New Year's Resolutions for Divers
The tradition of New Year’s resolutions is old and well-known. When a year is coming to an end, it feels as if a milestone has been reached. The end of the year is also a great time for self-reflection. It is said that the only way to stay balanced is to constantly improve yourself. Therefore, make your New Year’s resolution for 2022 meaningful. As we all share our passion for diving, let us make our best effort to become better as individual divers and stronger as a community in the coming year. Here at DIPNDIVE, we’ve come up with a couple of ideas you can take as your own resolutions for the next year.
Become a Certified Diver
In case the thought of becoming a certified diver has already crossed your mind, but you delayed it for some reason, consider making 2022 a year when it finally happens. Scuba diving requires a certain level of technical understanding and a range of skills. A certification course gives you the necessary knowledge (and proof of that knowledge, required by the dive shops) to be a safe and responsible diver. The online training programs, that most of the training agencies offer, make getting started easier than it ever has been.
Refresh Your Training
Diving certification gives you a life-long qualification and it never expires. However, if you haven’t been diving for the last 18 months, consider taking a refresher course - it will help you a great deal in getting back on track. You can also sign up for a scuba clinic or spend some time practicing a few basic skills in the pool.
Improve and Expand Your Diving Skills
The start of a new year is a perfect time to reflect on how to improve yourself in the future. Diving is a sport in which you can constantly grow, learn and develop new skills. You can take one of the specialty diver courses, for instance, become an enriched air or a full-face mask diver, try deep or night diving, etc. Alternatively, you can simply devote some time to practicing and improving the existing skills on your own.
Buoyancy and weight control are other areas that may need improvement. We’ve collected important Buoyancy Control Tips in our blog as well.
Only you know best what aspect of your diving practice requires a bit more attention from you. So focus on that in the upcoming year.
Start Logging
If you haven’t yet, then start logging your dives right away with your next dive. This whole article is about getting better, and a dive logbook is your first reference in this respect. We tend to forget things with time. A logbook, however, is where you keep your fresh impressions of each dive, so you can always come back and remind yourself what went great and what was not so good. It is a key habit to improve as a diver and start taking your diving progress seriously. Read more about the importance of a dive logbook in this article.
Learn Underwater Photography
You truly enjoy what you see underwater, don’t you? So maybe the time has come that you make some quality images or videos of the underwater world and share them with your friends and family. You can even start selling your photos and films on stocks and get a little reward for your pleasurable efforts. Moreover, getting better at this skill will enhance your visual perception. You will pay more attention to details around you trying to build that perfect composition for your shot. Although underwater photography is a whole new skill that requires a good level of involvement, it will make each immersion more enjoyable and engaging. Our Beginner’s Guide to Underwater Photography will help to get you started.
Give Back to the Ocean
We love the ocean - that’s a fact. The ocean is suffering and needs our voices and hands - that’s another fact. There is always something you can do on a local level. No matter how small or insignificant it may appear on a global scale, every little action matters and is important for the aggregated power of change. There are many ways you can help. For instance, you can participate in your local Project AWARE event.
Simply spreading the word or going to the nearby beach and collecting litter is already a huge help. If your heart burns, at some point, the hearts around you will be ignited too.
To conclude, you do not have to put many items on your New Year’s resolutions list. Be realistic and set only the achievable goals for 2022. It will grant you a sense of completion once you mark all your checkboxes by the end of the next year.
And lastly, DIPNDIVE wishes you good luck and the very best in all your future endeavors. Stay safe and make 2021 stand out on your diving journey.
