Depth Takes Time: A Non-Linear Journey

On returning, reworking, and respecting the spiral of growth.

There’s a moment in every freediver’s path where the numbers stop climbing. Maybe even fall back.

It can happen after a breakthrough, after you’ve hit a personal best, felt the flow of freefall, or finally equalized at depth with ease. You start to think, I’m past that now. But the next dive, the next training cycle, or even the next season arrives… and it’s different. More tension. Less comfort. Shallower dives. Old doubts.

And it’s tempting to treat that shift like a failure.

But the truth is: this journey is not linear. Progress in freediving rarely is.

I’ve been deeper before. There was a stretch where things felt clean, powerful, even light. I had rhythm. I had confidence. And now? I’m not there. I’ve stepped back. Or maybe more honestly…I’ve been pulled back.

And I’m learning (again) that this isn’t something to fix. It’s something to witness.