Defined however you want – most taxing physically, psychologically, or socially, or against the longest odds, or whatever.
I’d start but I can’t really think of anything.
Defined however you want – most taxing physically, psychologically, or socially, or against the longest odds, or whatever.
I’d start but I can’t really think of anything.
I had to sue a friend (I won)
I had a cowoker/friend take me to unemployment court (I won)
I had to fire a friend for stealing from my store.
The last one was very difficult, and I didn’t have time to prepare mentally for it. The first two were more awkward then hard.
Number one would probably be sitting on the floor with my dog’s head in my lap as the vet gave him the lethal injection. He was dying of cancer and there was nothing that could be done. That was one of those I can’t do it/I can’t NOT do it situations. I finally decided all his years of being my loyal friend merited holding him as he died.
Number two would probably be firing a friend (and REALLY good computer programmer) because he just wouldn’t stop showing up at work drunk or stoned to the point of being utterly useless. I even got the company to pay for AA and arranged someone to drive him to the meetings, but one day he went to lunch and came back so sloshed he couldn’t even walk.
Writing a goodbye letter to my children and husband in the event that I not survive my WLS. That, and losing my father were the two hardest things I have ever done.
Our recent move is way up there for me. First, we only had a couple of weeks to find a new place and second, my husband grew into a boarderline hoarder, at least of paper, over the last 10 years and I had to get it all out to the trash in two days before he insisted on going over every piece. He ended up being fine with my decisions, though, and we’re living much better now.
Losing one of my parents is going to head the list soon.
InvisibleWombat, sorry about having to fire your friend, but why would you have to pay for AA?
When I was 16 I met a boy on a BBS and we “fell in love.” It wasn’t until I was really into him that he told me he was black, but I didn’t care and we had a good time being around each other IRL. He was pretty much my first real love.
My parents totally freaked out that I was dating a black guy and made me break up with him, shut down my computer life and said nasty things to me. I was devastated. But at 16 I really had no choice.
So the hardest thing I ever had to do was to break up with a person I truly loved because he was black. I had to choose between my family and him. It was really horrible and I still feel bad about it today (we keep in touch, he is doing just fine).
Emotionally I’d say having my parents lovable doggy put down while they were out of the country. Like InvisibleWombat I knew that this was a horrible decision and that it was made out of love, and I held her while the vet did the kind thing.
Breaking up with a long-term g/f has ranged between “Oh well” to days of misery.
Hardest physical activity I’ve done…I helped a friend do a nasty roofing job in hot weather. That was several days of literally backbreaking labor. I wore out a pair of new jeans in a day.
Hardest trek so far has been Mount Whitney in a day. It’s about 21 miles in thin air. I’m in much better shape now but even with that in mind my last 20 mile run felt much easier than that hike.
Giving the eulogy at the funeral of one of my closest friends who was also my roommate at university for 2 1/2 years. No one knew he was sick. He was admitted to the hospital because he was feeling lethargic and a week later he had passed away. No one knew he was sick and no one knew that he was in the hospital.
He was 22.
WTG! I tried – and failed along with the rest of my party – to climb Longs Peak in a day two years ago – about the same height and elevation gain.
We’re trying again this year: the main reason I, personally, failed, is that I only got around 2 hours of sleep since you had to wake up at 2 am to complete the hike. I’m going to get up early every day on the vacation before the hike so hopefully I’ll be adjusted.
And yeah, I’ve also had 20 mile runs that were a cinch compared to the attempt. Especially having to walk down log steps at the end (screw anti erosion measures, I want a flat surface to walk down or my knees will rebel!)
Not to be mean, but starting a thread with nothing to contribute would really rank as pretty easy. Just give us something harder than that.
Hardest thing I’ve ever done is raise three kids during my time in the Army.
Hardest physical thing - running a marathon (though to be fair, a lot of it is mental)
Hardest mental thing - deciding to end a marriage & file for divorce
Definately losing my father. It was brutal. I was getting ready to move my stuff from one house to another when I got the phone call saying he was in the hospital after having a cardiac arrest, and they didn’t know how he was doing. I called the hospital and a nurse ended up on the phone with me, she said she had to get the doctor, and that’s when I knew he didn’t make it. I was 20 years old when it happened and still looked to him for a lot of things. I had to grow up, REAL fast.
However, I stand by my belief that losing him made me a better person in the long run. I’m tougher, I’m stronger, and much more mature than the average 27 year old now. Everything I do, I do thinking about how proud it would make him to see me where I am today.
My pregnancy with my second child was very physically and emotionally taxing for me…that was probably the toughest thing I’ve been through that sort of affected my whole life. It was worth it, though!
I came in to post “bury my son,” but then I realized that delivering the eulogy at my mother’s funeral was worse. In the former case, everyone expected me to be a basket case and nobody asked me to do anything. In the latter, not so much.
Graduate school. Seriously.
Crap, it almost killed me. I was on a fellowship so that meant I actually had to study. I was teaching, too, which was also really scary because I’d never done that before either.
I got a really bad case of stress acne and Irritable Bowel Syndrome and I never thought I’d be able to finish the program but I did.
I got rid of the acne, thank God, but I still got the IBS.
Got to give to get, I guess.
Taking legal action against a close family member when there was simply no other recourse. You know that you’re irrevocably going to destroy the relationship, but that you have no other option. It feels like pulling a trigger.
Being 19 and (along with my brothers) making the decision to take my father off life support, then watching him breathe more and more slowly as the numbers on his monitors fell lower, and lower…
My cat of 18 years was dying. Even when he was healthy a car ride was really traumatic for him so at this point it was out of the question. So I shot him in the head with a .22 pistol as he slept. Couldn’t do it the first night, sat with the gun, watching him, hoping he would just die on his own so I wouldn’t have to do it. Second night I sucked it up and did it.
Holding my cat when it was time to euthanize him.
Watching friends’ marriages dissolve.
Being with Mama Zappa when our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage. All I could say was “I love you.” and “I’m here for you.” I couldn’t say “It’s going to be OK,” because it did not look like it was going to be OK. I felt so inadequate.
Walking into the NICU after Moon Unit was born. I was so scared. There was nothing I could do but show up. There were times we didn’t know whether she was going to make it.
Helping my sister bury her husband, who died at age 40 - he was younger than me.
Helping our best friends bury their son, who died at three months of age.
Helping other friends bury their daughter, who died at eight weeks.
Crap this is depressing!
One that’s easy to talk about: Rock climbing. Man, it was hard to pull my corpus most of the way up that wall, even with a belay line attached.
Things that should have been hard, but weren’t:
Accepting Dweezil’s diagnosis of Autism, and doing something about it.
Letting go of the family related BS around my Grandmother’s funeral. She would not have wanted us to fight, and we didn’t.
Giving up on physics as a career. Dreams die hard, especially after I spent too damn many years in grad school to get my doctorate. But I gotta eat. Shelter is nice, too.
Stop cutting High School.
I fucking hated High School. Everything was so pointless that I could not understand why I was being forced to waste my time there.
I eventually realized that cutting H.S. would only mean that I would have to stay there longer (if I wanted to graduate.) I went from spending two hours at school to the full seven or eight hours. I’m still pissed off about the whole experience.