How I Overcame my Fear...

Are you a mountain person or a beach person? My answer would always be Mountain person, but I always had a wish to be a beach person as well, but I would always step back from a beach trip because of my water phobia. I always wanted to swim in the ocean, enjoy the sunset while swimming in the ocean, explore flora and fauna while snorkeling, and jump off the boat wearing my scuba suit and swim with the fishes and watch corals. Watching my friend's video & photos of scuba diving and surfing would always make me go a step ahead and give it a shot but surfing was not possible for me as I was not good at swimming.

One day when I was planning for a North trip my friend suggested a trip to Srilanka. I was in double mind, I wanted to go but was having a double mind was finally I decided to go register for my Scuba Certificate Course with Padi, I was very much excited for it and was also scared. After booking my flights and hotel, the next step was registering for the Padi Open Water Diving Course in which there was a theory part which I was going to do online as I didn't want to spend 2 days on the theory there instead of exploring something new.

When I finally reached Hikkaduwa in Srilanka where we had booked our trip for 6 days, in which we were going to dive for 3 days and to explore other places in the remaining 3 days. As per scuba Rules, we are not supposed to Dive on the day we had traveled on a flight. So on the 1st day, we just went to a local cafe for some food and saw the sunset from the beach (Pic -1). On the 2nd day when we went to our dive center, which was around 500m from our hotel, I was scared that will I be able to dive properly? How will I be able to go underwater, how will I breathe from the regulator? Many questions were running in my mind till I reached there. When I reached I was introduced to my diving instructor his name was Chaanu, he was very friendly and energetic. He gave me a training session in their hotel's swimming pool, I was accompanied by another person from Germany who was there for a training session, my friends who were already certified divers went for their diving when I was training. After the training session when we were all set to sail and go for my 1st dive, we were having a casual conversation where I mentioned to him that I had a water Phobia. Hearing this my trainer called for one more diver with us in case he needs someone's help.

So the time had come when I had to jump inside the ocean, all I knew that time was today was the day when I have to overcome my fear, it was now or never So I took a leap of faith n jumped inside the ocean and swam toward the anchor line. As instructed by my instructor I started descending but soon I came up as I couldn’t breathe. After coming back to the surface my instructor calmed me explained to me that I need to overcome my fear and there is nothing from which I should be scared of. After taking a deep breath I again descended and this time I was a little comfortable. When I reached the bottom point which was 18 m for that dive I was very much content that I completed 1st step to overcome fear. We tried a few activities which is a training process for scuba dive after this test we were just swimming around, I was not able to swing in a flat position as I had 2 plates of weight extra with me, all the time I thought that I was doing something wrong because of which I was not able to swim properly. During that time I felt a sudden pressure in my ears which I informed Chaanu immediately. He said to try to release pressure by pressing my nose, I tried all the techniques still there was a sharp pain in my right Ear after that he said me to Inflate my BCD and go up again.

On reaching the top when I was disappointed that I didn't complete my 1st dive properly, he said me that as the dive time was over and my oxygen cylinder reading was also near the borderline. When we got back in the boat, he asked me whether I am ready for the second dive which was after 30 minutes I was scared because of my ear pain, He said that if it happens again I can come back but at least to give a try. I enjoyed it a lot and my fear was also overcome I was more confident about getting in the water so I agreed to 2nd dive. This time without any complication I completed my dive properly. The next day also did my Dive very smoothly without any single complication. By the end of the 4th dive, I was a certified diver. While we were sitting at the dive center my friends asked me to dive again the next day with them where they were planning to go on a deep dive which was 33m deep. I was not sure whether I can go or not, and also the dive center manager said that he would only allow me to go if my instructor says that I am fit to go for a deep dive and he will accompany me for the dive as well. he said that I am all fit to go for deep dive and he was willing to accompany me. The next day when we went for the deep-dive, there was a lot of current and vision was also very low, still, with all this issue I was able to complete my 1st Dive with my friends, my first deep dive and I was so happy and confident after my dive that on the next day we again went for one more dive. While leaving India I was confused about whether I will be able to do 4 Dives or not, by the End of the trip I did 6 dives including one Deep dive. That day I realized that if I can overcome my water phobia then there is nothing I can't achieve. Fear is just a human emotion, we can overcome our fear if we have a mindset.

This experience helped me a lot in such a difficult time in this pandemic. After my diving experience, I learned many things like overcoming any fear, trying new things without fear of failure, having a positive mindset in a difficult time, and also living the moment so whenever in future I will be thinking about that time the whole scenario will be in my mind. During Lockdown when I use to watch News everywhere negativity but during that time when I went back in my memories, Like it was just 3 months ago when I was 33mt into the ocean struggling against the currents, and what an experience I had same way this struggle will also be over soon. With the same mindset of learning something new I tried cooking in lockdown, and I learned how to edit photos and videos and for the first time I am writing something, I remember last when I wrote it was my final exams which were before some 4 years. I also made a habit of listening to audiobooks before sleeping instead of using my phone. One thing which I know now is that any type of adventure will open up your mindset. Yes, there will be fear, but like I said overcoming that Fear is like achieving a gold medal in a race.

My Trip Budget.

The dive center gave us a budget for 4 dives that was 34k₹ after 6 dives he just charged us 38k₹. My online PADI course was for ₹9k. I paid this much amount to become a certified diver. Approx hotel stay we paid ₹6k per person for 6 days with beach facing the hotel. Traveling in Sri Lanka is pretty cheap if you consider tuk-tuk over cabs. For food, we paid in total somewhat around ₹8k for 6 days lunch dinner, and breakfast. Flights from Mumbai were around ₹22k. My total trip budget with my PADI license was ₹85k with travel and everything, but ₹47k was only for my course.