I realized on my last dive that I don't feel the same about diving as I did when I started. I started diving because I wanted to conquer my fear of the water and get to see what was happening down there. Someone told me that learning to dive to conquer fear was not a good enough reason to learn to dive. My answer was "I get to decide what is a good enough reason for me to do anything. Nobody else has the right to tell me my reason isn't good enough".
I conquered the fear and my reason for diving changed. I went diving to see the fish and share the experience with my buddies. Frankly after a while I started getting a bit bored but I decided I wanted to get a few pictures to show my family before I quit so I bought a point and shoot. I was having fun taking pics to share and found I enjoyed to the challenge of trying to find interesting stuff and take better pics with a slightly better point and shoot. I developed a bucket list of things I wanted to see and get shots of.
That started to lose the gloss but I discovered how much I enjoyed showing others our critters and watching their behavior. Some of our visitors told me they dived for the fun of practicing skills and perfecting technique. I didn't quite see that as fun but each to their own. We had an incident that kinda took the fun away from diving and I was struggling to find the joy in diving. I have just had a forced dry spell for medical reasons. I was hoping that getting back in the water would bring back the Joy I was missing. Well first dive back was yesterday .... no joy... the usual fish.. a few pics .. but it was just so relaxing.
I got to asking myself Why dive? I knew I wanted to continue diving but Why? Thinking about it made me realize that I have transitioned through many answers to Why dive? I have had dives where I hung there and thought "OMG this is MAGIC" but those are fairly rare. I realize that I don't need to find "The Joy of diving again" I just need to be happy with the sense of relaxation I feel when I am underwater. The thing that scared me the most relaxes me the most now. I think I have found my answer for now.. until it changes. I dive for the relaxation and the time I get to meet and share the experience with the wonderful people that make up the dive community.
So Why did you start to dive? Why do you dive now and has your reason for diving changed? I'd love to hear your story
I conquered the fear and my reason for diving changed. I went diving to see the fish and share the experience with my buddies. Frankly after a while I started getting a bit bored but I decided I wanted to get a few pictures to show my family before I quit so I bought a point and shoot. I was having fun taking pics to share and found I enjoyed to the challenge of trying to find interesting stuff and take better pics with a slightly better point and shoot. I developed a bucket list of things I wanted to see and get shots of.
That started to lose the gloss but I discovered how much I enjoyed showing others our critters and watching their behavior. Some of our visitors told me they dived for the fun of practicing skills and perfecting technique. I didn't quite see that as fun but each to their own. We had an incident that kinda took the fun away from diving and I was struggling to find the joy in diving. I have just had a forced dry spell for medical reasons. I was hoping that getting back in the water would bring back the Joy I was missing. Well first dive back was yesterday .... no joy... the usual fish.. a few pics .. but it was just so relaxing.
I got to asking myself Why dive? I knew I wanted to continue diving but Why? Thinking about it made me realize that I have transitioned through many answers to Why dive? I have had dives where I hung there and thought "OMG this is MAGIC" but those are fairly rare. I realize that I don't need to find "The Joy of diving again" I just need to be happy with the sense of relaxation I feel when I am underwater. The thing that scared me the most relaxes me the most now. I think I have found my answer for now.. until it changes. I dive for the relaxation and the time I get to meet and share the experience with the wonderful people that make up the dive community.
So Why did you start to dive? Why do you dive now and has your reason for diving changed? I'd love to hear your story