Freediving < : >scuba, throwing me off!

[DesertTech]

Hey everybody, does anybody else get mentally thrown off going between scuba diving and free diving? I was on vacation and noticed my anxiety level really heightened when freediving the day after I was scuba diving! The mentality is much different and I believe the two mindsets can conflict and cause uneasiness under there. For me when I scuba after freediving, I get anxious that I need to hold my breath (big no no) with the regulator in my mouth. And then switching back a day later to freediving, it really affected my performance with the thought of needing to have a regulator during my dives!! Just as my anxiety level heightened going from freediving one day, to scuba the next, it was also vis versa. Does anybody else have this problem?

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I'm not switching back and forth from day to day like you are, so my anxiety is a little different.

For about 42 years I was primarily a scuba diver. Then 17 years ago I became a free diver. The only time I use scuba is when an anchor or a fish is hung up in rock or kelp too deep for safe recovery while free diving. Even though I'm using scuba because I feel its safer, I feel a bit anxious, especially before getting in the water. I'm a graduate of US Navy scuba school and have all those years of scuba experience, so you would think I would be totally comfortable, but I'm not. I suppose its just a matter of not be used to it any more. I give myself a lecture about not holding my breath on the way up, and then I'm pretty comfortable once I actually dive, but I feel a bit weird putting the gear together and getting into the water.

I feel better free diving, even though its a lot more dangerous, simply because its what I'm used to now.