At the start of this year, I decided it was high time to add another “adventurous me” badge to my collection: get a scuba diving license.
Simple, right? I mean, I’ve run long distances for fun. I’ve trekked to Everest Base Camp. Surely, hanging out underwater, looking at fish, would be a breeze.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
Step 1: The Online Exam That Would Not End
First came the RAID certification. Ten-plus hours of e-learning, dense manuals, videos, and quizzes designed to make you question every life decision you’ve ever made. The online exam felt like the final boss of a video game.
I scored 86.6%. Yes, oddly specific, and yes, I celebrated like I’d just won an Olympic medal. Little did I know, this was only the warm-up.
Step 2: Four Days in the Pool… and the Ocean
Next up: four days of practical training.
- Day One (Pool): Wow. This is serious.
- Day Two (Ocean): Okay… I’m getting the hang of this.
- Day Three (Ocean): I hate this.
- Day Four (Ocean): Well… more on that later.
Each day brought a new set of skills to master. And by “master,” I mean: perform them perfectly under pressure or face the terrifying possibility of having to do them again. In the pool, I could fake it. In the ocean… less so.
The whole experience was supposed to be joyful — a break from the everyday, a chance to explore the underwater world. Instead, it became intense, serious, and, honestly, exhausting. Less “finding Nemo” and more “subaquatic performance review.”
Step 3: Embrace the Suck… Navy SEAL Style
There’s a famous phrase from the Navy SEALs: embrace the suck. The idea is simple: life will suck sometimes, so lean in, grit your teeth, and push through.
I leaned in… and promptly realized something important. I wasn’t enjoying this. I wasn’t good at this. And, most importantly, there was no joy in sight.
And that’s when it hit me: maybe embracing the suck doesn’t always mean push harder. Sometimes it means: admit this isn’t for you.
Step 4: The Radical Art of Quitting
On day four, I did something I rarely do: I quit.
No dramatic exit. No shame. Just a quiet, deliberate, unapologetic nope. I walked away, and do you want to know the best part?
I felt amazing.
That weekend, I went back to the things that genuinely bring me joy — running, hiking, CrossFit — and had a renewed appreciation for my own “normal” adventures. I was relieved, happy, and, dare I say, proud.
Step 5: Lessons From Sucking at Scuba
This experience taught me several important things:
- Courage isn’t always about perseverance. Sometimes it’s about knowing when to walk away.
- It’s okay to suck at something. Really. You don’t have to be good at everything you try.
- Joy is a compass. If it’s gone, maybe that’s a signal.
- Embrace the suck… but selectively. Navy SEALs have one approach; life has many. Sometimes the bravest move is quitting with grace.
So here’s my official advice for 2026: try new things. Fail spectacularly. Suck at something. And know that walking away doesn’t make you weak — it makes you human.
After all, life’s too short to do things that aren’t fun (and, yes, that includes scuba, apparently).
Boundless and Unfiltered 