Had diving improved overall areas of your life?

[durian]

Diving is exciting and fun and it requires graduating skills. My question is: have you found that itn impacts other areas of your life in a favorable way?? Are the benefits of diving limited to diving or have they bled into many other areas of your life? For example; if a person habitually stays in their comfort zones and doing things that are new and challenging; could that also make them more postive and proactive in other areas of their life? Has it helped you become a better person? I would think if you get up into being a DM and Instructor that you would be a very patient and confident person. I am not looking to diving to do this for me..I think I am already progressing in those areas without diving, but I want to believe that diving can make a contribution beyond the confines of the ocean.

Any great stories out there? Maybe someone use to be an alcoholic wife beater who could not keep a job and then they got hooked on diving and overtime they controlled their drinking, quit beating their wife and became a very stable indvidual :dazzler1: I made an extreme case, but I think you all know what I am getting at.

 

[gehadoski]

Diving improved things in my life and about to destroy other things in my life.
It improved my way of thinking, it made me want to read more, dive more, more information, more studying, more knowledge....etc.
But actually when I am talking to anyone I am talking about diving even if that person is not a diver which make most of the people not talking to me. This made me having few friends which are my diving group. I am trying to find new friends but I can't. But I can do anything for diving. DIVING is in my blood. I can sacrifice any thing except my wife for diving.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Diving allowed me to channel lots of youthful energy and to switch from really risky adrenaline junky type sports to diving which is a much more focused and adjustable risk level type of sport.

Now pushing 40, a challenging dive still demands all my focus and allows me to get mentally away from my job and other demands in my life and gives me a great deal of relaxation and often proivides a new perspective on problems.

It is also very much a family sport and allows for a lot of family time together without anyone feeling they have to sacrifice anything to spend time with the family.

And in my day job I work for the government which means by and large that I work for some really stupid people who are usually more concerned with making decisions that cannot be proven wrong or get them in conflict with their superiors than they are with being right or doing the ethical thing.

Diving isn't like that. Water is fair and impartial - you do the wrong thing and it will kill you no matter who you are, how much money you have or who your daddy is - I really like that aspect of it. Diving and regulator repair are the two areas of my life where no one ever asks me to do something half assed or to be more concerned with being politically correct than with being right. (with the exception of the small percentage of prosteletizing DIR divers - which is the reason I dislike them and what they think they stand for so much.)

Sorry no alcohol addiction or wife beating.

 

[simbrooks]

Any great stories out there? Maybe someone use to be an alcoholic wife beater who could not keep a job and then they got hooked on diving and overtime they controlled their drinking, quit beating their wife and became a very stable indvidual :dazzler1: I made an extreme case, but I think you all know what I am getting at.

Who on earth could afford to dive if they had no job??? As for wife beaters, same ones who beat up on the coral??

Ok in all seriousness, i find diving very tranquil, a nice break from the world and boredom of my job. I find trying to improve my skills a great challenge, similarly so with other sports i take part in (kayaking - get those strokes right, biking - getting over that next obstacle or tough patch, sailing - always racing and trying to do better and then all the one on one sports). Even though the bubbles sometimes bother me (if only i could afford a RB) sometimes, i still find myself in awe of being underwater floating around with the fishes!

I was already a pretty laid back person, think beach bum with a masters degree, but its a nice diversion from the real world above!

 

[drbill]

Diving IS my comfort area... I feel awkward on land! Yes, diving has improved several areas of my life. My stress level is MUCH lower than when I spent all my time in an office in front of a computer. My skin is softer without the need for expensive lotions. My girlfriend of 7 1/2 years left me because I was always underwater amd never home.

Tongue in cheek on April Fool's Day. I can't even imagine life without diving (or remember it since I started 42 years ago).

Dr. Bill

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Well, my wife told me if I didn't stop diving so much she was gonna kick me out. I didn't ... and she did.

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not that's an improvement ... rofile:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ScottyK]

Pull out the word "government" in exchange for "corporate sales", add "diving motivated me to quit smoking" and I could have written D.A's post word for word.

No alcohol abuse or wife beating for me either

 

[Barracuda2]

Diving has really been a plus in my life; it's my carrot to good health. As long as I have a dive trip planned in my future (which is all the time) whether it's the Caribbean, Great Lakes, or local quarries, I'm motivated to keep in good physical shape. I know me! If it wasn't for diving, I could easily slip into "couch potato" mode. When I don't feel like going to the gym, I just think of having to kick against the current getting to the edge of a dropoff carrying my video cam and housing. All of a sudden, I feel like sweating.

Barracuda2

 

[MSP Rescue Diver]

Taking up diving prompted me to quit smoking during my instruction period. I got tired of sucking down air the fastest and getting winded walking around with my gear on even before getting into the water.

I've also started dieting (18 pounds since Janaury!) and exercising a bit more as I'm tired of seeing my protruding belly in group shots of us either geared up or in bathing suits.

Marc

 

[Snowbear]

Well, I don't have a wife to beat on
I drink less ethanol and more dihydrogen monoxide, though...