Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What’s something you did alone that you didn’t think was a big deal at the time but now when others mention it, you realise it was actually brave?

115 replies

MyAmusedOpalCrab · 28/08/2025 16:27

For example, maybe you travelled solo, went to an event where you didn’t know anyone or made a major life change without much support. At the time it felt normal but now you hear people say, “Wow, that was really brave” and it makes you see it differently.

Curious to hear what things others have done that seemed ordinary at the time but in hindsight, took a lot of courage!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Gfsdc · 29/08/2025 08:02

Walking back home at 3am all on my own.

idkwhattodoanm · 29/08/2025 07:59

Came to the UK from another European country with 100$ in my pocket (couldn’t get £ there easily at that time), aged 22. 30y down the line, I would not be so brave to move to another country- even now I have assets, savings and an experience!

JailhouseRocker · 29/08/2025 01:54

PiggieWig · 29/08/2025 01:09

Sat outside A&E while my 18 year old was in MH crisis and Covid rules wouldn’t let me in.

I hope things are better for you both now.
Covid restrictions made awful situations so much worse.

MrsTerryPratchett · 29/08/2025 01:19

DaveWatts · 28/08/2025 16:54

If you weren't scared, then surely it wasn't brave? Some people think that living in London is a brave thing to do, doesn't make it true.

I did a lot of mad stuff in my youth but I wasn't brave, just stupid 🤣

This. I’ve done masses of things people find scary. Wasn’t scared therefore not brave.

PiggieWig · 29/08/2025 01:09

Sat outside A&E while my 18 year old was in MH crisis and Covid rules wouldn’t let me in.

SnowFrogJelly · 29/08/2025 01:08

Left a 30 year marriage to live alone for the first time in my life

Soonflower · 29/08/2025 01:06

Raised a child

Redflagsabounded · 29/08/2025 01:05

I don't think someone else's opinion on whether something was brave or not means much, unless it's something obvious like saving people from a burning building.

Some people find very mundane things difficult and needing a lot of courage - for them. But not for most people.

It takes all my courage to go to the dentist, but I wouldn't call other people brave for this as it's just an ordinary thing really

I went on holiday alone last year and got chatting to a nice couple and the woman exclaimed ' you're brave!' to me and looked like she genuinely couldn't fathom ever doing that. For her, scary, for me, easy. It didn't make me suddenly feel I was being brave, it made me feel a little bit sad for her.

JailhouseRocker · 29/08/2025 01:01

Saved a girls life in a pub in Glasgow when she was choking to death on a burger. I smacked the living daylights out of her back to dislodge it and she was starting to pass out ( this happens frighteningly quickly, btw ) It eventually flew out of her throat and she was sick all down me. 2 women were eating lunch close by and.. just ignored the dreadful noises she was making, and carried on eating!
When I finally left, my legs went to jelly and I couldn’t stop crying.

Appalonia · 29/08/2025 00:55

Going to India by myself for 4 months. Was great, but I was v scared beforehand.

sandgrown · 29/08/2025 00:48

I was 19. I had taken a job as an au pair in Spain . The family were horrible and really just wanted a skivvy .I hadn’t been paid either . About 3 weeks in I left a note and sneaked out very early to get a bus to the nearest city where I could get a bus back to the UK . I was terrified they would see my note and come looking for me before the bus came.

ChocolateCinderToffee · 29/08/2025 00:39

I’ve been into hospital twice for operations involving an overnight stay and taken myself home again afterwards on my own. They were both life-changing ops, but in themselves minor surgery.

Blownupblowndown · 29/08/2025 00:29

Driving from Normandy in France to Malaga in Spain with 3 small children (4, 5 and 8) with just a big tent and a lot of bravado over the course of 6 days.
Saying that, after the experience of ‘first and definitely last time ever camping’ we then got to stay in a luxury two bed apartment in a 5 star resort for a week before driving back to northern Spain for a ferry back to the UK.

I 100% wouldn’t do it again, but a fantastic experience for all of us. Didn’t realise how brave it was until I was telling people what I was doing and they told me I was crazy!

FindingMeno · 29/08/2025 00:19

Bungee jump.

Waitingfordoggo · 28/08/2025 23:50

Thank you @whitewineandsun. Like some of the other posts here, it’s probably one of those things you don’t really have a choice but to get on with, but I think it made me feel like a proper grown-up, perhaps for the first time!

Pryceosh1987 · 28/08/2025 23:34

I Slept through constant nightmares, for almost 2 years sound asleep.

whitewineandsun · 28/08/2025 23:30

Waitingfordoggo · 28/08/2025 23:27

Sounds silly but supporting my parents while they were dying, which all happened within a period of about four months; the deaths themselves being ten weeks apart. Had I known beforehand what was coming I’d have thought ‘I can’t do that’. But I did do it and I did it well.

This isn't silly. So much respect for this. It's hard.

Waitingfordoggo · 28/08/2025 23:27

Sounds silly but supporting my parents while they were dying, which all happened within a period of about four months; the deaths themselves being ten weeks apart. Had I known beforehand what was coming I’d have thought ‘I can’t do that’. But I did do it and I did it well.

IllBeLookingAtTheMoon · 28/08/2025 23:24

BlueyGreyWhale · 28/08/2025 22:51

Then you weren't doing something brave. You lived your life. NZ is a safe country with English as its language.

No big deal.

Edited
Show quote history

Man, you clearly haven't seen the lawless sinful streets of Rotovegas.

iciclemelts · 28/08/2025 22:57

Immigrated to a new country at age 20. Alone. Still live in this country 20 years later.

BlueyGreyWhale · 28/08/2025 22:51

Blueuggboots · 28/08/2025 22:43

Travelled to New Zealand, via Bali age 20. Didn’t even think about it at the time.

Then you weren't doing something brave. You lived your life. NZ is a safe country with English as its language.

No big deal.

BlueyGreyWhale · 28/08/2025 22:49

DaveWatts · 28/08/2025 16:54

If you weren't scared, then surely it wasn't brave? Some people think that living in London is a brave thing to do, doesn't make it true.

I did a lot of mad stuff in my youth but I wasn't brave, just stupid 🤣

Quite. If you weren't afraid ypu weren't being brave, you were just living life.

Blueuggboots · 28/08/2025 22:43

Travelled to New Zealand, via Bali age 20. Didn’t even think about it at the time.

Caffin · 28/08/2025 22:38

Flew into New York aged 18 and travelled to Chicago alone in the style of Race Across the World-no hotels, no mobile phone, just a few timetables and travellers cheques! Made it and have a lot of stories to tell!

Pigsinpants · 28/08/2025 22:36

Changed a wheel, on a Nissan micra, on the hard shoulder of the M1, drivers side with Lorries whizzing past, on Christmas Eve. It was probably a stupid thing to do but I was a student, newly passed my test driving up from Bristol to Sheffield and just wanted to get home for Christmas before it got too late.