My sisters and I grew up with our mother suffering from claustrophobia. I'm not sure she's ever been in a lift and she's only flown a few times in her life
I've never been sure whether I have claustrophobia - or just picked up the thought - but always struggled in small spaces - where I have little control to get out. Last week I struggled in the middle of a row watching Kraftwerk in an amphitheatre.
So, although I love being in the sea, the thought of underwater scuba diving has always made me too nervous to try.
This week though, our guests in Epidavros wanted to give it a go with our friends Vicky Martin & James Martin at Scuba Blue Dream Epidavros
I got in the water but the problem came when I found I was not in control of rising out of it - in case I did it too quickly (very likely if I had a moment of claustrophobic panic). I needed to rely on James to get me up and out
As we reached the bottom of the shallow dive area, that lack of control caused me to want to get up and out - now! James sorted me.
I tried again, again panicked and again James got me up. We had a chat on the surface, James trying to coax me back down, me hesitating. I gave it another go - and finally managed to relax, see some fish & octopus, meet up with Sachin Greg, and David and actually do some scuba diving...
Why could I overcome a lifelong fear - because I trusted James, totally.
I needed to trust someone to help me over the initial hurdle - and now that opens up a whole new underwater world - I could pass a test in 3 days, have control of my own up and down and get to swim with the fishes
Thanks James.