What is the most courageous thing you've ever done?

[fairfarmhand]

That was the question on the radio program I was listening to this morning and I am interested in your responses....

 

For me, it was getting on an airplane at age 18. I had never been away from my family before. I had turned 18 the day before. I was 6 months pregnant with my oldest dd and I was going away to marry my dh. My dad did not like my dh; he thought I was making a huge mistake.

 

I was scared stiff, but I knew that that was what I wanted to do and I was going to marry my dh with or without the support of my family. It took courage because I'd always been my daddy's "good little girl " (at least when he was around :) ) and I am a people pleaser. For the first time I was directly going against what he wanted me to do.

 

It's been 13 years now and we are still married. I can't say it's always been easy, but getting on that plane was the best thing I ever did.

[Laura Corin]

I was twenty-two and China was still quite a mysterious place. I knew no one there and didn't speak the language. All I had to greet me there was a job.

 

Laura

[Mejane]

nm

Edited November 1, 2010 by Mejane
I read it as dangerous. :)

[Chris in VA]

Called the police on my son.

Being courageous enough to do what's right can break your heart.

[fairfarmhand]

Called the police on my son.

Being courageous enough to do what's right can break your heart.

 

:grouphug: that is courage.

[Parrothead]

I guess I'd have to say firefighting. It takes a special kind of personality to run into a burning building when everyone else is running out. So it could just be plum craziness

[Miss Marple]

Called the police on my son.

Being courageous enough to do what's right can break your heart.

 

:grouphug: Bless you for doing the right thing.:grouphug:

[FriedClams]

I used to be a military rescue helicopter pilot and we did some really amazing things then. Amazing, dangerous, life changing things.

 

I stood up to someone when they harassed me - went face-to-face and called him out. It was a major deal as I was young junior officer and it was a senior enlisted guy. We both ended up learning a lot and it earned me a ton of respect from the people around me - but it was really, really hard.

 

I quit one dream job (military instructor pilot) to go to another dream job (stay at home homeschooling mom). I wouldn't trade it for the universe.

 

But honestly, none can compare to....

 

Called the police on my son.

Being courageous enough to do what's right can break your heart.

 

That's courage.

[....]

I drove through a minefield (in the Middle East) in the dark with my friend on the radio (watching me thru binoculars) guiding me through the field. When I reached the end of the minefield, a squad of foreign soldiers were waiting for me with their rifles pointed at my vehicle. My Lt on the radio told me to get out and tell them who I was. I did.

 

Yikes. :eek:

Edited November 1, 2010 by starrbuck12

[*********]

Donated a kidney to my big sister.

 

(Not a happy ending, however. Within a year of the donation, her husband divorced her. This caused her to become clinically depressed, and she stopped taking all her medications. Including her anti-rejection meds. Her body attacked and killed the healthy kidney I had given her. And, just to put the 'icing on the cake', she no longer will even speak to me because of our differing religious theologies. The whole thing totally stinks. We were inseperable, best friends, for 30 years. Now, she won't even answer my emails.)

[Spy Car]

I once raced my Trooper into an alley where I'd just seen a gang of very dangerous men jump a woman and begin assaulting her. I whipped my Trooper around in a smoking U-Turn and came in so fast the truck went airborne and I just missed hitting a couple of the bad guys (who were shocked). I flew out of the vehicle brandishing a machete that I'd just come from having sharpened (convenient :D).

 

There were seven of these thugs, who didn't know WTF was happening. I ordered the woman to get in the vehicle (she was in shock but complied) while I held the bad guys off with the machete and resisted (barely) the temptation to use the thing.

 

Then I got her out of there and safely home. The badly shaken girl refused to go to the police, but I did. And we cleaned up this gang of criminals.

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

Donated a kidney to my big sister.

 

(Not a happy ending, however. Within a year of the donation, her husband divorced her. This caused her to become clinically depressed, and she stopped taking all her medications. Including her anti-rejection meds. Her body attacked and killed the healthy kidney I had given her. And, just to put the 'icing on the cake', she no longer will even speak to me because of our differing religious theologies. The whole thing totally stinks. We were inseperable, best friends, for 30 years. Now, she won't even answer my emails.)

 

:grouphug:

 

That is hard.

