What's the hardest thing you've done?

[Syterion]

Physically, Emotionally, Mentally, whatever.

For me, I would say it happened today(hence my inspiration for the topic). Today was the time-trials for cross country, and it took all my will power to not stop during the race and finish with an astonishing time of 27:40(astonishing in a way that it is a terrible time but also astonishing in a way that it is much much better than time trials last year). It was the second day of practice and I was out of shape, having not run during the summer. And last year I improved dramatically from the first to second race(although that shoudl be obvious). So I consider it a good time, but not what I would want for a meet.

Emotionally, nothing really bad has happened to me that I havent been able to get over quickly. Even my father's death didn't really affect me much.

Mentally I have no problems, I'm the smartest person in the universe.

 

[Japher]

Getting a degree in Chemical Engineering.

Chemistry was my worse class I had during HS. Not that I didn't like it, I just sucked at it. I was good at math and physics so I decided to challenge myself and get a degree in Chemical Engineering. Took me 6 years, almost had a duel major in Chemistry by the time I was done. Am now rather good with math, decent with physics, and kick but with chemistry. I am Chem. E. by trade and nothing could be better. I figured if I could tackle the hardest study for me and become successful with it that I could really do ANYTHING... Now that it is done, I don't know what it is I want to do.

 

[IglooDame]

Jumping off the 10-meter board into a swimming pool, which was a graduation requirement for the Naval Academy.

I had a fear of heights. Still do, although it has faded somewhat, probably at least partly attributable to the "10-meter death plunge"...

 

[dgfred]

@ S-- Congrats on not giving up , I know you'll get better each
race . I made that trade offer we spoke of earlier , you need to approve it still . You might be the 2nd smartest .

 

[El Justo]

that's easy, giving up my bacheloresque lifestyle in favor of marriage.

i've delayed the inevitable for quite some time yet in january '05 that will end!

 

[Phasmida]

Physically would be a "tempo run" I had to do for soccer when I was 15. It is a 4 mile run. The first mile you are supposed to go at a fairly hard (but not your absolute hardest) pace. Every succesive mile after that must be faster then the mile before it! Of the 14 people on the team, 6 completed it, me included! I vomited soon after finishing!

 

[eyrei]

The hardest physical thing I have done is run up and down a 45 degree hill for 45 minutes during soccer tryouts in highschool. The hardest mental thing I have done was give an hour long presentation on the difference between rhetoric and dialogue in the works of Socrates, Aristotle and John Milton to a group of faculty in college.

 

[Pirate]

Wow, I read the title and immediately thought about running cross-country in highschool. Then I opened the thread and what do you know! I'm with Syterion - cross country conditioning and racing is the one activity that has taken everything out of me physically.

Intellectually, however, I am in the midst of the hardest thing - trying to decide if the girl I am with is the one to marry. Contrary to popular belief it doesn't always hit you like a lighting bolt. I think of it as a balance scale where you add one grain of sand with each experience you have with her until one day it finally tips and you know.

 

[WickedSmurf]

Mental: Putting my dog to sleep. Miss him still.

Physical: The recurring pre-season training (football).

 

[SeleucusNicator]

There's several.

I'd say some math tests that I had to take during my Senior year of High School. My ability to comprehend math ended with Algebra II, but my graduation requirements in that subject did not. I had to struggle through a year of material that I absolutely could not understand and, more importantly, get a good grade in it. Every test I took was an adventure in desperation; I had to use every single method available to me (memorization, lucky guesses, and, yes, cheating) to somehow get out of it.

As somebody who usually breezes through every class he finds, that was a new and difficult experience for me.

 

[downtown]

There's several.

I'd say some math tests that I had to take during my Senior year of High School. My ability to comprehend math ended with Algebra II, but my graduation requirements in that subject did not. I had to struggle through a year of material that I absolutely could not understand and, more importantly, get a good grade in it. Every test I took was an adventure in desperation; I had to use every single method available to me (memorization, lucky guesses, and, yes, cheating) to somehow get out of it.

As somebody who usually breezes through every class he finds, that was a new and difficult experience for me.

I had the exact same problem. I was a great math student, and a pretty good student in general(with the exception of latin II). Then I faced the combinied Physics/Honors Pre-calc class. By some quirk in our school's ciriculum, this was the only way I could get my state mandated physics requirement. I died. Each test was murder. I had to swallow my pride and get a tutor. I did double the work that everybody else did. I ended up with a C-, which killed my GPA, and several scholarship hopes that I had. But now Im done, and I hope to return to the land of good grades. Hopefully in College, I can stick to the liberal arts, which I excell at. Calc classes were the hardest things for me mentally.

