How brave are you? AKA: What was the most daring thing you've ever done?

[Virg]

I talked down someone I'd never met who was pointing a gun at me.  I'm not sure it qualifies as "daring" because I didn't see any other options at the time.

Virg

[Hmmmmm]

I don't think I'm very brave at all. Though I've done a ton of whitewater rafting and kayaking, done cave diving in Mexico, parasailed, jumped off a 30ft cliff into a cenote, repelled down a side of a mountain, snorkled around sharks, I never felt the need for bravery because I didn't have a fear of doing any of it. Yes, moments of adranaline or thinking "ooh maybe this is more than I'm capable of doing." but not true fear. But I do have this odd fear of bridges and once when I was walking across the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado I got to the middle, could see the river way way way down below me through the bridge slats and I suddenly had to sit down on the bridge.  Took me almost 5 minutes to be able to get up and walk back.   

Anything I'm truly afraid of, like picking up a snake, I just won't do.

[Thipu1]

I'm a real wuss but I have done a few things that people consider brave. 

A few years ago, in Hawaii, we took a helicopter ride over an active volcano. Tourists do this every day.  The kick was that we paid extra to have the doors taken off.  It was all perfectly safe because you wore a four-point harness.  Still, when many people hear about it, they go a little green. The wind, the heat and the sulphur smell were amazing!

In the non-physical area, I went by myself on a tour of the Soviet Union in 1971.  It was an American Express guided tour so, again, it was perfectly safe but my father was a basket case. 

[Cat-Fu]

I went ziplining over by an active volcano (not over the actual volcano, though I would have if the line went over it!). One of the lines was about 1,000 feet up! The hotel I stayed at was across a lake from the volcano; I watched it ooze lava the night before I was supposed to go ziplining.

[Morrigan]

Hiking 12 of the 18 miles in one day of Jordan River Valley with a friend.  We hadn't meant to hike that much!  We were trying to do half of it, so only 8 or 9 miles, but the path to turn off of wasn't very well marked, so we missed it and had to make our own trail.

[Seraphia]

I don't do a lot of brave things, but once in a while, my courage peeks out.

I went overseas for a choir trip in college - pretty safe. But, one day when we had some 'tourist' time, I went off by myself and found a park to relax in away from everyone. I couldn't believe I did that - I don't like going places I don't know when I'm at home and speak the language. I also went shopping in a foreign department store (not a tourist spot) and bought shoes from someone who didn't speak any English. That was actually pretty fun!

[heartmug]

I got married.



 

[RebeccainGA]

I moved in with someone for the first time in my life - halfway across the country, in an area I'd never lived in nor knew anyone besides my DP in. That was a big one, emotionally - I'm still the only member of my immediate family outside the state of Florida - and my sister still lives with my parents!

I also went parasailing. In a skirt. Over the Atlantic. (I wasn't planning on going - I was in a knee length denim skirt - my ex talked me into it....) I have photos. It was great.

[exitzero]

I don't consider myself that brave, but I have parasailed, gone up in a hot air balloon, went on an amusement park ride called "The Sky Screamer" which is as close to bungee jumping as I'll ever get. Rode an elephant. I have pet rats. I've traveled around the country by myself.
Sometimes I'm brave and don't know it...I once stopped a very drunk man from getting on the elevator in my building. (He had already announced that his girlfriend lived somewhere in the building but he "didn't know where") I blocked the door and refused to let him on, despite his tirade of "Don't you know who I am???" When the elevator doors closed, the few other women in the elevator stared at me, slacked jawed and told me how they couldn't believe how brave I was. I just didn't want some hostile drunk guy wandering the halls.
BTW, I did call the police right away and monitored the security camera from my apartment to make sure he didn't get in the elevator after I was gone.

[guihong]

I too am sorry to hear posters self-depreciating their accomplishments.  I've been  at some of these fetes from everyday folks.

As for me:

*Going to China to teach English with 12 strangers.  I didn't speak a word of Chinese and had no training as a teacher (besides what we got before we left L.A.).    I ended up giving lessons in front of 200 Chinese students (aged between 21-40, so not children), and teaching all these students the Electric Slide and the Pata Pata.   Not to mention facing my own class of  16 young women every day.