 

Bill

[Chris in VA]

I once raced my Trooper into an alley where I'd just seen a gang of very dangerous men jump a woman and begin assaulting her. I whipped my Trooper around in a smoking U-Turn and came in so fast the truck went airborne and I just missed hitting a couple of the bad guys (who were shocked). I flew out of the vehicle brandishing a machete that I'd just come from having sharpened (convenient :D).

 

There were seven of these thugs, who didn't know WTF was happening. I ordered the woman to get in the vehicle (she was in shock but complied) while I held the bad guys off with the machete and resisted (barely) the temptation to use the thing.

 

Then I got her out of there and safely home. The badly shaken girl refused to go to the police, but I did. And we cleaned up this gang of criminals.

 

Bill

 

I always thought you were one bad ass dude, SpyCar! :lol::lol:;)

 

(and I didn't write "bad @ss," either, because that would have been really lame.)

[Stacy in NJ]

It's an inside Twilight joke. Just Kidding. :001_smile:

 

I once raced my Trooper into an alley where I'd just seen a gang of very dangerous men jump a woman and begin assaulting her. I whipped my Trooper around in a smoking U-Turn and came in so fast the truck went airborne and I just missed hitting a couple of the bad guys (who were shocked). I flew out of the vehicle brandishing a machete that I'd just come from having sharpened (convenient :D).

 

There were seven of these thugs, who didn't know WTF was happening. I ordered the woman to get in the vehicle (she was in shock but complied) while I held the bad guys off with the machete and resisted (barely) the temptation to use the thing.

 

Then I got her out of there and safely home. The badly shaken girl refused to go to the police, but I did. And we cleaned up this gang of criminals.

 

Bill

[Aubrey]

Well, shoot. Y'all make me feel like a big chicken.

 

I married dh at 19 w/out dating him first. There was no shooting, no heart break, nothing worse than the wrong cake & a rude photographer. And it's turned out ok so far, too.

 

For the rest of you--the protection you've offered, the sacrifices you've made--the kidney--thank you, sweet friends. You guys make the world a *beautiful* place.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Told the doctors it was time to stop torturing my mom by looking for a miracle and to call in hospice. That was 11 months ago yesterday. She died two days later.

[LBS]

I grabbed the arm of a woman preparing to slap her child, AGAIN! She was bigger and meaner, and I still fear she may have gone home and taken it out on the child worse. I don't think I was thinking, but I blocked her arm as she was hauling back to smack him on the side of the head, her younger kids were watching and crying. He was crying, seemed to be about 8-10 years old. I just thought that no offense deserved a beating about the head, like this, her anger was apparant, it had to be abuse. I offered to take the kids over to the pizza area and feed them while she finished shopping, it was at a Costco (Price Club, then.) She didn't let me help her, but did seem to snap out of her rage. It made my daughter cry, then my baby son started crying so I had to leave. An older lady patted me on the back as I left.

 

To other posters: thank you for your service for my safety and freedom! You are the real heros!

 

LBS

[Bug's Mom]

I think it was when I kept my cool while having a sawed off 12 gauge shotgun aimed at my head during a robbery.

 

I was working alone in a video rental store when this guy came in. I didn't hear the door open, so I didn't see him until he was almost to the counter with the gun aimed at me. I made a point of not looking at him (my hair is long, so if I looked down, it covers the side of my face) and kept telling him I didn't see anything. I gave him the money and he told me to get on the floor. I thought that that was it. I stayed on the floor for several minutes (again, since I didn't hear him come in, I also couldn't hear if he left) before getting up and calling 911. The police station was 1 1/2 blocks away, so they got there rather quickly. They asked me if I recognized him. He had his face covered and I'd made a point to not look, so I was of no help there. I was able to describe his voice which caused them to throw out 2 or 3 names right away, (it was a small town) one of which ended up being the guy. They looked at the surveillance video (which I have a copy of) and asked me about his shoes. I hadn't noticed, but looked at the video and saw that they were very new, black Nike's with a white swoosh.

