AOW class - Why am I nervous?

[JodiBB]

Hi all! I need some reassurance here...

I've been diving little less than a year and am taking the AOW class right now. We're doing our 5 dives this weekend (deep, navigation, night, wreck and fish ID). On my OW dives (checkout and post-checkout), I have no problems equalizing and love the sport. Have never been nervous about diving (meaning anxiety-wise) and have had a great experience with every dive I've done to date.

We've been planning this weekend for some time...suddenly, I find myself getting anxious...and I can't even tell you why. It just hit me about 2 days ago. I've been so excited about this weekend!! Now, I have this anxious feeling that rears its head when I think about this weekend...

I've discussed this with my instructor (she was my OW instructor as well), who knows my skills well (she's been my dive buddy for most of my post-cert dives) and has no concerns about my doing the AOW & believes it's the "idea" of knowing that I'll be doing a 100' dive and this is normal. I don't know if that's right or not, because I can't pinpoint it. She said we'll discuss it in detail tomorrow as we take the boat out to Catalina....

I guess I need to start my relaxation techniques and will probably be fine once I'm geared up, but it's kinda disconcerting at the moment....any ideas?

 

[DavidPT40]

Anxiety is what happens when your facing a situation and you dont believe that you have the resources to deal with it.

AOW is easy. You learn some really usefull skills. If other people can do it, so can you. Go ahead and look up the skills you will be learning on the internet. Focus on doing them properly instead of thinking about being nervous.

 

[plankspanker]

Hi all! I need some reassurance here...

I've been diving little less than a year and am taking the AOW class right now. We're doing our 5 dives this weekend (deep, navigation, night, wreck and fish ID). On my OW dives (checkout and post-checkout), I have no problems equalizing and love the sport. Have never been nervous about diving (meaning anxiety-wise) and have had a great experience with every dive I've done to date.

We've been planning this weekend for some time...suddenly, I find myself getting anxious...and I can't even tell you why. It just hit me about 2 days ago. I've been so excited about this weekend!! Now, I have this anxious feeling that rears its head when I think about this weekend...

I've discussed this with my instructor (she was my OW instructor as well), who knows my skills well (she's been my dive buddy for most of my post-cert dives) and has no concerns about my doing the AOW & believes it's the "idea" of knowing that I'll be doing a 100' dive and this is normal. I don't know if that's right or not, because I can't pinpoint it. She said we'll discuss it in detail tomorrow as we take the boat out to Catalina....

I guess I need to start my relaxation techniques and will probably be fine once I'm geared up, but it's kinda disconcerting at the moment....any ideas?

is it performance anxiety maybe? like its not so much that you are worried about the dives but maybe you are just worried about doing well in front of your instructor. I little bit of nervousness is a good thing and helps keep you alert but not if it takes the fun away from the dive.
Good luck, I'm sure you will be fine and have a blast. Some of my favorite dives have been night dives.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Read the PPB section of your PADI AOW manual. That should help you some

 

[Michael Schlink]

The name Advanced seems to cause a far bit of contraversy, anxiety and quite a bit of discussion here on SB.
Forget about "doing your advanced training" and just think about going diving with your friend and buddy who just happens to be an instructor. I am actually a little surprised that if you have been diving with your instructor/buddy/friend for almost a year that you are just now doingyour AOW, but I digress.
The AOW course is just a continuence of your initial training. The skills that you'll learn are going to be simple things once you have done them. You're going to learn how to use a compass and the natural "terrain" to find your way around, not a pass/fail thing but TRAINING, you may not do everything perfectly the first time but you'll get it and then it will all seem easy.
Your deep dive should involve more training "topside" then U/W. You SHOULD learn, gas mgmt./planning, and there should be some discussion about problem solving. The actual diving shouldn't be any different than the dives you have already made. You'll probably learn that your gas goes quicker, you'll need to add a little more air to your BC than on a shallow dive, but swimming, breathing etc. doesn't change when you go a little deeper, your gas mgmt and problem solving needs to be better when going deeper.
Night dives are my all time favorite as I have seen more on night dives than most of my daytime dives. Again, a little better, more invloved planning and gas mgmt. and then you're swimming and breathing, repeat as needed.
Wreck will be fun and hopefully interesting but there isn't anything at all difficult as most PADI wreck courses don't involve penetration and most definitly not on the AOW one wreck dive.
I think fish ID is an OK option but more can be gained with Peak Performance Buoyancy or Nitrox.
Your AOW should be a VERY enjoyable 5 dives with your friend/instructor where you come away with a few more skills, more knowledge of diving, a few "tricks" and hopefully some great memories-have fun, 'cause that's what it's all about

 

[ae3753]

AOW is designed to introduce you to new environments, and this may cause some anxiety. Every new environment I encounter, I have some anxiety before I hit the water. Once in the water, things are great.

Remember that at any point, if you want to call a dive, you can do it. Very difficult to do, but that's why it's very much respected when someone does it. You can always dive another day. The ocean will still be around (at least in our lifetime).

 

[JodiBB]

Thanks everyone for the support. Cognitively, I know everything I'm hearing/reading here is true....in fact my instructor/friend has even said, "If you can get passed 33', then the rest is easy." Almost all my dives have been deeper than 33', and my breathing is well-regulated, so like I said, I don't know what is causing my emotions to become leary...

I guess I'll just go, gear up, and see what happens....at the worst case scenario, I bow out and thumb the dive.....but I'm guessing I won't allow myself to do this

 

[ItsBruce]

Are you sure you are not confusing anxiety with excitement and anticipation? They share a lot of the same signs.

BTW: there should be some other SB members at Avalon.

 

[Jcsgt]

Try visualizing (topside, of course) yourself doing everything right. It really does help!

 

[JodiBB]

Are you sure you are not confusing anxiety with excitement and anticipation? They share a lot of the same signs.

BTW: there should be some other SB members at Avalon.

No.....it's my profession to know the difference.....normally, when I go out, it's excitement and anticipation....this is a feeling of "dread" in the pit of my stomach....definitely not excitement....

I think once I'm on the express to Catalina tomorrow night, I'll be fine. I think it's just anticipating the unknown....the funny thing is that when I did my first check-out dives as an OW student, I was so calm on the boatride over that the DM thought I was going to end up being a "panic diver" at 40 feet down....he was willing to bet the bank on it. However, I didn't panic and knew this was the sport for me on my first checkout dive!

That's what makes this so confusing to me....you'd think I'd be anxious more on my first dives in the OW rather than during an AOW class almost a year later.....crazy!:huh: