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

[Editeer]

Moved across the country (US--so 3,000 miles) at age 24. I did know a couple of people where I was going.

Fell in love with a man over e-mail and decided to go see him to see if our relationship was for real. I flew to Germany myself to meet a man I had never seen, knowing no one there, taking the risk that he would turn out to be an ax-murderer or just plain awful. We've been married 12 years.

Climbed Mt Conness. It's not a terribly dangerous climb but oh boy, if you look DOWN . . . !

[afbluebelle]

If you define brave as something that scares the bejeebus out of you, but you do it anyway, I have one recent one.

Going to Seoul by myself by public transportation. I've never ridden trains/trams, I have a serious fear of large crowds/crowded areas, minimal sense of direction/homing device, and I don't speak a bit of Korean.

It was fun =) Plus, I got to ride the swan boats that are in the "Gagnam Style" video!

[PastryGoddess]

If you define brave as something that scares the bejeebus out of you, but you do it anyway, I have one recent one.

Going to Seoul by myself by public transportation. I've never ridden trains/trams, I have a serious fear of large crowds/crowded areas, minimal sense of direction/homing device, and I don't speak a bit of Korean.

It was fun =) Plus, I got to ride the swan boats that are in the "Gagnam Style" video!

I wanna know....Did you do the horse dance?

[Thipu1]

Other members of our family have done some pretty gutsy things.

Mr. Thipu was a gonzo skier for years.  He also did sky diving, hang gliding and wreck diving.

Niece climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Nephew celebrated his Master's Degree by taking a bicycle ride from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine.

Maybe the gutsiest thing anyone in the family did was MIL and FIL's decision to leave China and move to the USA. 

[ladyknight1]

My husband is the bravest man I know.

When he was in airborne school, he was belaying from a helicopter, and his belay man took off. DH fell 200 feet. The next day he had to march 5 miles on his injured knees.

[afbluebelle]

If you define brave as something that scares the bejeebus out of you, but you do it anyway, I have one recent one.

Going to Seoul by myself by public transportation. I've never ridden trains/trams, I have a serious fear of large crowds/crowded areas, minimal sense of direction/homing device, and I don't speak a bit of Korean.

It was fun =) Plus, I got to ride the swan boats that are in the "Gagnam Style" video!

I wanna know....Did you do the horse dance?

Heck yeah! I do the horse dance a lot of places though 

[Virg]

ladyknight1 wrote:

"When he was in airborne school, he was belaying from a helicopter, and his belay man took off. DH fell 200 feet. The next day he had to march 5 miles on his injured knees."

Forgive my cluelessness in this.  I can get behind "lucky" and he's certainly tough as nails, but I don't get the bravery aspect of what happened.  Did he know that this was going to happen or something else that's not obvious?

Virg

[ladyknight1]

DH didn't drop out since he was injured in the fall. He walked 5 miles on severely injured knees so he could graduate.

[blueyzca01]

I stood up to a bully when I was 12.

In 7th grade, a boy named Craig gave me a necklace, flowers and chocolates for Valentine’s Day.  Since I absolutely did not return his affections, and as my dad told me to do, I very politely returned the gifts to him.  Dad made sure I explained to him as nicely as I good that I was flattered, but since I didn’t feel the same way, I couldn’t keep them.

The next day at lunch, in the middle of the entire cafeteria, his best friend Sherri came over to my table (I was sitting at the end), explained that Craig was her best friend and I “humiliated” him and slapped me hard across the face.  Sherri was the biggest girl in 7th grade and everyone was afraid of her.  I still remember sitting there with my face burning, both from pain and the realization that EVERYONE was staring at me.

The brave part comes next: After a few minutes, Sherri walked back over to me and said she was sorry for slapping me.  I stood up, looked her right in the eye, slapped her as hard as I could, and said “you should be!”  I will never forget how hard my heart was beating. 

The entire cafeteria broke out into applause. 

I’ve also been parachuting a couple times, but like a previous poster said, I didn’t ever fear it, so I don’t consider it brave.  My family does, though, so they think I’m a bada$$.   

[CreteGirl]

Stupid things:  Jumped off a garage roof into a swimming pool.  Hand fed popcorn to alligators at the Okefenoke Swamp.

Somewhat daring things:  Ziplining and parasailing. 

Other things:   Organized my 20th, 25th & 30th high school reunions and gave speeches at each of them.  I am afraid of public speaking.  And I suck at it.  And I will once again fumble my way through a speech at the next reunion.

[MrsCrazyPete]

I was terrified to go ziplining for the first time last summer. The feeling you get when you're soaring above the trees is so exhilarating though!! By the end of the course, I was doing it so well that the guide said I was the poster child for getting over fear of heights! I want to do it again!

When I was 24, the bravest thing I did was leave my EXH. My family thought I was nuts, but only because he put on a different face when they were around. I left him, and it was the scariest thing I've ever done, but I never regretted it for a second. I am now married to a WONDERFUL man that I love so much.

[katcheya]

Zip-lining in the rainforest in Costa Rica.

It sounded like a good idea at the time!  The first cable looked nice and easy.  It's only after I got to the second platform that I remembered one crucial thing: I'm afraid of heights.  And poisonous snakes.  And deadly spiders.

My knees shook wildly for the second cable.  At the third, I started hyperventilating.  The guides were a bit freaked out, but we came to a compromise.  I went down the rest of the way with a guide, and I was fine!  Luckily, one of the other guides grabbed my camera and took pictures of my partner and I, so I have plenty of proof to commemorate the experience, and I never have to do it again! 

[Ms_Cellany]

My husband and I force-fed a rattlesnake....Other than that sort of thing, I lead a fairly dull life.

"Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln..."

[Moonie]

The bravest thing I ever did was kicking my ex out after 18 years of abuse. It was like being reborn!

[unnalee]

Probably the most daringly STUPID thing I ever did was as a student teacher (doing my teaching internship before getting my license).  I'm rather short and was quite soft-spoken at the time, and since I was only 23 and teaching high school seniors, there were times they didn't take me seriously as an authority figure. 

One Friday afternoon early in my internship, my master teacher (the woman who kindly let me take over her classroom for a semester) was out sick so it was just me in the room with the kids.  There had been an altercation at lunch due to some dating drama.  In the last 5 minutes of class, someone made a joke about one of the girls involved, which was then repeated by a boy she used to date.  Her brother was a student in my class and jumped to her defense.  Before I could squash the gossip and wrap up the lesson, the ex and the brother were in each others' faces (the ex was a wrestler and the brother was a football lineman).  I made the decision to step between them and very quietly told everyone to SIT.DOWN. 

The brother told me later that they were just so shocked that I sounded so scary mad, that they didn't even think about throwing punches, which was very lucky for me.

As far as doing something daring outside of my comfort zone, I moved 500 miles away from everyone I knew to go to university and the first weekend I was there I joined the ballroom dancing club.  I had no experience, didn't know a soul, but had so much fun and met the person who became my very best friend.