Month four of training, and the dive that used to sit in my chest like a lump went… fine. Not easy. Just fine.
I started where almost everyone does: pool sessions, a mask, and a coach repeating “equalize early, equalize often.” The Valsalva I arrived with stopped working past 8m. That’s normal. Most adults lose it as the mask and sinuses load up. What replaced it was Frenzel: tongue against the soft palate, a small pump, no pinch.
The number that changed my week was a CO2 table. Three rounds, short holds, thirty seconds of easy breathing between. Not to build a bigger breath, but to teach my body that a little carbon dioxide is not an emergency. After two weeks the urge to bail at 15m dropped.
At 20m the water goes quiet in a way no pool prepares you for. The dive I logged this morning was my cleanest descent yet: one equalization per meter, eyes open, line in sight the whole way down. My buddy did not have to move once.
None of this is me being special. It’s the standard path, course then tables then buddy then patience, done without skipping steps.