*I took flying lessons towards my private pilot license, including flying from Denver to Las Vegas and back with my instructor, and flying over the Grand  Canyon  .  I've always wanted to find the money to finish that, and to go on.

*I posed in the altogether for art classes in college.  The pay was good, I often got to sleep, and sometimes paintings or sculptures or whatever of me were pretty!

[Kaora]

I have no problems speaking out if I think someone is doing something seriously, morally and ethically, wrong.  Otherwise, I'm a very quiet, shy person.

This means, the most daring thing I've done was defend a stranger I never met from being bullied back in my Middle School years.  He became my best friend until he had to move at the end of 7th grade.

Brave but stupid?  Going out and offroading on some of the big rocks aand dirt hills outside of town.  No pictures, maybe next time we do it, but more than once we ended up seeing the horizon sideways.  Thankfully, we were in a Jeep, so if we did roll, we should've been fine.  Thankfully, we didn't. I trust my BF's driving.

[Auntie Mame]

Went into the Peace Corps.

Flying into a country by myself without any plans and not knowing where I would sleep.  That turned out to be amazing fun.

[lilfox]

Career:  Spoken up at conferences or large meetings (at the appropriate time) to respectfully disagree with something the speaker has said or share a alternate opinion.  I had to be brave to have the confidence that I wouldn't sound ridiculous.

Physical: Took a hang-gliding lesson and flew gliders (sailplanes) for a few summers.  Parasailed, ziplined, and taken a flight in a helicopter (this scared me quite a bit!).  Gone on almost every type of roller coaster out there.  But piratelvr, I cannot do the Kings Dominion pirate ship!  Loops, backwards, standing up, faster, whatever, I can handle that.  But that pirate ship, it slows down and hangs upside down, sometimes for more than 10 seconds!  That is my line.   

Other:  Moved cross-country by myself a bunch of times.

[mmswm]

I inherited my father's taste for adventure.

-I started flying a small plane when I was 7 years old.  At that age, Dad had me in the co-pilot's seat ready to take over at any second.  By the time I was 12, he was reading a magazine in the co-pilot's seat while I piloted it without assistance.

-Dad and I went white water canoeing every time we were somewhere that white water existed (I grew up in Florida, so this would be when we went on vacation)

-I did a lot of mountain climbing in high school (again, on vacations), but a hiking accident my Sr. year ended that (I fell 20 feet and bounced and rolled down into a ravine another 60 or so feet).

-Dad and I went bungee jumping a few times.

-Dad shot professional fireworks as a hobby.  I've been on the sites since I was 6 days old.  By the time I was a teen, my taste for blowing things up was well developed.  I still like to blow things up (in a safe, controlled environment, that is).

Non-physical daring:

-I sang the US National Anthem solo for my undergraduate graduation ceremony.

-I sang at the public viewing for my uncle's funeral.  My uncle was a beloved local figure, so there were a lot of strangers there.

-I gave a short speech, completely impromptu, at the city council meeting that declared a certain day "mmswm's uncle day" in that city. At the end of that meeting, I also allowed myself to be interviewed by the dozen or so reporters that were there with news cameras, and the additional print news reporters.  These cameras came from the local news outlets as well as CNN and YNN, plus at least one reporter from the New York times.

Have I mentioned I'm terrified of public speaking?

[bloo]

When I was in high school, two of the popular guys played a tasteless prank on our sweet Marketing & Distribution teacher. Normally a quiet, shy child, I was so incensed that I got up and ripped into the two guys and erased what they had done on the chalkboard. My M& D teacher was left confused but I walked back to my seat after telling her not to bother wondering about it. We moved on in class but my stomach was in knots afterward and I did wonder if there would be social repercussions but other than those two idiots leaving me alone, there wasn't.

I jumped off a 40 foot bridge when I was 24. I was (and am) afraid of everything so I push myself to say 'yes' to everything I want to say 'no' to and have had some wonderful experiences!