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Dealing with personal challenges introduction
Introduction to courage
Introduction to courage
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It was a warm, summer morning in Tualatin as I stretched and jumped out of my bed, eager to start my day. Some friends and I had decided to go swimming in the Tualatin River in Lake Oswego. As rumors had it, there was a building there that towered over the water. It stood 65 feet above the water. Naturally, I had no intentions of jumping. But deep down I knew I would face my fear. We arrived in Lake Oswego and as a group decided to head to a popular place known as barrels. Barrels is roughly 40 feet above the water. Lots of people were there and it was a fun time. After a few minutes of standing around, I decided to make the plunge. Slowly, I climbed on top of the railing and looked over the sparkling blue water below. Inside my head, I counted down from five and my feet left the earth and were gliding through the air rapidly towards the water. My feet hit the water and shock overcame my body. The icy water chilled me as I clawed to reach the surface. As I hit the surface of the water, I smiled. I had conquered the first jump and I knew I could survive twenty-five more feet. …show more content…
the building towered over the water. As I looked at the building I was informed the only way to reach the top was to climb the tree next to it. Sighing, I started the climb to the top. Wedging myself between the building and the tree, I moved one foot at a time. It was a slow process, but after about three minutes of hard work my feet were safely on top of the building. Drenched in sweat, I started preparing for the dive. I was the only one of five to make the climb and I stood at the top by myself. My bravery and determination had put me here and I was hoping these traits were going to allow me to escape the situation. With no safe way down, I was left with one option. Looking over the edge my breath was taken away. My heart was beating and my muscles were tightening up. Without thinking I leaped and fell the 65 feet into the
Lake Tawakoni was impounded in 1960 and is located on the Sabine River in Texas. It is approximately 15 miles from Greenville TX. It has 37,879 acres of water with a maximum depth of 70 ft. and a pool level of 437 ft. Lake Tawakoni Texas (TX), is located on the South Fork and Cowleech Fork of the Sabine River.
I smiled to myself and decided that I would go join in. With that, I took a huge deep breath and jumped into the salty water. The water was cool and refreshing; I felt it slide through my hair making it sway in the water. I swam deeper and deeper into the deep blue water. Sunlight streamed through it, lighting up the water around me turning it to gold. I kicked harder and I felt my muscles surge with strength and I pushed further. My lunges began to burn for the need of oxygen, but I refused to go up. I repeatedly told myself just a little bit longer. Until I was unable to proceed anymore without more air in my lungs, I swam to the top of the water taking a huge breaths, filling my lungs with air. I could then taste the salty water as it ran down my face and dripped over my lips. Just then I thought, I will never forget this moment, this place, or the experiences I felt while visiting
As she was pulled out of the water by the two guards that witnessed her slip underneath the water's surface, I realized it was my turn. I aggressively unzipped my fanny pack where my CPR mask was stored and began checking vitals. She had a pulse but was not breathing. My heart immediately dropped. I wanted to perform the rescue by myself. I trusted the hours of training I had gone through, I knew would perform it right and to the best of my abilities. Even though I knew everyone was just as
The book opens on Anderson Lake, he stands in an open street market in Thailand inspecting the various fruits and vegetables for sale until he happens upon an entirely new fruit that he doesn’t recognize. This is important to few and far between, unless you are an economic hitman and a representative for the agribusiness giant, AgriGen. Anderson Lake owns a kink spring factory in Bangkok that is attempting to mass produce a completely new model of spring that will store an enormous amount of gigajoules of energy compared to the old model. The factory is a mere ruse for his true intentions for being in Thailand, which is discovering the location of the Thai seedbank so, AgriGen will have fresh DNA to manipulate. Anderson’s factory is nearly destroyed internally by a rampaging megodont (a genetically modified elephant used to run the power train of the factory). One of the many things destroyed includes algae baths, which are a crucial piece in the manufacturing process of the kink springs. The cost to replace this vital part is extremely high, and must be smuggled in on a dirigible. Anderson orders Hock Seng, a yellow card refugee from China that assists in running the company, to repare the factory as soon as possible, and in hopes of hurring him, threatens the loss of his job. Hock Seng’s job is made even more difficult by the fact that he has not bribed the customs officials because he has embezzled the bribe money given to him.
