Jan, 2024

Scuba diving is terrifying.

It is the proximity of sea life, the dampened senses, and the forced calm necessary to combat pressure differentials. Even writing this, I can feel a phantom tightening in my ears. Nonetheless, I continue planning dive trips. Embracing the uncomfortable for the sake of growth is admirable. An opportunity to explore the ⅔ of the planet covered in water is enticing. The voice in my ear as I slowly descend, however, is Meg Jay's. In The Defining Decade, she argues that our 20s are formative in shaping personality, building identity capital, and setting up an adult life. Through travel and literature, I've been inspired by the way people prioritize life in the outdoors almost in equal measure to life indoors. Not only do they seem to find nature calming, rejuvenating, and centering, but they also benefit from the recreational fitness invariably involved. I am still working on grasping this pattern among so many of the people I admire, but the pattern itself is motivation enough to follow suit. At the very least, I will have learned something along the way.

“What’s the good of living if you don’t try a few things?” ~ Charles M. Schulz

Certification: PADI Open Water

ISO 24801-2: Diver Level 2 -- Autonomous Diver Standard