[Serious] What Is The Hardest Thing You’ve Ever Done?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Hardest physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually - anything that truly, truly tested your limits.

For me, it was volunteering at a children’s burn ward twice a week for a little over two years. Got to where I couldn’t take it anymore - took a long time to turn that off.

(This thread was triggered by a letter I recently got from one of those kids - all grown up and doing fantastic.)

Boru

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Three years of physical therapy so I could stay on active duty. Matriculated by climbing Mt. Etna.

[The Valkyrie]

Saying goodbye to my Dad.

Deciding to keep fighting my cancer. Almost gave up several times.

[Angrboda]

Nothing. Life has been a piece of cake for me.

[brewer]

Physically, loading train cars with 50 or 100 pounds bags of grain at a mill while saving money for grad school. 

Mentally, grad school. Many 48 hour sessions studying prior to tests. Tests for all classes were taken on the same day, I think they were called conjoints. 

Emotionally, hospice units. There were 6 in nursing homes that I consulted with. Also, both parents died in hospice units and I was there for the death rattle.

[arewethereyet]

Wow...there have been a few things I thought were the hardest things ever, at the time.

I'd say one was leaving my girls and joining the Army. I am not a particularly athletic person so the physical demands were rough. I was dragged through the final PT test with stress fractures in my pelvic area but one of the cadre refused to let me quit. The mental part was mostly worrying about the girls because my husband, at the time, was not the most responsible person. The mental BS of military training wasn't all that different from dealing with my parents.

The cycle of living from test result to test result while dealing with breast cancer was a mind-fuck. The physical pain after both surgeries required as much mind over matter as I could muster.

Trying to keep three kids going essentially as a single parent became easy in retrospect.

Great question.

[Rev. Rye]

Emotionally, well, I'll just say Grade School. You want specifics? All right, you asked for it.

I was bullied throughout my grade school years. My tormenters outright refused to give me a reason why they were singling me out; I suspect being on the autism spectrum was a factor. And as things went on, I stopped even bothering to interact with other people, and, well, you remember how, in the years after Columbine, people decided to try and look for potential red flags in students? A lot of those potential red flags described, well, sounded exactly like what one would expect from someone who's being bullied nonstop: Depression, a change in long-term demeanor, anger issues, resentment of many of his fellow students, increasing detachment from them, a resentment of authority.

And, on the resentment of authority, I understand that, in many cases, teachers at least tried to put a stop to it. Mine, however, did not. In fact, they treated it like it was my problem. One incident, I was hit in the face with a metal bat, and when they told my parents, it was only because I wouldn't stop crying. It took a while before they explained I was crying because somebody hit me in the face with a metal bat. And even with my parents, my narcissist of a mother insisted that this hell of a school was still the best option for me and wouldn't dare send me to a different school. Dad was too weak to oppose her. She even told me later that she didn't know until long after I graduated how bad it was. Yes, even with that fucking bat.

At points, I was told that people expected me to shoot up the school, and for a long time, I wished I did. At least high school was better, but even then, I had two different campaigns to frame me for a potential school shooting. It took over a decade for me to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't as bad as people (even if they were just people I hadn't known and wouldn't know since I was a child) were telling me I was.

A few years ago, my Dad asked if I had any interest in reconnecting with anyone I knew in grade school, and I replied "that depends, does the alternative involve dickhole torture?"

[arewethereyet]

Emotionally, well, I'll just say Grade School. You want specifics? All right, you asked for it.

I was bullied throughout my grade school years. My tormenters outright refused to give me a reason why they were singling me out; I suspect being on the autism spectrum was a factor. And as things went on, I stopped even bothering to interact with other people, and, well, you remember how, in the years after Columbine, people decided to try and look for potential red flags in students? A lot of those potential red flags described, well, sounded exactly like what one would expect from someone who's being bullied nonstop: Depression, a change in long-term demeanor, anger issues, resentment of many of his fellow students, increasing detachment from them, a resentment of authority.

And, on the resentment of authority, I understand that, in many cases, teachers at least tried to put a stop to it. Mine, however, did not. In fact, they treated it like it was my problem. One incident, I was hit in the face with a metal bat, and when they told my parents, it was only because I wouldn't stop crying. It took a while before they explained I was crying because somebody hit me in the face with a metal bat. And even with my parents, my narcissist of a mother insisted that this hell of a school was still the best option for me and wouldn't dare send me to a different school. Dad was too weak to oppose her. She even told me later that she didn't know until long after I graduated how bad it was. Yes, even with that fucking bat.

At points, I was told that people expected me to shoot up the school, and for a long time, I wished I did. At least high school was better, but even then, I had two different campaigns to frame me for a potential school shooting. It took over a decade for me to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't as bad as people (even if they were just people I hadn't known and wouldn't know since I was a child) were telling me I was.

A few years ago, my Dad asked if I had any interest in reconnecting with anyone I knew in grade school, and I replied "that depends, does the alternative involve dickhole torture?"

I'm sorry you went through that.  And I have to say that's the first time I recall you mentioning your mother.

[The Valkyrie]

I think this thread justifies a "serious" tag.

[arewethereyet]

I think this thread justifies a "serious" tag.

I agree.