 

The next day, I was by the library, waiting for the bus, when this guy I'd seen around town walked by. I noticed his shoes. THE shoes. Later that day, he was arrested at his apartment. They found the gun, the sawed-off barrel and the stolen checks. He ended up in prison. I would regularly check the DOC site to keep tabs on him. He eventually was paroled and in a county up north. One day I saw that he was listed as a fugitive.

 

My MIL was in town and we went to the mall. As we were entering, a group of young adults were leaving. I froze. I was almost 100% sure that one of them was him. I gave MIL the story. She stayed outside and smoked a cigarette while watching to see what vehicle they got into. I went inside to find a phone to use. The clerk (young woman) told me who some of the guys were (his cousins) so I was REALLY sure it was him. He was arrested at his cousin's house the next day and got to finish the rest of his sentence in prison.

 

Not long after that, the cousins he'd been with ended up arrested and charged with murder. One of the detectives told me that if he'd not been back in prison, they were sure he'd have been involved in that, too.

[simka2]

Going public with being sexual assault by a pastor and filing charges within the denomination. It's been almost 4 years and he still is not back in ministry :001_smile:

 

Not, keeping silent about it, when so many wanted me to protect the "unity" and not cause "division."

 

Choosing to stay and work on my marriage, when I didn't want to. Learning to trust dh, again.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

WOW!! You guys are all amazing.

[KidsHappen]

Called the police on my son.

Being courageous enough to do what's right can break your heart.

 

I know exactly what you mean. I had to tell mine to leave and not come back.

[Mom2absh]

Told the doctors it was time to stop torturing my mom by looking for a miracle and to call in hospice. That was 11 months ago yesterday. She died two days later.

 

Oh, that's so hard! :grouphug: :grouphug: for you as you go through this.

 

J

[6packofun]

I got married.

[Mom2absh]

So many of you have done the kind of awe-inspiring things we see on TV - thank you for doing them!

 

And then others have had such deeply personal, painful things to do - things you couldn't do in the spur of the moment, but went into them fully aware of what you were doing, but not of what the outcome would be. So hard, and yet so brave - :grouphug::grouphug: for all of you.

 

The bravest thing I did was putting boundaries around my life regarding my father, starting with moving in with my the fiance's parents as we planned our wedding, and getting married without my father and his wife. That was a watershed moment for me.

[JudoMom]

For me, it was dropping out of university (leaving behind a full scholarship), moving 1300 miles away from home (I'd always lived at home and commuted to college). Why did I do that? Because I'd met my now-dh in an AOL new member chatroom and he lived in our current state (we talked on the phone/emailed for 3 months before I moved, and had met in person once). We were married 10 months after I moved out here, and he's still the perfect man for me.

 

But that pales in comparison to what some of you guys have done--you're an amazing bunch, and thank you!

[holdoll]

When my dd's private school went belly up during third grade, my husband wanted me to home school her. :001_huh: I was scared to death! I never had any plans of home schooling and now I can't imagine doing anything else.

[dirty ethel rackham]

So many of you have done the kind of awe-inspiring things we see on TV - thank you for doing them!

 

And then others have had such deeply personal, painful things to do - things you couldn't do in the spur of the moment, but went into them fully aware of what you were doing, but not of what the outcome would be. So hard, and yet so brave - :grouphug::grouphug: for all of you.

 

The bravest thing I did was putting boundaries around my life regarding my father, starting with moving in with my the fiance's parents as we planned our wedding, and getting married without my father and his wife. That was a watershed moment for me.

 

Sometimes, it is those small moments that take the most courage. In big, terrifying situations, you often are reacting on instinct. The scary interpersonal things take courage of conviction and they affect us on a very deep level.

[Irishmommy]

Mine was my junior and senior year in college when I spoke the in-coming freshman classes (about 450 students) about my rape. I did it to help them understand interpersonal boundries and send a clear message that assualt was not acceptable on our campus. I think they got the message, but I did get called the "rape girl" for a while:lol:. I was always approached with respect (even if they didn't always use appropriate names - I just chalked it up to the experience and always let them know what my real name was;)). Married my college sweetheart, so the experience wasn't too traumatic on my social life.:D

 

Overall, glad that I spoke out and look forward to the day that my kids are ready to hear about mommy's courage. (Not for a LONG while, though, maybe adult hood or never, ha ha.)

[milovany]

Some amazing stories! Wow.

