Both Uses of

wallow

in

Touching Spirit Bear

The heavy load of supplies caused the skiff to wallow through the waves.
Chpt 2 *

wallow = move with difficulty

All of his life he had squandered his choices, wallowing in revenge and self-pity, keeping himself down.
Chpt 10 *

wallowing = indulging (making no attempt to move beyond the negative feelings)

Definitions:

(1) (wallow as in: wallow happily in the mud)
to relax -- especially of an animal rolling about in mud or shallow water

or more rarely: a noun describing the mud puddle or indentation in which an animal relaxes or rolls around
(2) (wallow as in: wallow in self-pity)
to excessively give into a desire (indulge)

(This is often said of something negative such as self-pity when no attempt is made to move beyond it. But it is also sometimes said without negative connotation just to indicate that someone is enjoying a lot of something such as luxury or rest.)
(3) (wallow as in: a wagon wallowed through the mud)
to move with difficulty; or perhaps just to move through water or in a rolling/wave-like manner
(4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)