Learn how to cope with the problem

I enjoyed my third day of snorkeling in Hawaii’s Big Island today. Peering into an alien life system while floating in cool blue waters is both amazing and meditative.

On my first day, I’d often get water into my mouth, sputter-struggle and ultimately swallow a bunch of salty water. I tried hard to figure out how to block out the water, but the regular struggle and uneasy anticipation leading up to it made it difficult.

On my second day, I stopped trying to not get water into my mouth. Instead, I figured out how to recover quickly when it did. After some trial and error, I could surface, stay afloat, then remove my pipe and empty the water from my mouth and the pipe, and go back into snorkeling. This worked out pretty well. It kept me snorkeling longer and that helped me improve my breathing patterns and my grip on the pipe, which helped block out the water.

Sometimes, fixing the root problem is hard and takes time. Figuring out how to cope with the problem can help you stay in the game long enough to fix it. Also, problems can always come back in different mutations, so learning to deal with them gives you confidence and suspend fear.

On the third day, I snorkeled for over an hour, without issues. It was really awesome! :)