Overcoming fear

Ok this is something I am just interested to hear what the replies are. I have been reading alot of threads and hear alot of people tell about how they got scared during there openwater dives but yet found the courage to go back and complete.

I am interested to hear the stories that drove people to conquer those fears and become a diver.

So if you ever had one of those overwhelming fears and overcame it tell your story and how you did it!

No fear here.

Anytime I have had to overcome fears I think the key component was an attitude shift. Bear with me, I'm kind of trying to work this idea out, but it seemed like there was a period of dread (filled with ideas for avoidance, self-pity, and blocking it from the mind). Then at some point my attitude would shift into resolute determination. Almost like I was pretending to be a spy or something (I had a difficult, uncomfortable task to perform, but I would do it, damn the consequences). I would make sure I had whatever steps I had to perform in the right order, and would perform the task in this mind-set.
EDIT: Fear hasn't really presented in diving yet, but probably will as I try deeper, darker water.

OK, here's my story...actually, it's my wife's story. When I signed up for scuba lessons 3 years ago, I did it so that I could go diving with a few guy friends. Our wives had been going off for wives weekends so now it was the guys turn. And diving was the plan! :vintagediver:

Anyway, just days before my group lesson was to begin my wife tells me that she wanted to try it, too. Now you gotta understand something...my wife has never been an "adventurer". I was shocked when she started camping with me!!! :shocked2:

So I switch us to a private lesson (knowning her anxiety levels :nailbiter: ). Sure enough, she struggled in the pool. Our instructor used humor and lots of patience. In hind-sight, I would say that she would have done better with a female instructor. But she made it through the pool lessons...with a few extra pool sessions. The LDS and instructor were happy to let her learn at her own pace.

Once ready we went with our LDS to the Keys. She did AWESOME!!!

One year later...and no dives since the Keys...we went to Grand Cayman. Her aniety level was higher this time. We didn't have our instructor. We didn't have a boat full of DM's from our LDS (they were on our Keys trip). It was just her and I and the dive OP.

I had posted on a Grand Cayman forum and found a dive OP that I thought would be good (Neptune's Divers). I spoke with Casey on the phone and explained my wife's anxiety. I liked what she had to say so we dove with her.

Casey literally held my wife's hand. It sounds weird but it worked! I think a female DM has the type of compassion that [most] of us guys lack. Casey made my wife so at ease that soon my wife was swimming along, enjoying the marine life, without realizing that we (Casey and I) were 8 to 10 feet away...just watching her). She loved it! :banana:

So, how did my wife overcome her fear and anxiety. I would say that she hasn't...she has to deal with it each time. But with each dive it gets easier. We are now planning our 2009 summer dive trip and I know the first dive will be a struggle for her. I've never pushed her... I tell her to only do what she is comfortable with. While I would love for her to dive a bit deeper with me, I know that she isn't ready. So I dive deeper with my guy buds.

To deal with fear/anxiety...I would say LOTS of patients and compassion. Humor was good too! Just keep it in check so as not to become annoying (a risk our instructor needed to consider).

OK, that's my 3 cents. :coolingoff:

I kind of like the idea of this thread but would like to add something. I would also be curious to know if the fear was the same in the pool as it was in open water and for that matter was the fear the same at the OW training site as it was in the middle of the ocean. I am of the school that believes the current training is watered down and contributes to that fear factor. It all boils down to confidence in ones equipment, ones skills and ones experience. The unknown can be fearful.

There is a huge difference between fear and panic.
Fear will make you think about what your are doing or about to do.
Panic is a reaction that unless put back into its hiding place may cause you to do something really dangerous.

Breathing from a reg with a mask off was a huge fear for me when I began OW classes. It seemed like it took forever to get it down. All I can say is that I practiced it over and over again until the fear dissipated. When we moved from the pool to the local inlet I practiced the same thing in shallow water a few times. The instructor told me he never saw a student who wanted to tear a mask off and repeat the skill again though it was fine the first time. This was all about getting the fear out of my own head.

Well, I didn't have any apprehension (in other words, there wasn't anything I was particularly afraid of BEFORE it happened). But I had a near-panic event during one of my OW dives, when I had to do a mask clear skill and choked myself on cold salt water. I gave the instructor the thumb, and she shook her head; I gave it again, repeatedly and emphatically, and she stared at me and shook her head. I SO wanted out of there, as I choked and coughed and felt as though I was going to drown. But I didn't go, and I learned a HUGE lesson which has come in handy a couple of times since: I CAN control panic, and I CAN solve my problems where I am. It's a huge advantage to know that. I wouldn't trade having had that experience in my OW class for anything.

Fear in the pool minimum. Fear before first OW - overwhelming. In the water - not so bad. But twice in my 4 OW dives, the anxiety hit. I just signaled the instructor and went into meditation mode. Focused on breathing until I relaxed and then went on with the dive. I remind myself that just about everything can be fixed at the bottom - if I just think about it and not panic.

Of course, I haven't seen my first shark yet . . . . .

k ellis:

Ok this is something I am just interested to hear what the replies are. I have been reading alot of threads and hear alot of people tell about how they got scared during there openwater dives but yet found the courage to go back and complete.

I am interested to hear the stories that drove people to conquer those fears and become a diver.

So if you ever had one of those overwhelming fears and overcame it tell your story and how you did it!

Click to expand...

I did not have a fear though but it was a weird feeling when I saw the bottom 20 meters below in my OW class and I knew we had to go there as normally when we were kids and were free diving to shallower depth that 10 m felt dangerous That feeling came up

Another weird feeling I had was when I was diving a fairly big wreck and floating at the 50ft near one of the structures and looking down to the bottom - the water was clear I got that feeling of height (I'm afraid of heights) and it felt like I'm floating near a balcony on the 21st floor of my apartment and can fall down. It was not fear though but it was weird feeling.