A Near-Death Scuba Diving Experience That Changed How I Live After 50

Introduction to Mind Body Faith Over 50

I'm TJ Dennison. Welcome to the Mind Body Faith Over 50 podcast. Hey, I have a story for you today about a time I almost died and how that changed the way I live.

Before we get into that though, I want you to know a little bit about me and the meaning behind Mind Body Faith Over 50. So who am I? Well, I'm a Christian, a coach, a husband.

A father, a grandpa. To my boys, I'm dad. But to my mom and dad, I'm Tim. Or Timothy James Dennison when I was in trouble.

To my wife, I'm honey or baby. Or a few other pet names that I'll keep to myself. Growing up, I was fascinated with the earth, space, the universe and all of God's creation.

So since I basically loved science, I spent a lot of time studying that in school, which I quickly learned required a lot of math, so I got pretty good at that too. After high school, it took me twelve and a half years working full-time to get my four-year Bachelor of Science degree.

But I never gave up because I was determined to get it. In fact, I was the first one on my mom's side of the family to even get a college degree. And I would have been the first on my dad's side of the family, except during that 12 and a half years, one of my younger cousins beat me to it.

Eventually I got a job at an engineering firm as an environmental scientist. Besides science, though, I love community. I like being part of a team, leading people, and helping each other.

So that's my vision for the Mind Body Faith Over Fifty podcast. But why is it called Mind Body Faith Over Fifty? Because as someone who's been over fifty for ten years now, you can do the math, I've experienced firsthand the importance of strengthening my mind, body, and faith.

The Science of the Mind and Neuroplasticity

I want to help you do that too. Our minds are incredible supercomputers that we can program to accomplish and overcome almost anything. But even if we don't think we're programming them, they're still being programmed, just maybe not the way that we want them.

In Ephesians 4, the Bible talks about renewing our thoughts and attitudes. And in science, there's a term called neuroplasticity that describes how we can use our minds to change our thoughts and actions.

We also know from science that our thoughts are real things that create actual pathways in our brain. It's kind of like if you walk along the same place on the ground over and over again, it starts to form a path.

Eventually you just follow along the path without even having to try to find it. But if you decide to go a new way, that'll eventually form a different path, even though it'll take some time for the old one to fade away.

The Importance of Body and Faith

Our bodies are what allow us to function each day. And how well we're able to do that is a reflection of how well we take care of them. I'm not just talking about exercise, although that's important.

I'm also talking about what we put into our bodies to keep them healthy, to give us energy, and to protect us from the environment. And then there's faith, which to me is the most important part of all. Because after all, God created us.

In fact, this picture behind me is called the creation of Adam. It represents the hand of God in human form reaching out to touch the hand of man to bring him to life.

To me, faith is the belief in God and his love for us, even though we don't actually see him. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as the substance of things unknown and the evidence of things not yet seen.

The Day Everything Went Wrong Underwater

So why did I share that? So I have a story to share. It's about a time four or five years ago when some friends of mine invited me to go fishing down in the Florida Keys.

Now, you have to know, I don't like fishing. But the Florida Keys sounded pretty cool. And it was on a speedboat, so yeah, why not?

I know the whole point's not really to go fishing anyway. In fact, this wasn't even fishing, it was lobster fishing, which I didn't really know a lot about, so I asked. Found out all you really need's a stick and a bag.

And since I'm already a scuba diver, we'll have that part down. Guess the whole point is you try to catch the lobsters that are running along the bottom or swimming along the bottom of the ocean. At least that's my story.

I swear these things were swimming. And since it was only about thirty feet deep where we went out, it wasn't too much of a problem to be able to go to the bottom and put into the net. Except if you know anything about scuba diving, you're supposed to have a buddy.

I had a buddy. He was a master diver. But he kind of got tired of me chasing one of these lobsters for a long time because I decided I was gonna get this thing even if it killed me.

Fighting for Air in the Florida Keys

That was the problem because it almost did. It wasn't the lobster that almost killed me. It was the fact that I realized the air that I had left in the tank was getting low.

In fact, I could reach down and see on my wrist the gauge that was slowly moving into the red zone as I was fighting this lobster that was all over the place. So eventually he got tired and left. Big mistake.

Of course, I don't care, right? Because I got this. I'm only like 30 feet down. I can see the surface. I've got these fins. I've got all my equipment. I can give it right to the surface if I needed to. So what's the big deal?

I don't even care if I really ran out of air at this point because I mean what's the worst that can happen if I just get right up to the surface, right? That was another mistake. Turns out I did run out of air.

I knew it was gonna happen because there's this buzzing sound that even through the water you can hear and you could feel it vibrating on my wrist as it's warning me that I've only got a couple of hundred pounds of air left and then eventually nothing.

The way I realized that wasn't because the buzzing stopped, it was because I went to take another breath of air and it was more like water. Worst part is I didn't get the lobster.

The Struggle at the Surface

So I came back to the surface really quickly, flapping my fins, right? I'm like just trying to get up there as fast as I can. It took a little more than I thought it would.

Probably because it didn't occur to me that once I ran out of air, that meant there was no way to get air into my vest while I was still underwater. Which if you know a little bit about diving, that's the part that lets you stay afloat.

