An Interview With Freediver Jonathan Sunnex

Posted on April 05, 2021

Author: Jonathan Sunnex

Meet One Of The World's Deepest Men

Jonathan Sunnex, one of the world's deepest men, is a freediver who lives life to the full. Having made dives to below 100m (in FIM, CWT & VWT), he has trained athletes to World and National Records and has coached hundreds of new, aspiring freedivers. In an interview with Timo Niessner, Johnny reveals his thoughts on personal expectations, fear, values in life, success and... vanilla ice cream!

What Brings You Out Of Bed In The Morning?

The urge to pee! I just want to get out and make an adventure of the day. My life is heavily based around freediving in nearly every aspect, so, most of my projects are generally based around freediving and I like that, because I like the different facets that there are in freediving. Having different projects just keeps things exciting and makes you want to get out of bed each morning.

How Do You Handle Your Expectations?

I think I definitely have expectations of myself, I like to set a certain standard in anything that I do. I'm kind of a perfectionist and this is a good thing and a bad thing. Sometimes it means that it'll take me a lot longer to do a certain task because I'm not happy with it, until it reaches a certain level. Sometimes I'm never happy with something that I'm working on and it could mean that, for example, I could be writing an article and I never release it, because it's not up to the standard that I would like.

What About Expectations From The Outside?

I guess expectations from the outside could maybe come from my students. They might have certain expectations, whether it's an expectation that they want from me or an expectation of themselves. When I'm trying to deal with their expectations from themselves, I try to make sure that they're reasonable and realistic. You could have a goal of becoming a world champion but if at that time it's not realistic, then we try to find something that's more attainable and then over time you get closer to your overall goal - that would be my way of handling that. Now, if somebody has an expectation of me, if I can do something to the best of my abilities, then generally I satisfy other people's

expectations.

How Do You Personally Handle Moments Of Fear?

Preparation is everything. If you prepare yourself the best that you can and you look at the picture before you do it, then there's no reason why you can't achieve what you when you set out to do. If you turn up to something unprepared then in some ways it's like failure. So i make sure that i'm prepared.

Which Three Values In Life Are The Most Important To You?

Respect. You must give respect in order to get respect and you must also earn respect you know. I think that you should respect your fellow man, your fellow woman, the animals and the environment. I always try to give respect, it doesn't matter if you don't know someone, you should automatically give them respect, unless they lose your respect. Also maybe you shouldn't always expect to get respect back, maybe sometimes you have to earn that respect and I know this from doing an apprenticeship working in the trade. You weren't automatically given respect as an apprentice, you had to earn it. So number one is respect. Second and third are hard work and perseverance. If you're not prepared to work for something, then you may not achieve it - perseverance. Success doesn't just happen by working hard once, success comes from working hard in failing, working hard and failing again and again and just keep picking yourself up and going at it again.

What Is Success For You Personally?

I think success changes from person to person and maybe even in different phases of your life. I think success for me is happiness. Are you happy in your life? You could be successful by having a lot of money, but are you happy? I'd rather be poor and happy (instead of rich & unhappy). If I wanted to be rich I would have kept going with my old career.

Is There One Special Thing Or One Special Moment You Want To Achieve Within Your Lifetime?

I have already achieved something that I really set my heart on and, to be honest, I never expected myself to do that in the beginning. Me diving 100 meters was a big achievement for myself. Personal goals? Maybe financial security, for not just like now, but like set myself up for life, would be nice. Money isn't everything but having financial security makes it easier to work on some of the things that you want to do.