Kirsty Andrews contemplates the balance of diving within your comfort zone and redefining your skillset
KIRSTYANDREWS
Rage against the mollycoddle
Kirsty Andrews contemplates the balance of diving within your comfort zone and redefining your skillset
I
’ ve been ruminating recently on the last time I ventured out of my comfort zone. A recent trip to Norway in search of rarely-seen deep water corals challenged me: deep diving in a new-to-me location and small boat set-up, where the waters were dark and somewhat cold, there were currents to manage and a few equipment challenges to navigate. For me this was within reasonable tolerances of comfort, but I did feel a little stretch and it felt good. For others, no problem at all: we’ re all different.
I do think that diving offers us plentiful opportunities to expand our horizons – not to be terrifying or dangerous, but in a positive way. It is widely acknowledged that expanding one’ s comfort zone offers
Exploring a reef of cold water coral Lophelia pertusa in Norway
20 a range of benefits: from increased selfconfidence to skill development, enhanced performance, and greater resilience in life – not just on the boat.
Do you remember that first time you were let loose as an Ocean Diver, permitted to take off your training wheels and dive away from the comforting gaze of an instructor? Quite the thrill to be your own boss underwater at last. I find‘ agency bashing’, that practice of‘ our dive club is better than yours nah nah nah’ to be extremely tiresome, but I will say that I’ m proud that BSAC’ s goal in its early qualification stages is to create divers who are competent and confident, able to dive independently from the outset. [ With an experienced dive manager keeping an
PHOTO: KIRSTY ANDREWS eagle eye on them from the surface, but that’ s just taking extra care.]
Therein lies an illustration of the benefit of our club system for allowing divers to progress their skills and experience. Mollycoddling is in no-one’ s interests; divers have a club framework to lean on those more experienced around them, but still to challenge themselves and develop. Within the club’ s supportive structure we can have the confidence to try new things, grow, and unlock our full potential.
“ I find‘ agency bashing’, that practice of‘ our dive club is better than yours nah nah nah’ to be extremely tiresome”
Those first baby steps into scuba can be a steep learning curve, but it doesn’ t stop there. There are so many opportunities after that to keep learning. The progression of diving qualifications all the way up to the heady heights of First Class Diver, of course. Skill Development Courses: boat handling, first aid, gas blending. Progressing a little deeper. Changing your kit to something more technical or more targeted to the type of diving you want to do. Venturing to a new dive location and going through all the legwork required to plan a safe trip into the unknown.
One person’ s comfort zone can be very different from another’ s, and that’ s okay too; we’ re all different but we can all apply these principles and benefit. All sorts of challenges can stretch us, and even if it can be a little intimidating at the time, I find that there is a warm glow in feeling that you’ ve challenged yourself and come out the better for it.
It can be easy to slip into a regular pattern in our sport. Doing dives we’ ve done many times, with buddies we know well. There’ s nothing wrong with that and it can be part of the joy. But sometimes, the opportunity arises to do something differently, and I would encourage you all to go for it – see where the new path takes you – it’ ll be worth the journey. �