The document is an excerpt from William Douglas' autobiography describing his childhood fear of water and how he was able to overcome it through determination and willpower. As a young boy, Douglas developed an aversion to water after being knocked over by waves at the beach and nearly drowning in a swimming pool. Though he stayed away from water for many years, his desire to fish and swim motivated him to face his fear. With an instructor's guidance teaching him swimming skills and building confidence, Douglas was able to conquer his fear and learn to swim in lakes and waterfalls.
The document is an excerpt from William Douglas' autobiography describing his childhood fear of water and how he was able to overcome it through determination and willpower. As a young boy, Douglas developed an aversion to water after being knocked over by waves at the beach and nearly drowning in a swimming pool. Though he stayed away from water for many years, his desire to fish and swim motivated him to face his fear. With an instructor's guidance teaching him swimming skills and building confidence, Douglas was able to conquer his fear and learn to swim in lakes and waterfalls.
The document is an excerpt from William Douglas' autobiography describing his childhood fear of water and how he was able to overcome it through determination and willpower. As a young boy, Douglas developed an aversion to water after being knocked over by waves at the beach and nearly drowning in a swimming pool. Though he stayed away from water for many years, his desire to fish and swim motivated him to face his fear. With an instructor's guidance teaching him swimming skills and building confidence, Douglas was able to conquer his fear and learn to swim in lakes and waterfalls.
The document is an excerpt from William Douglas' autobiography describing his childhood fear of water and how he was able to overcome it through determination and willpower. As a young boy, Douglas developed an aversion to water after being knocked over by waves at the beach and nearly drowning in a swimming pool. Though he stayed away from water for many years, his desire to fish and swim motivated him to face his fear. With an instructor's guidance teaching him swimming skills and building confidence, Douglas was able to conquer his fear and learn to swim in lakes and waterfalls.
The story has been taken from the author’s autobiography - ‘Of Men and Mountains’. This excerpt tells about his fear of water and how he conquered it by determination and will power.
As a child of 3 or 4 years old, he had developed an aversion to
water when he went to the beach in California with his father. The waves knocked him down and he was scared by the might of the huge waves and it instilled a fear in his sub-conscious mind.
A few years later, in his eagerness to learn swimming, he joined
a swimming pool where an incident further increased his terror. He was pushed into the pool by another boy and experienced death closely.
Many years after that incident, he stayed away from water but the desire to go fishing and swimming in nature was strong enough to motivate him to overcome his fear.
He learned swimming with the help of an instructor who ensured
that William knew swimming well enough to be able to swim in huge lakes and waterfalls also.
Still, when he would swim, the fear from his childhood
experiences, embedded in his sub-conscious mind would grip him over and over again. He wanted to conquer that fear.
He faced it sarcastically, thinking that now, as he knew how to
swim, what harm could it do to him. He challenged his fear in the face of it and finally it would vanish. It was a baseless fear instilled in his sub-conscious mind. This experience was valuable for him. He had experienced terror and death. He overcame it and finally conquered it.
William realized that death is peaceful and it is the fear of death
that is terrorizing. His will to live life grew intensely as he had overcome his fear and started living fearlessly.
THEME It highlights the fact that childhood fears must never be treated lightly. If they are not tackled, then they deeply influence one's psychology. Douglas analyses his fear and finally overcomes it by his courage, determination, hard work, strong will power, perseverance and the desire to learn.
NOTES [Please write the questions and answers in your notebook] (Questions on Page 29, FLAMINGO – Understanding the text) Ans.1: Douglas paints a very vivid description of the experience that he went through and of the terror that gripped him. He tried to hit the water surface in a sitting position but became frightened as he went down. He decided to bounce up but the rise was slow and he panicked. He felt being suffocated and had swallowed a fair bit of water which choked him. He could not raise his legs. His lungs ached, he head throbbed and he felt dizzy. He tried again to spring off the floor, when he couldn’t, terror took a firmer hold of him. He shouted for help but felt himself going down. While going down he experienced boldness coming over him and wiping out his terror then, he felt no fear or panic but only slipped into oblivion. Ans.2: Douglas realised that the only way to overcome his fear of water would be to conquer it. So, he got an instructor and practised five days a week. The instructor attached a rope to his belt, held on to its end and made him go back and forth. Initially Douglas felt the old terror coming back, but it gradually lost its grip over the author. The instructor taught him how to put his face under water and exhale and how to pop his nose out and inhale. Bit by bit he shed off his fear of water .the coach held him by the edge of the pool. He felt the old sense of sickens coming over him when he tried to kick his leg, but gradually managed to master it. And though he had stopped being guided by the instructor, it was not all over till he tried it out in the open all by himself. So he dived in Lake Wentworth, swam over two miles, put his face under the water and swam to the other shore and back of Warm Lake.
Ans. 3: The experience had left a deep impression in the author’s mind and he could never forget it. He wanted to share this experience with others. He used it to apply it to a wider meaning of life and living through it. He came to realise that there is peace in death and terror in the fear of death. He had experienced both, the sensations of dying and of terror so his will to live had become intense as he had learnt to be free of fear.
