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I have always told students who I'm working with in class because they are having difficulties with a skill that result in moments of panic or high anxiety that everyone has a threshold of events they can tolerate beyond which they will react that way. I explain that no one is immune and that having a moment of high anxiety just shows your brain and body are working correctly to recognize and react to situations that are potentially dangerous for you. I tell them that what we need to do is not worry about their reaction but to reach the point where they are comfortable enough to know they can deal with the situation safely.
But I had an experience in my first deco class that has me questioning that view. And it's been bothering me because it's the first time in my diving life that I've ever had a moment where I reacted irrationally.
I spoke about it on the board in the tech section when I described my class experience, but it has been on my mind more and more as I work with students in the pool and open water.
The situation was simple enough: swim underwater simulating an out of air event, reach my buddy, perform an S-drill and breath off the donated regulator. I've done so many swims underwater without my regulator or doing a simulated CESA or buddy breathing or whatever that I can't begin to count them. This skill should have been a cakewalk.
I made the swim just fine, but when I reached the DM who was my buddy, he didn't do an S-drill and hand me the regulator as I expected, but just handed me the mouth piece directly. I took it but then he pulled the hose to get it free, popped it out of my mouth and I ended up getting a mouth full of water. I couldn't get the regulator fully back in my mouth and didn't have the air to purge the reg. I completely failed to realize I could just hit the purge button. I lost any sense of the situation and started swimming hard for the surface. After about 10' or so I realized I could hit the purge button and I was able to stop my ascent and calm down. I had been going so hard up that I had dragged my buddy with me, and he was on the verge of freaking out as well.
I had to take a minute to calm down, and as I looked around I saw that the instructor was holding on to me as well. I had gone up with such focuse that I had dragged both of them with me.
I got back down. Calmed down. Played the part of the donor a few times, then did the skill perfectly myself. I practiced it over and over again after that and I still practice it in shallow water on every dive.
The problem I'm having is that I'm not sure what I learned here. Sure, I learned I could panic. I learned that no matter how well you understand or know a skill something unexpected can happen. I learned how students feel when they panic. But somehow I now feel more disconnected from students having that experience than I did before. I am not sure about my own advice and council, and somehow after my own experience that I too can panic, I'm feeling that my advice to students doesn't means anything.
I've always appreciated that I could panic, but I was also always confident that I wouldn't, if that makes sense. Now I know that isn't the case, and that's not a comforting thought.
Anyway, that's my near miss story. I'm not sure that I have a question or point, but it's been bothering me and I felt like writing it down . . . so there it is.
But I had an experience in my first deco class that has me questioning that view. And it's been bothering me because it's the first time in my diving life that I've ever had a moment where I reacted irrationally.
I spoke about it on the board in the tech section when I described my class experience, but it has been on my mind more and more as I work with students in the pool and open water.
The situation was simple enough: swim underwater simulating an out of air event, reach my buddy, perform an S-drill and breath off the donated regulator. I've done so many swims underwater without my regulator or doing a simulated CESA or buddy breathing or whatever that I can't begin to count them. This skill should have been a cakewalk.
I made the swim just fine, but when I reached the DM who was my buddy, he didn't do an S-drill and hand me the regulator as I expected, but just handed me the mouth piece directly. I took it but then he pulled the hose to get it free, popped it out of my mouth and I ended up getting a mouth full of water. I couldn't get the regulator fully back in my mouth and didn't have the air to purge the reg. I completely failed to realize I could just hit the purge button. I lost any sense of the situation and started swimming hard for the surface. After about 10' or so I realized I could hit the purge button and I was able to stop my ascent and calm down. I had been going so hard up that I had dragged my buddy with me, and he was on the verge of freaking out as well.
I had to take a minute to calm down, and as I looked around I saw that the instructor was holding on to me as well. I had gone up with such focuse that I had dragged both of them with me.
I got back down. Calmed down. Played the part of the donor a few times, then did the skill perfectly myself. I practiced it over and over again after that and I still practice it in shallow water on every dive.
The problem I'm having is that I'm not sure what I learned here. Sure, I learned I could panic. I learned that no matter how well you understand or know a skill something unexpected can happen. I learned how students feel when they panic. But somehow I now feel more disconnected from students having that experience than I did before. I am not sure about my own advice and council, and somehow after my own experience that I too can panic, I'm feeling that my advice to students doesn't means anything.
I've always appreciated that I could panic, but I was also always confident that I wouldn't, if that makes sense. Now I know that isn't the case, and that's not a comforting thought.
Anyway, that's my near miss story. I'm not sure that I have a question or point, but it's been bothering me and I felt like writing it down . . . so there it is.