Just Keep Breathing

At summer camp last week, I also faced my fear of drowning and had a "scuba experience" -- half day of scuba for beginners. I wanted to experience a little of what my son was doing since he was getting his PADI certification. I had never scuba dived before and had only learned how to snorkel four year before, the last time we went to Catalina Island with scouts. I initially panicked when we started to actually breath underwater, but I overcame it and progressed to actually going on a short dive. Where I lost it was when I looked up and realized how deep under the water I was. I started hyperventilating and had to get to the surface. It was embarrassing since there were all these young kids doing it, too, and they seemed to be enjoying the experience. The instructor, a young French-Canadian woman, kept encouraging me to trust the equipment and, "just keep breathing. Remember, the surface is only a feet away."

With those words in my head I went back out again and faced my fears. I wasn't entirely successful in vanquishing them, but I will never forget the life lesson I learned that day -- When you begin to panic just keep breathing. The surface is only a few feet away.

Drawing Conclusions

Last week my son and I went to summer scout camp on Catalina. One of the things I did for several trips was bring my sketch book to make drawings. However I never did. My excuse in the past was usually my involvement in "scout management." I think another secret reason was that others would mock me for being an artist and think me not manly enough for boy scouts. Most of the other scout leaders were men who did manly things like hunting, fishing, riding dune buggies, etc. I didn't want to seem the prissy artsy man.

One thing that really helped me overcome this was my son. Last year he became very serious about his art and at the end of the school year he said, "Dad, I'd love to spend some time with you this summer sketching." I realized that I was avoiding doing something that was a special gift. How many dads can proudly declare they are artists (though I would never claim I'm a great one).

Another thing was that recently did some sketches for a visualization of a project at work. They were incredibly well received. I realized that I had a unique skill not many others possess. One that is prized not despised.

The confluence of these two events woke the artist in me and I took some time to sketch in camp. The results were surprising. The drawings were not half-bad, but what really surprised me was the reaction of the other men. They expressed surprise and appreciation for what I did and even asked me to use my artistic skills to help with two things when we had the Aquacade, a kind of camp Olympics, the last day of camp. For the scoutmaster belly flop the scoutmaster had to wear a costume. They asked me to paint something on the body of an assistant scoutmaster. He was rather large so I painted "Save the Whale" on his back and a picture of a happy whale underneath. Everyone loved it. The kids were especially impressed with the whale. I also helped the boys with the sandcastle contest. They wanted to make a soapbox race car. It won second place and our troop won the Aquacade.

A couple days ago at the troop meeting the assistant scoutmaster stood up and publicly praised me for making him look good for the contest. I realized that I need to have more pride in myself an my abilities and not be afraid to be different.