# What's the hardest thing you've ever done? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 8, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514 "2012-06-08T15:49:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cryptic\_C62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cryptic\_C62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptic_C62)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/1 "2012-06-08T15:49:48Z")
This question popped into my head the other day, and even after considerable thought, I haven’t come up with a good answer for myself yet. What about you guys? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/2 "2012-06-08T15:52:13Z")
Physically or mentally? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/3 "2012-06-08T15:52:51Z")
Tie between graduate school and giving up smoking after 15 years at 2 packs a day. Being a dad is really hard at times but it doesn’t count to me because it’s so worth it. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/4 "2012-06-08T15:55:07Z")
What kinda hard are you talking about? Emotionally? That time I killed that guy in Reno… But seriously, in the emotional department for me it was choosing to put down a long lived pet. On several occasions. And in those cases it was just advancing old age and deciding when enough was enough when the pets could have possibly gone on another year or two (as oppossed to the vet saying something like “well, its now or a a few weeks from now and its gonna be serious suffering the whole time”. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/5 "2012-06-08T16:09:39Z")
Watching my wife die. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/6 "2012-06-08T16:11:39Z")
Staying alive for over half a century. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/7 "2012-06-08T16:15:26Z")
Being in Iraq and counting the days until I came back. And then finding out I would no longer be welcome in my own home. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/8 "2012-06-08T16:26:10Z")
Right now it’s when I had to completely cut off all contact from the person I loved most because she no longer loved me. Talk to me here in a month or three when I think I have to do it again…and I love this one more ETA: Holy shit this is going to be a depressing thread ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/9 "2012-06-08T16:32:58Z")
Scored a full opera and then gave it its world premier. That was a hell of a year! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/10 "2012-06-08T16:38:57Z")
Cutting off contact with my family. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/11 "2012-06-08T16:53:29Z")
Physically? Have two babies. Mentally? Co-author a book. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/12 "2012-06-08T16:57:21Z")
An awful lot of people make me feel like a real candy-ass. Breaking up with my ex hurt like hell, but it wasn’t really _hard_ because I’d already done my grieving about it before it actually happened. It was really hard to watch him suffer, though. I suppose the only thing I’ve ever set out to do that didn’t really come easy for me that I persevered and worked for it anyway has been running. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/13 "2012-06-08T17:01:45Z")
Physically: Hiking across the Grand Canyon Mentally: Taking care of my mother while she was dying of brain cancer. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/14 "2012-06-08T17:01:52Z")
hearing that my baby daughter (just a week old) would almost certainly die before she was a year old, and then watching her die when she was four months old. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/15 "2012-06-08T17:38:56Z")
Taking care of my grandma, and then a year later, my mom. I had to watch them die, and I couldn’t do a fucking thing about it. I just tried to make them comfortable, care for them the best I could, and make their passing easier on them. Also, having to make the decision to put down a beloved pet. Many times. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/16 "2012-06-08T17:57:24Z")
Mentally- studying for (and passing!) the New York bar exam. Physically- completing my first marathon. I was undertrained and it was the most grueling 4.5 hours of my life. Emotionally- breaking up with, then missing, a girlfriend. I made a huge mistake. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/17 "2012-06-08T19:12:21Z")
Get through 2010. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/18 "2012-06-08T19:38:51Z")
Emotionally: Watching people die, then acting as the executor of their estates. Mentally: Sitting for the CISSP exam (and passing) After six hours of staring at questions and answering them, I scarcely knew my own name. Physically: Living with a spine full of damaged discs, causing chronic pain. I’ve had doctors look at the MRIs and ask how the hell I was able to walk. Well, Doc, not moving hurts as much as moving, so I may as well move. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/19 "2012-06-08T19:54:13Z")
Burying my father and quitting drinking–in that order. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514/20 "2012-06-08T20:02:49Z")
It’s a tie. Legally emancipated at 17, worked full time to support myself while finishing high school, graduated Salutatorian. That was hard. Got my MSW. That was hard. Runner ups include not speaking to Mom for a year, undergoing prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD, and supporting my husband through his own grad program. My condolences to everyone in this thread who have suffered such devestating loss. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-thing-youve-ever-done/624514.md?page=2)