Fear Of Failure In Scuba Diving: Thank God For Sinus Block!


by Reiss Mackie - Date: 2006-12-27 - Word Count: 298 Share This!

Thank God for sinus block and ear equalisation problems! Here is a socially acceptable way to avoid a very serious issue namely not wanting to dive when you are feeling intimidated or frightened at the prospect. The pressure our status-driven society places on us not to lose face is immense. Diving can be downright terrifying if you find yourself in the wrong situation at the wrong time. Imagine you are flushed with the love of diving after having experienced the joys of tropical submersion and have dedicated the rest of your life to being continually immersed. Instead your enthusiasm turns to dread when on a holiday to southern latitudes you sign up for a diving trip and are faced with the prospect of leaping off a rolling boat into cold, green deep water with not even a hint of a bottom anywhere.

Many divers, through fear of being branded a 'chicken' will choose the gung-ho option. The I feel no fear front. This is nothing but a form of social bravado and one that carries serious repercussions. Divers who start out on a dive feeling stressed are far more likely to panic underwater. Panic is a deadly and serious state for a diver to enter. Your common sense and rational mind is lost and you become reactive to primal escape reflexes.

So, how can you avoid raising your blood pressure and taking years off your life by diving when you don't want to? Plead blocked sinus and equalisation problems. Tell everyone the air-conditioning in your room has blocked you up, you have a cold coming on, you are getting over a cold, you have a genetically malformed inner ear canal which plays up when you eat ice-cream, just anything that will save face, your social status and possibly your life!


Related Tags: scuba diving, sports psychology, scuba diver, ear equalisation

Reiss Mackie is a SCUBA diving instructor living and working on the beautiful Great Barrier Reef in Australia. He is an expert on stress in scuba divers and co-author of The Scuba Diving Panic Management Guide with Dr Sarah Carney MBBS.


Visit his website and forum for more information on the psychological challenges of divinghttp://www.scubadivingpanicmanagement.com
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