Physically? Id say either playing goalie in an indoor soccer game where you are two men down the whole game (I had to litteraly, stand on my head, and make 31 saves) or starting a game of basketball, and playing almost 40 min...with the stomach flu. it got to where I'd steal the ball, hit the layup, collapse on the baseline, and then run back to play defense. *whew*

 

[Perfection]

LSD

I dunno, I think the hardest thing I've done (and I'm still doing it) is overcoming my goddamn ADHD. The drugs help (despite numerous really annoying side effects) but it's still hard as hell for me to do work for more than 15 minutes without being distracted.

 

[downtown]

LSD

I dunno, I think the hardest thing I've done (and I'm still doing it) is overcoming my goddamn ADHD. The drugs help (despite numerous really annoying side effects) but it's still hard as hell for me to do work for more than 15 minutes without being distracted.

offtopic

I've found that drugs dont really help in the long run, as our bodies develop immunities to them, and you have to take more. Take too much Ritlian, and you develop holes in your brain, similar to those found in Acid users.

What worked for me after I went off my meds was to use my school's super educaiton services and get an IEP, which you can use all the way thru college. You can take tests in seperate rooms, get more time, have doors to special counsling services open to you, etc. Then you get help figure out what your precice weaknesses are, and work to overcome them.

Thats just what worked for me, but I caution anybody who suffers from ADHD to not think of medication as a cure-all long-term soultion, as it can cause a *lot* of damage later in life

/offtopic

 

[Neomega]

Walking up to three black guys who were beating up a white guy on a bridge at about 3 in the morning, and calling their bluff when they tried to act like they had guns.

Actually, it wasn't that hard because I was suicidal at the time.

 

[Syterion]

@Perfection-I know what you mean. I have at least mild ADHD myself, but I've never been tested or recieved medication at all. I cannot concentrate well either.

 

[El Justo]

physical: once pitched 18 innings in one day at a baseball tournament. man, was the 'ol noodle sore the next day.

 

[Steph]

My three years preparing exams for engineer school. My health wasn't very good, and I had terrible headackes. In 3 years school I think I spent a total if 4 or 5 months sick at home because of them, my teachers didn't think I would pass my exams.

I've clearly identified the source of these headackes only two years ago : I can't stand artificial light for a long time, especially neon lights. And guess what they use to light classrooms?

So now, at work, I have my own office, the shutters are closed, the light in switch off, and I work "in the dark". The only light come from my screen, and I let the door opened.

 

[dgfred]

physical: once pitched 18 innings in one day at a baseball tournament. man, was the 'ol noodle sore the next day.

Mine was baseball related too-- I caught a doubleheader in the 16 yr old
Babe Ruth Regional Tourney in Gadsden, Ala in late July-- SUPER HOT!

2nd toughest was working one summer helping install driveways @ Seymour
Johnson AFB in our town. I was on the JACKHAMMER at 7:00 in the morning
all summer. .

 

[Masquerouge]

The hardest physical thing I've done was an endurance test in basketball practice. You have to run back and forth acroos the court at a given tempo, and every 30 seconds, the tempo increases. If you reach the line after the beat, you're out... I did 14 accelerations, that's 7min30s of running, and running fast. I made a point of being the last to finish, now that was pretty stupid because the training day had just begun

The hardest intellectual thing I've done was to functionnally specify a VAT report for an ERP. I know, sounds lame, but for those who know what I'm talking about

 

[stormbind]

My worst ever, huh? This is very personal kind of difficulty, and perhaps some people would not consider it difficult at all...

Shakespeare, or more specifically, a monologue from Hamlet - that was utter hell!!

I am trained in technical fields, not arts.
Although an excellent deceiver, larger audiences scare the hell out of me!
I'm a relaxed speaker, but must "shout" to perform on stage - it does not come naturally to me.
Shakespeare uses unfamiliar vocabulary, making the lines difficult to memorise.
I learn quickest from listening, and slowest through reading - a poor match for a play.
The text is often written as a poem, and requires interpretting, which is more effort and distraction.
Lastly, all the things everyone must concentrate on: Character analysis, phonetics, breathing, motion.

When you put all of the above together, and get an excessively nervous guy with glowing red ears (which thankfully did not show up)

Awareness of the mismatch causes huge emotional distraction for me. It was also self-inflicted... externally imposed difficulties are easier to work through - imho.

P.S. I'm not implying that I do plays; and have no intention of ever performing in one. I just needed to demo a shakespeare monologue for something semi-related.