Do you listen to the Voice?

[Fish_Whisperer]

When I learned to dive, my instructor had a cartoon (Far Side?) he used to illustrate a point. It was titled something along the lines of, "Nature's subtle warning signs of danger." In the first frame, a diver was feeding fish, they are all around him. In the second frame, he's still holding out the food, but he's all alone.

Very true. More divers would be well served to develop better situational awareness.

 

[crayzray]

Hi,
I'm more of a lurker in the snorkeling forum, but tonight my husband is away on a business trip & I was bored so I was reading other threads. This one intrigued me right off. Last year I read a book by Gavin De Becker called "Gift of Fear: Survival Signals that protect us from violence." De Becker runs a security service that protects famous people and is considered an expert on violent behavior. In the book he says that in almost every case of violence, the victim has some "gut feeling." You might call it The Voice. He says that most of the time these feelings are based on many tiny impressions that we're receiving & processing without ever knowing it, and that usually paying attention to them protects us. It was really fascinating.

I also just finished the book Blink. (Shorter & totally fascinating.) The author talks about snap judgements--that we usually dismiss them and think we need to have more information to make an informed judgement. But that when scientifically measured, our snap impressions are usually as accurate or more accurate than our decisions made with more data. He was essentially saying the same thing as De Becker--that we are processing far more information in these moments than we realize.

All of this to say...I would probably pay attention to the voice...and thanks for the entertainment on this quiet Friday night!

Cindy in NC

 

[1_T_Submariner]

The voices usually tell me to leave work and go Diving.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The voices usually tell me to leave work and go Diving.

I'm going to start listening to your voices ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[diver 85]

2 things....1)quit cave diving & 2) move to the Gulf coast........both problems you will never have again....next problem you need solved........

 

[laurelgsc]

I used to whitewater kayak before I injured my shoulder. I really enjoyed being on the river. I loved to do Class II and easy Class III rapids (on occasion). I decided I wanted to improve my kayaking so I signed up for a class. I had all the skills I needed for this Class and asked them if we would be going to the Ocoee. The Ocoee is a Class III+ river for those of you not familiar. We spent the first day on the Nantahala, that was great, I had a good time and was successful. Did some surfing, etc..... Well long story short the next day it was decided we would go to the Ocoee. The moment I heard that, my stomach dropped, my pulse went up etc..... I felt I was not ready for that yet.... I talked with my instructor and long story short let him talk me into something I was not yet ready to do. Needless to say the next day I was worked over pretty hard in that river (as were several other people in our class). To this day, I still get scared thinking about it, I really haven't been back in a boat on whitewater since that time. I should have listened to my body, I might still be enjoying kayaking.

On another note I am a horseback riding instructor as well and I hear lots of peoples' horror stories about their riding experiences. I find many adults who have stories about riding accidents when they are young that cause them never to want to ride again.

I have never been as apprehensive about diving as I have been about whitewater kayaking. I know there is a very real danger in both sports, but I have found that I am really relaxed the moment I get underwater.

 

[JustAddWater]

Deep Survival sounds like a very interesting read. DeepSurvival.com provides some good information about the book, including 12 rules for survival. It sounds like "common sense", yet as indicated earlier that is possibly being domesticated out of us. Ironically, thrill sports (including ours) and adventure experiences though potentially dangerous seem to encourage our survival instincts.

 

[fairybasslet]

The hard part is differentiating between the normal insecurity-generated apprehension and the true "Don't do this" feeling.

What she said.
As for the normal insecurity thing...diving the oil rigs for the first time in the Flower Gardens, I was really nervous after the briefing. I almost didn't dive. But my buddy was waiting for me so I went anyway. I'm really glad I did because it was an incredible experience. However, what I did was leave my camera onboard to lessen my task load. Of course, afterward, I was sorry I did. LOL

The only time I said to myself "I'm not going down there" was when I was in Jamaica with some spear fishermen. It was my second dive in my life and all there was below was endless blue. They got my attention and signaled me to get back on the boat. Seems they had missed the reef and were in the wrong spot anyway.

 

[m3830431]

I think as you get older the vioce gets louder. I did allot of different things years ago and did them hard. I also know allot of people who did them harder that are not here to tell you about is.

The voice is good it tells you that you may not be ready for the challenge. Yet you don't have to listen to it if you are sure you are. The first time you do anything the voice is there, it gets louder as the challenge gets more intense or you question your abilities and that happens more with age.

The point is listen to the voice bit don't let it control yor life.

 

[ktrjc]

I hear the voice on occassion at my job. I tend to listen to it, if it is nothing more than standing beside something or moving a few feet one direction or another. I have not had it with diving yet, if I do, I will probably listen.