the others, but I'm getting there and love every minute of my diving. God forbid that I ever become an "expert" at any of this.

Good luck to everybody.

Dave