Lynn H. Blackburn’s second Dive Team Investigations novel released late last year and she’s sharing today about the disaster and delight of learning to scuba dive – all in the name of research! She has some wise words to share which I hope you enjoy. Be sure to enter the giveaway below, for the chance to win a copy of IN TOO DEEP!

Over to you, Lynn…

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Beginner Life

As part of the research for my Dive Team Investigations series—Beneath the Surface and In Too Deep—I needed to learn to scuba dive. I was nervous (especially about the having to shimmy into a wetsuit) but for the most part I was excited.

Two minutes after getting into the water, I wasn’t excited anymore.

I was too busy trying not to drown—in five feet of water. Everything they’d told us in the classroom? I couldn’t figure out how to do any of it. My breathing accelerated. My mask filled with water. I couldn’t clear it. Everyone else was doing it. Why couldn’t I?

The first afternoon in the pool was an unmitigated disaster. At one point the dive master was hanging on to my hand while my body floated, feet first, toward the surface. She had to pull me back down and help me get turned right side up. It didn’t help that there were two kids in our class who weren’t having the slightest difficulty, while I couldn’t perform the most basic of skills.

I managed to hold back tears until I’d squirmed out of the wetsuit and back into dry clothes. But when I called my husband on the way home I sobbed as I told him, “I’m horrible at this! I’ll never learn!”

Fast forward to this July. I stepped into the crystal clear water off the Florida Keys and descended into a living aquarium. I had some trouble with my buoyancy, but I didn’t panic. My mask occasionally needed to be cleared, but it was no big deal. I swam with sharks and eel and beautiful fish and I could have cried for the joy of it all.

So what happened between the disaster and the delight?

I’m convinced it has nothing to do with my own skill or tenacity (isn’t that a much nicer word than stubbornness?) Instead, it has everything to do with the instructors who didn’t belittle me for being a beginner, but encouraged me every step of the way.

This experience and their example have reframed the way I treat myself when I’m tackling something new and the way I interact with those around me who are beginners at something I’ve already mastered. Here’s what I know now:

When You’re the Beginner

1. Being a beginner is hard but it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Whatever you’re attempting, whether it’s writing a book, knitting a scarf, or scuba diving, there’s no shame in being a beginner. I had convinced myself that because I was an intelligent adult, I wouldn’t have any trouble learning to dive. When it didn’t come easily, I was embarrassed. But I shouldn’t have been. Being an adult didn’t mean this wasn’t new. In fact, because I’m a responsible adult, with a strong survival instinct, it made sense that my brain wouldn’t be keen on staying underwater for long stretches of time. The same is true for any new pursuit. If you’re new, embrace it! Tell everyone you’re a beginner. People won’t expect perfection. In fact, they’ll be impressed by your efforts.

2. Just because it looks easy, doesn’t mean it is. Have you ever watched someone knitting a scarf? Fingers flying, yarn transforming before your eyes . . . it looks effortless. It isn’t. Don’t compare yourself to people who have years of experience in something you’re a newbie in. If you’d watched them fumble with needles and yarn the first time they attempted to knit, you wouldn’t feel so bad about yourself. Give yourself credit for taking a risk and give yourself lots of grace as you learn.

3. The distance from beginner to expert is different for everyone. While some of my classmates seemed to take to diving like it was, in fact, easy, that wasn’t the case for me. The same is true for all of us. There will be times when everything clicks and we find ourselves improving daily. Other times, our progress may be so slow that we can only see it when we look back over months or years.

When You’re the Expert

1. Be kind to the beginners. Despite my bumbling efforts, my instructors were unfailingly kind. Over and over they repeated, “You’re doing great,” “You’ll get it,” and the always popular, “Relax.” I was so frazzled that if I’d sensed frustration from them, I might not have been able to make myself go back. But their constant encouragement helped me believe that I might be able to do it—eventually.

2. Remember what it was like when you were new. It’s easy to forget. When writing conferences are old hat or scarves are too simple unless they involve intricate lacework, it’s tempting to think we’ve always been good at this. But if we can remember how terrified we were to pitch our novel, or how many times we had to frog that garter stitch washcloth, or, in my case, how long it took me to figure out how to clear my mask without drowning, it will temper our attitude toward those who are still struggling to figure it out.

3. Don’t expect everyone to learn at the same pace. When I did my open water dives, our local dive shop owner (who bears a remarkable resemblance to Santa Clause in flippers) gave me one-on-one attention. I kept apologizing for being the remedial student but he chuckled and said, “Lynn, I just want to hug you until you relax. You’re doing great.” I wasn’t doing great, but he gave me the encouragement I needed to keep trying. As the expert, you can be the difference between a newbie throwing in the towel or staying in the race.

These lessons have changed so many things in my life—how I treat my own kids when they’re learning something new, how much grace I give myself when I make mistakes during a new endeavor, and, I hope, how I interact with anyone daring to push themselves in a new and exciting way.

If you’re on the fence about trying something new, do it! And if you have a chance to encourage a newbie today, do it!

The beginner life is challenging, but then, all worthwhile things are.

Grace and peace,

Lynn

Thanks so much, Lynn!

When the dive team is called in to recover a body from a submerged car, they aren’t prepared to find an encrypted laptop–or an unsettling connection between investigator Adam Campbell and the dead accountant.

Adam turns to his friend Dr. Sabrina Fleming–a professor at the local university with unparalleled computer security and forensics skills–to recover the files from the laptop. But the deeper they dig, the deadlier the investigation becomes. When evidence uncovers a human trafficking ring and implicates members of Adam’s own family, he and Sabrina will have to risk everything to solve the case.

The truth could set hundreds free–but someone is willing to do whatever it takes to silence anyone who threatens to reveal their secrets. Award-winning author Lynn H. Blackburn invites readers back to Carrington, North Carolina, where everything is not as it seems and sinister elements lurk behind the idyllic façade.

Lynn H. Blackburn is the author of Beneath the Surface, Hidden Legacy, and Covert Justice, winner of the 2016 Selah Award for Mystery and Suspense and the 2016 Carol Award for Short Novel. Blackburn believes in the power of stories, especially those that remind us that true love exists, a gift from the Truest Love. She’s passionate about CrossFit, coffee, and chocolate (don’t make her choose) and experimenting with recipes that feed both body and soul. She lives in Simpsonville, South Carolina, with her true love, Brian, and their three children.

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