He judged the distance to be about a mile from the lodge to the waterfall, and crept slowly past the spiders. Careful not to make a sound, he trudged only on the dry land whenever he could and had to take off his shoes sometimes to avoid a squelching sound. He almost reached the water when suddenly a spider changed direction and came for him. Losing all sense of sneakiness, he ran to the waterfall and hid behind it. Although he lost the spider, his clothes were drenched and he had lost his shoes during the run. Now that he’s made it to the actual waterfall, it's time to climb. Now as a child Jerry’s dad always made him practice climbing, in case he got trapped somewhere in the mountain and had to climb out. Those punishing practices left blisters and limbs that ached for days, and Jerry hated them. But now, faced with an life-or-death moment he was glad for having them. The only problem was the shoes being missing. The distance vertically from the bottom to the top of the waterfall was about a hundred feet, easily accessible for someone without a fear of heights and good climbing skills. But Jerry had two major liabilities; the absence of shoes and the mossy slippery stones. Then Jerry realized that his strength was waning as the cold of the water seeped into his bones. And so without a second thought, he began to climb. The toes and hands fighting for whatever room they had on the smooth rocks and moss. Jerry was about half way up when disaster struck. It was a particularly smooth section of the rock and when his right foot tried to gain purchase, the left foot slipped, causing Jerry to plummet. The sensation of falling was almost relieving to the exhausting climb, during which he was shivering. Right as he began wondering when the fall was going to end, he landed back first into the bog and slammed his left arm into a small piece of sharp rock. The pain
When my father was twelve, he and his father built a small cabin in the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire. My grandfather has since passed away, but the cabin remains within my family. My childhood was spent driving the five hours to that cabin and then driving all around the state because we were so far from civilization. The town has since developed, but not until fairly recently. One of the places that my family most commonly frequented was Lake Winnipesaukee. One of my dogs even learned to swim at the lake after chasing a flock of sucks off of a dock. We spent an hour trying to lure her back to the shore – she loved the lake just as much as we did.
Surprisingly, our parents had beaten us to the top and we all stopped in awe, mesmerized by the great waterfall in front of us. My mouth felt like the Sahara desert. I vividly remember reaching for the chilling water bottle that hid underneath the tons of clothes stuffed in my father’s black backpack to quench my thirst. I took off my beaten down shoes and stinky socks covered in dirt from the trail and blood from the blisters on my feet and dove into the refreshing lake. After swimming through the lake for a few seconds, I abruptly jumped out of the freezing water. My toes turned into a blue that reminded me of the blueberry muffins from breakfast that morning. My body shivered as I exited the lake and threw on a warm towel over my shoulders. Gradually my body heat increased, escaping the risk of hypothermia. At that point, I just wanted to go home. My family and I gathered all our belongings and I dragged my energyless body into the large, gray shuttle. The shuttle smelled of sweat from previous passengers. It drove us down a rough, bumpy trail, causing my tall father to constantly slam his head on the roof of the car. After we finally got back to our hotel, we all let off a sigh of
As I inched my way toward the cliff, my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I could feel the coldness of the rock beneath my feet when my toes curled around the edge in one last futile attempt at survival. My heart was racing like a trapped bird, desperate to escape. Gazing down the sheer drop, I nearly fainted; my entire life flashed before my eyes. I could hear stones breaking free and fiercely tumbling down the hillside, plummeting into the dark abyss of the forbidding black water. The trees began to rapidly close in around me in a suffocating clench, and the piercing screams from my friends did little to ease the pain. The cool breeze felt like needles upon my bare skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps. The threatening mountains surrounding me seemed to grow more sinister with each passing moment, I felt myself fighting for air. The hot summer sun began to blacken while misty clouds loomed overhead. Trembling with anxiety, I shut my eyes, murmuring one last pathetic prayer. I gathered my last breath, hoping it would last a lifetime, took a step back and plun...
