{"id":1580,"date":"2019-10-13T23:31:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T23:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/?page_id=1580"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:56:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:56:03","slug":"keeping-my-head-above-water","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/true-life\/1978-1984\/keeping-my-head-above-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping my head above water"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n


In Grade 10, aged fourteen, I’d developed little tactics to help me succeed at school.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I enjoyed the ideas of control and efficiency, so at school I tried to keep track of my time during lunch hour, trying to eat as fast as I could, and then racing to the school library to get as much homework done before the bell rang.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I liked being in charge of my own time. I remember feeling fast, capable, and flush with a sense of personal control and discipline. I was never better than a C or C+ student, but I’d been giving myself challenges, feeling motivated, and getting all my homework done on time. These were things that I could control and take some pride in.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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My Red Cross Survival badge (c.1980)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Killarney Secondary had a large community centre next door, with a skating rink and large swimming pool.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

In gym class, we were taking swimming lessons and learning a variety of water survival skills. We learned how to swim down and retrieve rings off the bottom of the pool’s deep end, and to practise treading water, and do the “deadman’s float” – a resting, energy-saving exercise where you float facedown in a relaxed position for minutes at a time. We were also asked to wear an old t-shirt and pair of jeans in the pool, and we were made to practise swimming in them and treading water for as many minutes as possible. I think these exercises were intended to remove one’s fear of the water and maybe to learn to conserve energy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I loved and enjoyed these exercises more than any other gym activity. They were calming and peaceful, and felt useful and practical, unlike team sports which felt contrived, tribal, and overly aggressive.<\/p>\r\n

This wasn’t some stupid contest with a shit-tonne of rules – it was literally a sink or swim<\/em> proposition. I loved those stakes, because they felt authentic and real to me. Surviving a “sink or swim” situation was something I could really relate to. Forty years later, I’m still proud of my Red Cross Survivor badge.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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In Grade 10, aged fourteen, I’d developed little tactics to help me succeed at school. I enjoyed the ideas of control and efficiency, so at school I tried to keep track of my time during lunch hour, trying to eat as fast as I could, and then racing to the school library to get as … Continue reading Keeping my head above water<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1575,"menu_order":50,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1580","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1580"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4203,"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1580\/revisions\/4203"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}