100+ Dives And I Still Suck

[dwhthediver]

I try to learn something on every dive, and I try to suck less each time I dive, but I know that I don't know a lot, and spend as much time diving to suck minimally

 

[dkktsunami]

Sabbath, Great post. I've probably gotten past the stage where I suck at the easier dives but my first dry suit arrives in a few days. After reading about your experience I guess I can look forward to sucking all over again.

 

[boulderjohn]

I occasionally torture myself on a golf course, and I found that if I keep in mind a concept I cal PAR Power in golf, I can keep my sanity. They concept is in what PAR stands for: Positive Acceptance of Reality. The PAR power system has several key axioms.

1. The reality is you suck. Accept it. Positively.

2. When you hit a bad shot, it is because you suck. It's to be expected. Don't worry about it. Accept it.

3. When you hit a good shot, it is because it is bound to happen sometimes, not because you are good. Accept it.

4. If you practice, you will improve, but you will still suck. Accept it.

5. If you play several good holes in a row, do not be misled. You still suck. Accept it.

The problem in terms of golf is that the game becomes unbearable when you are playing worse than you think you are. The danger is that you might start thinking you are better than you are and will therefore feel let done all too frequently when reality looms before you. When I am able to accept my errors in golf as the inevitable consequence of my level of skill, I find I enjoy the game a lot more.

Now, I am only semi-serious in this, because I paradoxically believe that a positive attitude is important. That is where the Positive part of the theory comes into play.

Now, to relate this to scuba...

Every time I started thinking I was good, something happened to slap me back to reality. Getting my DM and other professional training was one such major moment. Next came my introduction to technical diving, after which I got repeated "you really suck" messages. Cave training was another revelation. I am now in a position to know a lot about the training I still have not had, so I have had a glimpse of the many other ways at which I still suck.

The odds are that you will never reach the point where you have not seen other divers who are better than you, probably much better. You will always think you suck to some degree. Accept it. Positively.

 

[merxlin]

My level of suckage in each situation is directly related to the amount of experience I have at diving in each situation.

That is really the truth there. Seems like I am always finding new things to suck at. Some are the same things in a new situation, some are new things in a well known situation. It's how we adapt to those changes that help us suck less.

 

[DiverLS]

I thought I was a great recreational diver. Even got compliments on my style from other divers. I also did recreational nitrox and memorized the formulas enough to pass the test. Since I didn't understand the reason behind the formulas, I only did the minimum, analyze the tank and look at the chart to see how deep I could go.

Now that I've been introcuded to tec, I am lost. I'm a lousy diver again. Keeping off the bottom and off the top? What bottom and what top. You mean I can't turn this wing up to empty it? How do you do that?

Hopefully when I get to dive the caves in the River Maya in May I'll get less sucky at this. Even with all that I did manage to get Intro to Cave certified. I don't know how.

 

[Hank49]

I occasionally torture myself on a golf course, and I found that if I keep in mind a concept I cal PAR Power in golf, I can keep my sanity. They concept is in what PAR stands for: Positive Acceptance of Reality. The PAR power system has several key axioms.

1. The reality is you suck. Accept it. Positively.

2. When you hit a bad shot, it is because you suck. It's to be expected. Don't worry about it. Accept it.

I had to laugh at the golf analogy. Great post.
I can't imagine feeling frustrated diving though. Anytime I'm in the water...surfing, body surfing, spearfishing or scuba diving...I never actually "measure" my performance. I'm just really stoked to have the means and to be healthy enough to be out there.

 

[dkktsunami]

I had to laugh at the golf analogy. Great post.
I can't imagine feeling frustrated diving though. Anytime I'm in the water...surfing, body surfing, spearfishing or scuba diving...I never actually "measure" my performance. I'm just really stoked to have the means and to be healthy enough to be out there.

Great attitude.

 

[Diver0001]

I posted a thread a year or so ago when I had 50+ dives and discussed how, after a year into my diving career, I still sucked.

Well... one year later... I still suck at diving. .

....snip....

The reason I am posting this is because I think it is important from time to time to stop and take stock of where a person is in their diving... look at things objectively, see what needs improvement then actually DO something about improving it... whether it is find somebody to mentor you, take a class, do some travel, or whatever.

People who don't regularly take stock of who they are and where they are in their diving careers are people (IMHO) who are doing themselves a disservice.

A lot of wisdom in that.

But I'll tell you a dirty little secret. That feeling never goes away. I've got 1500-odd dives and I still feel like a noob sometimes and I've never felt as though my skills are as good as they can be or as good as they should be.

R..

 

[Superlyte27]

So rare I find a post I completely agree with. Great job OP.

 

[Blackwood]

But I don't think it's unreasonable for someone to expect that at 100 dives, he should be better than he was at 10; or that at 1000, she should be better than at 100.

Or that at some point between 100 and 1000, she got a sex-change?