Why Does it Have to Be This Way?

Those who know me know that I love ocean diving; it's a passion that has become part of who I am. Also, those who know me know that I love my mustache – this too is a big part of who I am.

Unfortunately those two things don't always go well together, and for the longest time I was finding that my mustache was getting in the way of me having an ideal diving experience. It was affecting the seal, and water kept seeping into mask, which forced me to keep clearing it. I tried using a gel on my mustache to help. Eventually though, the mask's seal just wasn't as good. It was a nuisance I just kept dealing with on dive after dive.

Then, during a refresher dive with a dive master in anticipation of my trip to Australia, I got some good advice. First of all, he suggested I do away with the gel and get a new mask with my vision prescription. Then he had me go for a dive in the pool without any mask, to just go down and focus on my breathing and get comfortable again. Then he had me go in with the new mask and practice taking it off, clearing it, and putting it back on, over and over, until it became second nature. Finally, he suggested that I try trimming my mustache a bit to get a better seal.

It worked. In Australia I enjoyed some of the best dives of my life, and I never gave my mask a second thought.

So I had to ask myself: How long have I been putting up with this frustration that is interfering with my passion for diving? Why did it take an upcoming trip to the Great Barrier Reef to make me finally address it?

I think this kind of thing happens to all of us. These are the little inconveniences that we just end up working around every day instead of facing head-on once and for all.

My advice: First of all, breathe and relax. That will help you recognize the obstacles that keep holding you back from ideal. Then, once you have identified the culprits, go after them in a focused and systematic way. Because the truth is, many of the issues that take away from our enjoyment of life are actually pretty easy to solve if we just take the time to stop and address them.

I can tell you that this is true from personal experience, just as I can tell you that the Great Barrier Reef looked spectacular.

Let's get talking...

What are the nuisances and frustrations that keep coming up in your practice? What is the pain you have simply become accustomed to? Most importantly, what can be done to address it once and for all? This is a great topic for open discussion among your team.