Victory post!

[johndiver999]

Well that Is stupid. He will NEVER learn to scuba dive with those short little arms!

 

[kaylee_ann]

Well that Is stupid. He will NEVER learn to scuba dive with those short little arms!

Exactly!

 

[kaylee_ann]

As you progress in the pursuit of diving, rather than telling people to F off, it might be more productive to attempt to discern which people are providing useful advice/insight and then pay attention to their comments, even if the information is critical or doesn't serve to stroke your ego.

Not all "nice" people give good advice and not all "grumpy" people give bad.

As others have said, the most important thing in learning to dive is your attitude and determination. Having anxiety or clumsiness (or whatever) are just challenges everyone has to master (to some extent).

As long as the activity is something you find interesting, challenging and/or fun (thus something you really want to do) there is a VERY good chance that you can learn to be a good diver. It sounds like your attitude is 99% where it needs to be.

You almost certainly will have many more (underwater) victories to celebrate in the future.

No, I want and appreciate constructive criticism and advice. I don’t want people telling me I can’t have a desire to go tech later on lol. And thank you! it’s a work in progress but that’s one of the most rewarding parts of diving right now

 

[James79]

I just get so nervous I'll mess up and disappoint my instructor, or dive buddy.

A buddy being disappointed when you have an issue is a them problem, and probably means different buddies are in order! Take your time and enjoy yourself, and dive with others in that mindset. Anyone can call the dive at anytime (including before you hit the water).... That means we support each other as divers and follow the most conservative option (I think it's a "swim through" and you feel like it's overhead, we don't do it... Or vice versa) and no disappointment involved. I've had days where my mask kicked my butt so bad I had to surface and chill there for a bit to get my head straight... My buddy hung out at the surface with me, no disappointment. I've also been on the other side, hanging out with someone over lunch because they just felt "off" and called the dive.... Still a good day.
In short, get out of your own head and enjoy the dives!
Respectfully,

James

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I just get so nervous I'll mess up and disappoint my instructor, or dive buddy. but slowly I've started to trust myself/my skills more

Story time!

So when I started diving, I was diving with this former instructor with "1000s of dives", but had no other dive buddies (red flag). Anyway, I have about 20 some dives, and he wants me to go boat diving with him. But it is December, we get some snow and then an arctic front. So the boat dive would have been the two of us, in the middle of Puget Sound, with a long anchor rope, and no one watching the boat (red flag #2). Now this dive site had a narrow window for diving due to tidal exchanges (red flag #3). I got more and more uncomfortable with the idea. He just doubled down and insisted rather than change the dive plan (red flag #4). The evening before the dive, I cancelled.

He was so mad (red flag #5) that he stopped talking to me all together (red flag #6, but actually he did me a favor).

One time I was supposed to do an evening dive with a former student. But it was cold, getting dark, and he felt nervous. What did I say to him? "Thank you!" It is very important to be able to thumb a dive. I feel it was important enough to emphasize that in my dive planning doc (link is found in my signature). He was surprised and relieved. We then went to Duke's Chowderhouse around the corner on Alki and had dinner.

A little bit of apprehension is normal. I have some whenever I have been out of the water for a while as I don't know how much I've regressed. So I gradually get back in. I don't challenge myself first time back in the water.

So take small steps and build upon them to build your confidence, awareness, and experience. And dive as frequently as you can.

If anyone puts pressure on you, use language that is in clear violation of ScubaBoards' ToS and move on.

 

[johndiver999]

No, I want and appreciate constructive criticism and advice. I don’t want people telling me I can’t have a desire to go tech later on lol. And thank you! it’s a work in progress but that’s one of the most rewarding parts of diving right now

Unless you have some obvious and serious mental and/or physical defects, how in the world could a person look at a beginning diver and make a reasonable determination about their future potential (for example future tech training)? It would be ridiculous to do that.

Some people are unimaginably bad when they start training, and some of them end up being excellent divers! Determination and perseverance are key; skills and confidence will be earned, slowly or quickly - it really doesn't matter in the end.

 

[kaylee_ann]

Unless you have some obvious and serious mental and/or physical defects, how in the world could a person look at a beginning diver and make a reasonable determination about their future potential (for example future tech training)? It would be ridiculous to do that.

Some people are unimaginably bad when they start training, and some of them end up being excellent divers! Determination and perseverance are key; skills and confidence will be earned, slowly or quickly - it really doesn't matter in the end.

No they think I’m looking too far ahead. Like people think I wanna do tech diving so I’m going to get through all the classes as fast as possible, that I won’t take my time with it or whatever. Which isn’t true.
I was pretty bad at the beginningbut pretty alright now. My decision of when to go technical will be based on desire, comfort, and other’s opinions of my skill level.

 

[Pressurehead]

Given time and effort sometimes people surprise you [and themself], I taught a large guy [State heavyweight judo champion], a big unit, could not swim to save himself [only enough to stay afloat], private lessons on how to swim fixed that.
In the pool sessions he was scared [mask clearing, reg recovery, buoyancy a mystery, etc], again in private sessions these were sorted out, again time and effort.
Long story short, he became one of the best Divemasters I ever had and now one of the best IMHO Scuba Instructors I have seen teach.
I only posted this for inspiration, he NEVER gave up [like you].

A caveat, he did pay for the extra sessions, you can't live on 'love of the job' alone.

 

[Tracy]

Congratulations

 

[kaylee_ann]

Given time and effort sometimes people surprise you [and themself], I taught a large guy [State heavyweight judo champion], a big unit, could not swim to save himself [only enough to stay afloat], private lessons on how to swim fixed that.
In the pool sessions he was scared [mask clearing, reg recovery, buoyancy a mystery, etc], again in private sessions these were sorted out, again time and effort.
Long story short, he became one of the best Divemasters I ever had and now one of the best IMHO Scuba Instructors I have seen teach.
I only posted this for inspiration, he NEVER gave up [like you].

A caveat, he did pay for the extra sessions, you can't live on 'love of the job' alone.

awww that's awesome to hear I'm a firm believer that if you want something bad enough, you'll get it. it's the most rewarding thing ever when all the hard work pays off.