It appears that almost overnight we have shifted to a surreal alternate reality of late, doesn't it?
This pandemic seemingly came out of nowhere and has within a few weeks almost brought the entire world to a standstill.
As freedivers, we are mostly "outside" people, so this social isolation and home confinement is something that may be harder to us than most people.
So what is one to do to deal with this situation?
Encouragingly, a lot of big names in the community are making an effort to keep the rest of us entertained with live sessions on Facebook etc.
Umberto Pelizzari is doing daily livestreams for the much afflicted fratelli in Italy, Molchanovs have been doing their part
and even we at the Freediving Science group managed to eek out a couple of scientific live sessions regarding training, injuries etc.
But that still doesn't address how we feel with this confinement.
Here is my suggestion, for what it's worth: adapt.
I see lots of people online posting and asking how they can keep training apnea while confined at home, how they can stay fit as a freediver, as well as a lot of
frustration over not being able to go to water, memories shared and whatnot.
How I see it is freedivers are - or ideally should be - strong and flexible people, moreso perhaps than the general populace, right?
This applies to both physical as well as mental fitness though.
So, since we are excellent at adapting to the underwater pressure and randomness of the marine environment, we should be adept at adapting to this too.
Isn't this then a great opportunity to wind down, to take a break from our usual routine, to work more inwardly?
Yes, we still have to stay fit physically and I of course encourage working out at home etc, but will it really hurt you if you don't train apnea for a couple of months?
The majority of us aren't competing athletes at the highest level with sponsors and records to worry about anyway.
So, maybe it's a good time to work more on ourselves, meditate, do relaxed breathing exercises focusing more on feeling and control rather than performance, time etc,
read some books, catch up on the theory and science, watch videos about technique, and overall maybe for some time live like a "normal" person.
Think of it this way: this will pass eventually, wouldn't it have been an interesting experiment to step outside ourselves a bit and live differently for some time?
I'd wager it will be a worthwhile lesson, perhaps we can learn to live more slowly, focus more on details and feelings rather than performances and pushing for PBs and whatnot.