 

I think the most courageous thing I've done was to have an unassisted home birth with our second baby after the first had been an emergency C-section. Thankfully I had 8 months to gear up for it, I didn't have to make a spur of the moment decision like many of you! Everything went perfectly well, and we've had five more the same way since then.

[kewb]

Some of your stories are amazing.

 

I think the most courageous thing I have done was pulling my kids from public school and homeschooling.

[Carol in Cal.]

Tough question.

 

One was deciding to get pregnant. I always wanted a child, but my mom had so pounded into me the horrors of childbirth that I had a genuine phobia about it.

 

She still calls me every year on my birthday to tell about how giving birth to me, her one unplanned child, was the worst experience of her life. Which leads me into my next most courageous decision: To raise my DD differently than I was raised, but still in relationship with my family, but not vulnerable to them. This means that I have had to be very intentional about my parenting, and pretty much say no to all my basic impulses. Compared to that, the decision to homeschool was actually pretty easy. I was well-prepared to think outside the box and go against my instincts.

[milovany]

She still calls me every year on my birthday to tell about how giving birth to me, her one unplanned child, was the worst experience of her life.

 

:001_huh: :confused: :grouphug:

 

Which leads me into my next most courageous decision: To raise my DD differently than I was raised, but still in relationship with my family, but not vulnerable to them. This means that I have had to be very intentional about my parenting, and pretty much say no to all my basic impulses.

 

:001_smile: :grouphug:

[JVA]

You all are SO brave. I'm inspired by what you have done. :)

[Ginevra]

For me, it was going forward and having my fourth child after having lost my third at birth. That was the longest pregnancy of my life.

 

I would do it again, though. I'm not sure if that makes me brave or crazy. ;)

[unsinkable]

The year after my mom died, I moved 1800 miles from home to a city where i knew no one. I was 20, both my parents were dead and I wanted a new life, a fresh start. I wanted to be alone without being lonely and I needed to be away from my hometown to do it.

 

I also had a pitocin-induced birth with no pain meds. This is the boy I called the Big Giant Head for days (years?). :lol:

[Sputterduck]

I moved to a different country to live my life helping a group of people I didn't even know. It doesn't seem very courageous though.

[elegantlion]

Going public with being sexual assault by a pastor and filing charges within the denomination. It's been almost 4 years and he still is not back in ministry :001_smile:

 

Not, keeping silent about it, when so many wanted me to protect the "unity" and not cause "division."

 

Choosing to stay and work on my marriage, when I didn't want to. Learning to trust dh, again.

 

I can't give you enough of these...:grouphug:...because I know exactly what kind of power he tried to assume over everyone. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

I got married.

 

:iagree: Most courageous daily thing? Staying married.

 

 

Most courageous one time event? I worked for a vet and I've stuck my hand in cages where animals didn't want to get picked up. I held cats that were out of control. We had one get loose in the back of the office and got under some cabinetry. His anesthesia hadn't kicked in correctly. It was either I stick my hand under the small opening in the cabinetry and pull the cat out or tear apart the cabinet. The vet was there and his hand wouldn't fit, so I put mine it, the cat smashed down on my middle finger and I wrapped my other fingers around his head and pulled him out. Mad cat, bloody finger, astounded vet. Still have a scar.

 

We did some other courageous things, but they were also traumatic and I swore I would never leave those memories with other people. . I haven't worked a the vet in almost 18 years, but I still think about those things.

 

Courage is not the absence of fear, it's being afraid and doing it anyway.

[laughing lioness]

Honestly, it was making a decision to follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I knew when I did so that my life would change forever and it has.

[Sputterduck]

Honestly, it was making a decision to follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I knew when I did so that my life would change forever and it has.

 

Awwwwwwwww. That's so sweet!

[dm379]

Starting college with a 6 week old baby and was far away from home and everybody I knew. At 16.

[Parrothead]

.

 

I also had a pitocin-induced birth with no pain meds.

:D I had one of those. Since I've nothing to compare it to, I think of it as not that bad.

[katemary63]

I CHOSE to turn around, open my eyes, stop lying to myself and others and face the truth about my abusive childhood. Then I CHOSE to fight like hell to overcome the emotional and spiritual effects my abuse had on me and become a mentally healthy person.

