Captivated Me

The surest way to fail is not to try.

In this sense, I almost failed my open water scuba certification. This two-day course involved a particularly unfamiliar skill that brought me so much fear, I nearly quit after day one. A lot went well that first day, but this one thing was prohibitively difficult for me – The procedure was to flood and then remove your mask while submerged, breathing only through the mouthpiece connected to your air tank, and then replacing the mask. For some reason, my instinct on flooding and removing the mask was to immediately inhale through my exposed nose – obviously the opposite of what you want to do underwater! So multiple times, I surfaced early during the lesson, sputtering and discouraged and afraid, sinuses stinging with salt water. I left that day not sure I wanted to come back.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned the last few years, it’s that the fears we don’t face become our limits. And while some limits and boundaries are healthy, others keep us from living abundantly and experiencing things that would otherwise build and grow and open new worlds to us.

So in the days following lesson one, I took my mask and snorkel to the local reefs and swam about, intentionally flooding my mask, regulating my breathing, calming my mind, and ultimately clearing the mask like I was taught. I did this over and over again, and slowly was able to swim longer and longer stretches without surfacing. By the time my second scuba diving lesson came about, I felt a lot more comfortable, and was ready to face my fear at depth.

Obyan Beach is where I practiced skills the day after my first scuba lesson. This beautiful, shallow cove – shown in the first six photos here – serves as a fusion of two significant eras in Saipan’s history, as it is home to a pre-contact latte ruins as well as an old, fortified World War II bunker. Pau Pau Beach – seen in the remaining photos above – is the park where I practiced the day before my second lesson. It is a long, peaceful white sand beach and offshore reef lined with jungle and cliffs, perfect for a serene day of snorkeling or gathering with friends.

Lo and behold, and thanks to an awesome instructor, lesson two felt like a breeze. I earned my first ever scuba certification! And we got to see a couple of graceful sea turtles and hundreds of technicolor fish in their element along the way. After months of exploring altitudes above sea level, I am excited to start endeavoring into this whole new world below!

All that to say: if you have a healthy goal on your heart, and fear is trying to paralyze and intimidate you from going after it, think about grabbing your equivalent of a mask and snorkel, starting in the shallows, and slowly – breath by breath – giving it a try. Do it afraid. And unless there’s a darn good reason to wait, do it now. You might end the day befriending turtles 🙂

Go get ‘em.

🤍