How does diving make you feel?

[Jcsgt]

Being in law enforcement for a number of years, I had gotten to a point in my life where it was impossible to completely relax. I used to be a sergeant in a small town and was essentially on call 24/7 for major calls, death investigations (anything not an obvious natural) and basically to offer guidance and/or backup at all hours when needed. In addition, I was a member of the county's Major Crime Team and could be called out at any time. Occasionally, I had been forced to cut vacations short due to problems in my agency.

Since discovering diving a little over four years ago, I have truly found peace on earth. I have discovered that I can go nearly a whole dive vacation without even thinking about work. I can get truly and totally lost in the underwater environment, listening only to my breaths as I gently inhale, then bubble out for several seconds. My only conscious thoughts are of what may be hiding just out of sight under a ledge or inside a coral head and of how I may best compose photographs of my underwater paradise.

 

[BubblesUp]

When I dive, I feel the most incredible sense of peace. Underwater is the only place I've truly been able to stop the mental wheels from turning and disconnect from the concerns and stressors of everyday life.

It's also a place where I feel a strong sense of physical control...
Twenty years (and nearly as many pounds =) ago, I was a ballet dancer. Through that I developed a keen awareness of my body in space. I always knew where I was relative to my surroundings or how the slightest shift could make an ordinary movement look glorious...or downright awkward. When I started diving, I was amazed at how completely this translated. The slight flick of a fin, the nuance of breath control...I felt powerful and graceful and in complete control of my body again.

(sigh) If only I could go there more often...

 

[crazyTomato]

Originally Posted by sarita75

trapped between where I am
and where I want to be.
When I feel this way,
I find myself only wanting to be underwater.
Hearing my breathing,
feeling the movements of the sea around me,
exploring the depth and regaining my foundation,
my understanding
of how miniscule the woes
of life truly are in the grandest of all schemes.
Emerging,
I feel like my soul has been refreshed.

This has a rather lyrical feel to it.

It's quite lovely, and also somewhat expresses my sentiments as well....though truthfully, I wouldn't mind not ever emerging from the ocean. If only I could live down there forever.....

 

[almitywife]

geez, everyones posts are so much more thoughtful than mine.......

i just like to dive because its an activity thats relaxing, fun and social

 

[tstormdiver]

I feel a freedom in the water I can't feel on land. My world goes from a 2 dimensional one (forward, backward, left & right) to a 3 dimentional one (up, down, forward, backward, left & right). I have an inate curiosity about living things. I love see some of the beauty & colors of creation in the ocean, but will also enjoy just watching the dull colored Blue Gills & Bass nesting in the quarries around here. I love to watch how the animals interact with their environment, including my presence there (I've actually been dared by some 6" Blue Gill not to come any closer to their nests, lest I get pecked on:shakehead ).

 

[Spratman]

I like that I can get away from cell phones, pagers, telephones, email, laptops and all those other daily annoyances! Just me and my bubbles....only thing that interrupts the tranquility is keeping track of an errant buddy....

 

[munkispank]

TSandM summed up the feelings I have. Suddenly in the water I am graceful (well almost) and the smallest movement of my body has dramatic effects, like a little flick of my fins, or a twist of hips. I feel free. It just feels like the place I am supposed to be. I get excited before a dive, and enjoy the process of cleaning and storing gear (sometimes I get it out between trips to sniff the rubber and neoprene) but these enjoyments seem very un-emotional compared to the feeling of release and lack of worry once I am in the water.

this tends to mean I favour relatively shallow dives with lots of bottom time and unstressful conditions (don't really enjoy drift, deep or low vis as much) It also means I prefer shore diving, because then you are truly free.

 

[TSandM]

Yes, there is something lovely about the independence of shore diving. Get there when you want (or when the current says you have to). Take your time gearing up, sharing the company, catching up on things with friends. Into the water with the knowledge that you can stay there as long as you want to, or as long as you can; nobody is timing you, nobody is impatient to move the boat. You can mosey through the shallows and enjoy the little stuff in 8 feet of water. Today, I was relaxing in surge, watching the kelp sway to and fro, reluctant to make the last six feet of ascent that would mean the dive was truly, irrevocably over.

I love shore diving, even if it means you have to maneuver through some challenging entries and exits sometimes.

 

[almitywife]

shore diving is all i do :l:

a good thing about it is that we have so many tanks so there is no pressure to have to go to the shop for fills or having to wait around for them... we can pack as many as we need with no pressure to have to get somewhere by a certain time

 

[sidneydiver]

Diving relaxes me sooooo much. I am at peace with everything. I too get to feel graceful (except for today when I was diving my buddy's double LP 108s - there really wasn't much graceful about that!) and weightless. I don't think about work or anything else that is stressing me, I just concentrate on the here and now. I finish a day of diving physically tired but elated and mentally refreshed. It's like my therapy!