 

No physical fear or danger will ever scare me as much. I'm not afraid of anything anymore. Not snakes, not bad guys, not confrontations, not death. After conquering that fear, I can do pretty much anything and I will.

 

Praise God Almighty

[katemary63]

Courage is not the absence of fear, it's being afraid and doing it anyway.

 

:iagree::iagree: More people need to understand this. So many people I know say, "I'm not doing *blank*, I'm too afraid." I say, "If you are afraid, then *blank* is exactly what you should be doing."

 

Anytime I feel fear, I start thinking about ways in which I could or should confront it and get over it. (of course, reasonable actions to protect one's physical safety should always be taken. I'm not talking about being crazy, just courageous!)

[katemary63]

i once raced my trooper into an alley where i'd just seen a gang of very dangerous men jump a woman and begin assaulting her. I whipped my trooper around in a smoking u-turn and came in so fast the truck went airborne and i just missed hitting a couple of the bad guys (who were shocked). I flew out of the vehicle brandishing a machete that i'd just come from having sharpened (convenient :d).

 

There were seven of these thugs, who didn't know wtf was happening. I ordered the woman to get in the vehicle (she was in shock but complied) while i held the bad guys off with the machete and resisted (barely) the temptation to use the thing.

 

Then i got her out of there and safely home. The badly shaken girl refused to go to the police, but i did. And we cleaned up this gang of criminals.

 

Bill

 

Seriously?????? Holy crap! You rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JVA]

I CHOSE to turn around, open my eyes, stop lying to myself and others and face the truth about my abusive childhood. Then I CHOSE to fight like hell to overcome the emotional and spiritual effects my abuse had on me and become a mentally healthy person.

 

No physical fear or danger will ever scare me as much. I'm not afraid of anything anymore. Not snakes, not bad guys, not confrontations, not death. After conquering that fear, I can do pretty much anything and I will.

 

Praise God Almighty

 

Praise the Lord- YES! I'm so glad for you and I'm sure you're an example to many.

[mcconnellboys]

Answered the pounding on my door one year when my boyfriend (now husband) and I were having a Thanksgiving dinner together. We responded to the pleas of the children that a friend of theirs was drowning in my apartment's pool. My husband jumped in after him (he was at the bottom of the pool) while I called EMS and stayed on the phone with them to answer their questions, running back and forth to do so (no cell phones).... He was okay, eventually, after he was taken to hospital....

[scrapbabe]

Left a great job with great benefits, sold our home, left our friends and family, to move to a new city to start a new business we had felt "called" to start. Worked ourselves to the bone to make it successful, neither of us knowing a thing about business. Survived cancer during the same time, and am just now, after 2.5 years, able to look back and smile at what we accomplished! Phew! What a ride!

 

 

Smiles,

Shalynn

[Bonnie in VA]

Auditions were two weeks ago. Three of my kids tried out with me (two have been in plays before). We all got parts. So, I'll be in my first-ever stage production (community theater) next month. I'm scared to death, but very excited, too.

[Mama Geek]

4 very different things...

I decided to have my dd without drugs. I went through 11 hours of labor and was fully dilated. She got into trouble and they did an emergency C-Section.

 

I married my dh at 20 and had the courage to stay with him when what I really wanted to do was run (My parents divorced after 17 years of marriage.) We have worked through our problems and we have a wonderful marriage now.

 

To leave a "secure" job for a job in Alaska that many people don't make it for a week. I was there for 1 1/2 years. I learned so much and left when the work ran out. It turned out to be an excellent decision financially and we had a wonderful time while we were there.

 

Having to make the decision to stop life support for my grandmother. My father had passed away already and my brother was a minor.

 

My SIL often tells me how tough I am (that is meant as a compliment)...she doesn't understand that to get tough you generally go through a lot that is very difficult.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Mama Geek

[OnTheBrink]

I stood up to my EX's infidelity and emotional/physical/financial abuse and threw him out. I had no job, no skills, no education and two kids to feed.

 

I stood up to my mother's emotional abuse and cut ties with her. It breaks my heart that I don't have any good memories of her at all and wish I could relate to the women here who have good relationships with their mothers.