What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

[EmpressJosephine]

Making the decision to divorce.

Once I made it, however, the rest followed naturally.

 

[KimGordon67]

Making the decision to divorce.

Once I made it, however, the rest followed naturally.

That's one of those incredibly difficult things to do that then seems to make everything easier. I guess everyone is worried it'll turn out to be the wrong decision, but I think by the time you're at that point, it's almost always the right thing to do.

 

[NorthRockJohnson]

Making the decision to divorce.

Once I made it, however, the rest followed naturally.

That's my big one too. My divorce. I wish we could have worked things out, and for a long time I blamed myself. But the fact is, and I realized it later, is that she didn't make it easy on me. At all. It needed to happen. I took comfort in the fact that we did what could to fix things and that we were lucky enough to end it peacefully and we still remained friends after.

The big lesson I learned is that there's a difference between giving up and letting go. And it's okay to let go when you need to.

But man, there were times I literally just wanted to die. Signing those papers...I was a mess. My tears were on those papers. Literally.

 

[LostGirlTink]

This is one of those incredibly difficult questions.
The hardest thing? Losing twins? Almost losing both my kids in utero as well? Watching my Gram and best friend pass? Caring for my mom after chemo? Watching someone I love give up on life? When my cousin was killed on her motorcycle leaving her son orphaned?

They're all different types of hard. Different levels of awful......
All of the above though? Things that there was no choice, that I had no say in. They just happened and as someone else said "You never know how strong you are until you have to be" and then you just ARE.

So I think I'm going to change it up a bit. What is the hardest thing I've ever done that I 100% had the choice to do or not?
Follow my heart.
Take risks.
Be willing to show up and put myself into the things I do.
Whether that's my business, my relationship with Tolyk, my travels or redefining my life.
All hold huge risks. All have "safer choices" and yet, I've made the choices to follow my heart and my dreams. And sometimes that's the hardest thing, because I know I could change things to a much "safer" and simpler life, but then I don't think it would be worth it.

 

[LikeableMe]

I really don’t know how to assess the hardest thing.

Calling family and having to break the news, after I discovered my mum’s lifeless body. Being in a position of responsibility at work, that I had to see through, whilst trying to organise a funeral and learn how to do things I’d never had to do at home before. Performing CPR on my mum, even though she was in rigor mortis, as I knew I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t even try.

Making the decision to leave the job I loved, for one I can’t stand. And trying to keep at it!

Becoming homeless, and suicidal, and having to pull myself out of it and make a plan to get myself back on my feet. That was two years of working two jobs, but I did it.

It seems like things are a never ending battle right now, and the only thing that made me happy appears fleeting. But, in the words of Dory - “just keep swimming”

 

[SassySheDevil]

Told my Dad that I would be okay without him and that it was time to let go and go be with my Mom. I never lied to him before that day.

 

[sensualhub]

Watch cancer destroy and eventually take my dad from me

 

[Jada59]

I was my aunt’s power of attorney and I had to follow her wishes to discontinue care. I held her and told her how much I loved her as she took her last breaths.

A couple months later, my dad committed suicide. My mom has just lost her sister and now she lost her husband. I was the one who took care of everything- media, funeral arrangements, contacting family before it was on the news, so much that no one should ever have to deal with.

Also during this time, I was going through a divorce. Telling our daughter we were getting a divorce was extremely hard. I’ll never forget the way she cried.

Wow! My daughter told me we were getting a divorce. Her dad told her first. She called me and said, "Mom! Come home now!" I was grocery shopping,

What you went through would be hard, to be sure.

 

[Jada59]

Saying good bye to my daughters as they were taking me into open heart surgery.
Telling my sister that I wasn’t sure asking her home from the hospital after her suicide attempt, and having to convince her that she needed to commit herself.

Wow. Sorry.

 

[Jada59]

Wow everyone! I did read your stories. My heart goes out to you all!

*Hug*

 

[RedJack81]

The whole process of going through fertility treatment has to be the hardest thing I have done personally. While it is more common than some realise, if you haven't been through it, or know people who have, I think it would be hard to understand.

I think it was the sense of hopelessness I felt. There was little I could do. Also, in total, it went on for 5 years, with a short break.

The biggest problem was how it impacted my wife. She slipped deeper into depression, and there were days I thought I would find she had taken her life.

All I could do was try to stay strong, be supportive. All the time watching the energy and sense of fun that made her what she was when I met her, slip away and an emptiness take its place, as she became bitter and grudge holding.

The whole process resulted in two lovely children, and so, I would do it again. However, it continues to impact our relationship and I have all but given up on finding the person I originally fell in love with.

 

[PapaRomantic]

I was a transportation supervisor for a small school district and one of my drivers radioed in that she was having problems with her bus and I needed to bring her another one. I headed out in the substitute bus and pulled out onto the highway and looked in the distance to see thick black smoke rolling across in front of me. As I approached, I saw that it was her bus - it was halfway engulfed in flames when I got there and I watched the flames jump from seat to seat as the fire moved toward the back of the bus. I could not see the driver and the kids - one of the single worst moments of my life. I parked my bus on the highway a safe distance, grabbed the hand-held fire extinguisher and headed out across a plowed field running toward the burning bus, hoping that maybe I might be able to save someone but not really believing I had a chance.

As I was running, I looked up the road the on which the burning bus was sitting and saw that the driver had gotten the kids off the bus and up the road under a tree which was a safe distance away. Many prayers of thankfulness were offered as I went back to my bus to go pick up the kids.

I will never forget the terror and pain I was feeling not knowing where those kids and the driver were, and the massive relief when I finally found them. Those pictures will be in my mind forever.

There were a couple of humorous stories that came out which helped calm my nerves as I drove my bus to deliver her kids to their homes. One was that the driver had to coax the kids through visible flame underneath the bus as they exited. They were all upset when she got them up to the tree and they watched the bus burn, but without warning the horn wires on the bus melted together and the horn started honking, which made the kids laugh. The second story was the one kid who was not upset in any way - his backpack burned up in the bus which meant he didn't have to do his homework that night!

Final story about this incident - I have never hit a woman for any reason, but I just about did that night. After I delivered the kids home, I drove back to the scene and was watching as the fire department was cooling off the charred frame and waiting for a truck wrecker to take it away. One of our school board members drove up - a generally sour old woman who happened to have grandkids on the burning bus. Her question to me was this - "Did the driver try to put the fire out with the extinguisher?" I was so angry with her, but I calmly said, "No, she decided to save your grandkids' life first." Then I turned and walked away. To this day, that was one of the most ignorant questions I have ever heard.

 

[sensualhub]

Wow everyone! I did read your stories. My heart goes out to you all!

*Hug*

Thanks Jada,

 

[jeff_is_smiling]

Sitting my kids down and telling them that their mother and I were divorcing.

 

[fisherfella]

Physically, dragging a 350 lb. black bear out of the woods with my bud. Close to 3kms and most uphill including fording a few creeks..
Never again..