So it's okay. I'm still at the surface. Now I should be able to float relatively easily, but something wasn't right. I mean, not only was my vest not inflated, but I felt like it was just like pulling me down like into the water.

I was a little concerned as I waved to try to get the attention of the boat, which is long ways from me at this point. I felt like they saw me. I saw somebody wave back, but the boat didn't come.

And I'm getting worse because I'm getting pulled underwater and I don't understand it. What is going on? I decided I'm gonna try to lay back, maybe try to do that dead man's float thing. That made it even worse.

I was literally getting pulled underneath and now I'm seriously concerned. I've already taken one gulp of water when I was on the bottom, and now I'm choking, trying to holler for the boat again at the same time.

I don't want to give up my man card here. I don't want to have to holler help. I seem that boat to get to me really quickly, right? So I'm waving, frantically waving again because I forgot the whole system of signs that you're in distress, which I'm pretty sure you're like supposed to make an X.

If my buddy had been there, he could have helped me out, but it didn't matter at this point. I'm just in trouble. And that boat's not coming to me. Even though they saw me, they're doing something with the back of the boat and I'm really getting worried at this point.

I keep getting pulled under water even more and I realize I've gotta just like jettison this vest and the tank because it's pulling me under anyway. It doesn't have air in it, and this isn't good.

So in my brain, I'm thinking, okay, the weights that I've got in the vest, I'm gonna go ahead and get rid of those first. But I had zipped them into the vest and I didn't even realize there was like a quick release and that wasn't where you're supposed to put them.

At this point I'm using my energy to unzip them, pull the weights out of them. That doesn't help. So I'm back to just getting rid of the whole vest at this point. So I start to unsnap the vest, and I remember when I got the vest, not only did the guy not show me how really to use it like put the weights in the right place, that kind of thing.

He probably figured since I had a C card that I knew it all right. The other problem though was that one of the clasps was broken. And as a guy, you know, zip ties, duct tape, and you can fix anything, right?

So I just zip tied it. Would have been fine if I didn't need to rip it off at a hurry. So now I'm like playing like the Hulk, just trying to rip the thing apart. Finally get that off.

The vest comes off, the tank comes off, and I realize it was a lot heavier than it should have been, and it just went down into the water. I don't know if I'm gonna get it back or not, but I'm still waiting on this boat.

Ten Seconds to Live

I can't even hardly say anything at this point, and I know that I'm not gonna be able to make it past like a minute because I've never felt my body so tired, so out of breath, and just tingling.

Like I'm thinking as I'm going under a couple of times that the next time might be the last. So I try to holler help. I think I get out, but I guess I got the attention of one of the guys on the boat.

Probably the guy that was supposed to be with me, the master diver, who's now come back up 'cause he was probably running out of air and came up. He jumps to the front of the boat.

The boat takes off in a hurry and starts coming towards me, but this thing's still. It's just too far away. I've got no life left in me. And my thought at this point is, well, maybe if they just see me, I can go under, I'll pass out, but one of them will be able to jump in.

Maybe they can find me, and hopefully I won't. Then I thought if I could just make it ten seconds. So I'm starting to count down ten, nine, eight. I am just frantically moving in the water, even to stay, you know, a head above water, even though I'm getting rugged under.

Seven, six. The boat now is turning, and I think maybe I can hang on just long enough to reach my arm out. Five, four. One of the guys reaches his arm out to me. Three, two, and we connect hands, but I have nothing left in me.

I'm totally at the whim of the guy that's got my hand, but he's got it. He pulled me around to the back of the boat. I was able to roll on to the back with his help, but I couldn't even speak at this point.

I'd never felt that exhausted in my life. And it scared me a little bit I couldn't speak. Meanwhile my friend who invited me on the trips like TJ TJ what happened to your stuff? Where where's the tank? What'd you do? What'd you do?

Can't say anything at this point. I'm just fighting to live, right? So eventually, I don't know, two, three, or four minutes, it seemed that long anyway. I'm finally able to just get out enough words and point for them to realize that my tank, the vest, everything was back over there where they found me.

Because at this point they drifted along, and I guess one of them decided they were gonna jump in and try to find this tank, which fortunately they did. Turns out it was buried down into the sand.

And the reason why—scientists here telling you something that I should have known—is that when I ran out of air and I was like 30 feet down, there's no air coming out, so guess what happens instead?

Yeah, all the water gets sucked in. So that tank that I came up to the surface with, it was filled with water that was pulling me under the whole time. No wonder I had such a hard time breathing.

They were able to get it back up into the boat after the first guy found it. It took two of them even to be able to pull the thing out of the water. But at this point, I don't care. I just am glad to be alive.

Why Dying is More Than Losing Your Life

So why do I share all that with you? Because dying it can be more than just losing your life. It can be not living. In fact, a lot of us have already lost the zeal to live.

Maybe we think we're past that age that it really matters how we take care of ourselves, or maybe we think there's not a lot to look forward to, you know, life's been okay. Maybe we haven't had any dreams in a while.

I'm here to tell you, there's a lot of life left to live. And I want to help you rekindle those dreams and that energy because I guarantee you, since that experience, it's opened my eyes in the way that I see everything.

So my hope with this podcast is that we'll learn to live our best lives together as the mind body faith family. I can't wait to be with you again in our next episode. Until then, remember, renew your mind, strengthen your body, grow your faith, and live your best years yet.

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