Defying Gravity Defying Fear Is the Quest of a Woman Who Sets Out to Overcome Fear. Heather Swan Declares Her Intrigue with the Emotion Fear. She Writes of Her Journey in Dealing with and Defeating It. in the Book,

1310 Words6 Pages
Defying Gravity Defying Fear is the quest of a woman who sets out to overcome fear. Heather Swan declares her intrigue with the emotion fear. She writes of her journey in dealing with and defeating it. In the book, Heather writes of how she overcame all her inhibitions and came to a place where she embraces life with open arms. Heather’s way of overcoming fear was to BASEjump (climb and jump off with a parachute) one of the highest peaks in the world, the Great Trango Tower in Pakistan. The main message of the book is best described by Heather, “…it seemed the ultimate metaphor for jumping into life, rather than standing on the edge quivering” (Swan, 2002). It is obvious Heather was determined, but this did not come without struggle, pain and numerous setbacks. The major setback for Heather was a terrible bungee jumping accident that almost claimed her life. Coming to a place where Heather decides to jump off one of the highest peaks in the world is the first part of her journey. Heather was a 34 year old single mother. Working to support her two kids, Heather lived a busy, but as she describes mundane and regular life. As the national manager of Harry M. Miller’s Speakers’ Bureau, Heather had listened to many speakers. The one to change her life forever was Dr Glenn Singleman. He was the world record breaking BASEjumper and was due to give a presentation in Sydney. Singleman was a medical doctor, climber and documentary filmmaker. He documented and filmed his world record breaking BASEjump and released the film BASEclimb, which went on to win 21 international awards. After Glenn’s presentation, Heather began to think about her life and how much she loathed it. She wished she could do something like what Glenn had done. In the book she writes, “I remember thinking, if you could jump off a cliff you could do anything” (Swan, 2002). In the presentation, Glenn

More about Defying Gravity Defying Fear Is the Quest of a Woman Who Sets Out to Overcome Fear. Heather Swan Declares Her Intrigue with the Emotion Fear. She Writes of Her Journey in Dealing with and Defeating It. in the Book,

Open Document