Lacking Confidence!!

[PADI-SoCalDiver]

inter_alia once bubbled...
I guess mask clearing is one of the hardest things for all OW students to do. When I had to do this in the pool the first few sessions, it really got on my nerves and I wasn't good at it, nearly to panic-stage. I could sit there for a long time without a reg in my mouth and be fine, though.
So I found a solution: instead of that "fill your mask halfway, then clear" or "fill your mask all the way, then clear," I found it easier to just remove the mask completely. My instructors allowed me to do this, apparently it's more "difficult" but I found it easier than purposefully, clumsily putting a little water in my mask...
I don't know if this has any bearing on the pool anxiety which started this thread, but it just helped me a great deal.

Otherwise, just like everyone else has said: stick with it, it all gets calmer and more manageable.

I'm With You inter_alia For Me Its Easier To Take The Mask Off All The Way Then It Is Halfway.

 

[Belushi]

In my experience, it has take us 60 million years to get out of the water and 70 years to get back in it ... what is the rush?

Taking time to be comfortable underwater will allow you, in the future, to enjoy all of the stuff around you.

think back to when you were learning to drive or ride a bike, it is a learned motor skill ... I dont ever remember in the bible it ever saying "and he came down off the mountain on his BMX, and jumped into his wet suit and dived with whales" We werent born to it and it is never gonna be something we do without gear, but keep going ... it is worth it!