The cold gray light cast faint shadows onto the bike path that wound along the coast of Lake Huron and through scattered pine forest and picnic areas. Gusting wind blew around little piles of leaves, as the path made its way through an open area next to the great lake. Whitecaps and the larger swells from the lake occasionally broke up and over the small retaining wall that separated the path from the menacing water. The little boy on his bike pedaled as fast as he could through these stretches, and imagined one of the waves reaching up and over the wall, plucking him up and carrying him out into the vast expanse. He fought to keep down his panic as he rode for what had been hours through the ominous weather which, besides being cold and wet, included occasional flashes of lightning and the low menacing growl of distant
...we found the bodies, yet the crashing blue-green water spins me into a reality that is worlds away from the sight of stiff men. I'm not sure if this is healing or forgetfulness; all I can be certain of is the bite of the water on my skin and the dropping sun. I stare at my hand under the surface of the water, fascinated by how far away it looks and by the deep blue color of my fingernails. That hand isn't a part of my body, how can it be, it is deep in the water, opening and closing experimentally as water crashes on top of it. I want to leave it there, forever feeling the numbing water, forever fighting the currents that would wash it out to the Pacific Ocean. But then my arm moves, lifts my hand, and I realize it is mine, as are my legs and toes and wet matted hair. And the water keeps falling, pounding, rushing and I just stand there, staring, watching, waiting.
My sweat soaked shirt was clinging to my throbbing sunburn, and the salty droplets scalded my tender skin. “I need this water,” I reminded myself when my head started to fill with terrifying thoughts of me passing out on this ledge. I had never been so relieved to see this glistening, blissful water. As inviting as the water looked, the heat wasn't the only thing making my head spin anymore. Not only was the drop a horrifying thought, but I could see the rocks through the surface of the water and couldn't push aside the repeating notion of my body bouncing off them when I hit the bottom. I needed to make the decision to jump, and fast. Standing at the top of the cliff, it was as if I could reach out and poke the searing sun. Sweat dripped from my forehead, down my nose, and on its way to my dry, cracked lips which I licked to find a salty droplet. My shirt, soaked with perspiration, was now on the ground as I debated my
A quaint aroma of pure harmony and happiness is abroad the marvelous lake designed by years of change. It is a therapeutic retreat hidden from the world we entertain. Soft winds caress your neck as one nears the out-lying woods that surround this satisfaction achieved dwelling. As soon as the beautiful trees with fall colors start to dispel their leaves, it is as if a blanket is covering the forest for a nice nap. There is a road with winding turns, telescopic mountain passageways, and marvelous tunnels to enter the lake. Mirroring the gates of heaven, this is by far the closest thing on earth one will find near that sensation. After the passageway of parade-inspiring colors, one finds the opening to euphoria. It instantly allows someone to see slow sloping depressions covered by tanzanite colored water, neighboring a cunning mountainside that shields the relaxation depot from harmful advances of natures? might. The water is as still as a cell phone when it is turned off. The air is fragrant with honeysuckles, pine, and grass. For some un-answerable reason, one feels that a whi...
As the first strong and familiar rays of light rose from the jagged and harsh landscape, the Warden could feel a tinge of pleasure in her exhausted body.
Following the trail, we lost sight of the waterfall for most of the time it took to climb down. As we neared the bottom, huge rocks at the edge of the waterfall blocked all view of it. Once the waterfall became visible, it was more beautiful that ever. From the bottom, we could see the vapors rising from where the falls bubbled into the pool. We could see the rainbow that was made from the sunlight shining through the mist. Since it was such a nice day, we decided to go for a swim.
The water beats at the bank feel gently, and resides carefully to avoid over soaking it. The air is fresh and overwhelming with cool gushes of wind blowing past, provoking the trees to yawn and some times sleep. It was a lovely Valentine day and perfect for a picnic at Lake Lavon.