maranda1389
Registered
A couple of things come to mind...
First... relax, this will be ok. Eventually. With experience comes peace of mind
If you are struggling at 40' with fear, then don't dive down to 40'. Stay at 20'. Soon 20' will be a peice of cake and 30' will be nothing, and eventually, 40' will be just like 10'. Not everyone is comfortable in the beginning. But, I promise, if you keep at it, and slow down (everything), things will get better.
When you are setting up your gear... Take it slow, stupidly slow, so slow you feel like an idiot setting it up. After you set it up, relax a minute, there's no rush, and if people are on a boat rushing you, tell them to go phuck themselves. When you get in the water, sit on the surface, just relaxing, catching your breath, visualizing what you are planning on doing, and when you visualize it, visualize it being peaceful. When you decide to go down, do that slowly. Do everything purposefully and methodical and slowly. If you want to breathe deeply, great do that, but breathe slowly and naturally. This supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Don't feel pressured to go fast, or deep, or before you are ready. If people don't like it, tell them to go pound sand. This is YOUR Dive.
Things will get better. Find a good buddy, and stay near them. Get your own gear. Nothing can relax a diver more than having the same gear every single dive every single day. No surprises, no configurations that are goofy, or not just right or too heavy, too light. Every little issue adds to your task loading. We want to eliminate every bit of task loading we can. Having your own gear makes this easier. The easier it is, the less freaked out you will be.
And don't get stressed out that you are feeling this way. You are going to be fine.
Thankfully, I do own all my own gear. I don't think I could dive with rental gear. I at least know my gear and know that it has been well taken care of and not dived with 456895670 times. I did find that once I figured out my bouyancy I felt a little more comfortable, probably because it was one less thing to worry about underwater. My dive buddy is my fiance, who is the same skill level as me but he is TOTALLY comfortable while diving, and very level headed. He doesn't push me to go past where I am comfortable but he does wonder when I will be ready to go past 30ft because he is wanting to go deeper but doesnt because I am no ok with it.