to ask whats the bravest thing you’ve ever done?

[lemonpepsi]

as the title says

Am about to embark on this...

Fleed a DV Marriage and am going to file for divorce tomorrow.

Utterly petrified going it alone but my children and I deserve better and I have to be strong for them.

Currently sleeping for around 2 hours each night and tonight I think I have managed under an hour.

Faced cancer twice, two different types a d kicked it in to touch twice.
Then found out we were pregnant when we had been told it was impossible at my age.

Arranged for my darling darling pony to be put to sleep then held her while it was done. Had her 12 years and still miss her now.

Driving that morning to the stables, getting out of the car and waiting for the slaughterman to come was so painful. But I did it. Because I promised her she wouldn't know anything and had to make sure she didnt.

Good luck itchytights, you are indeed being very brave. I don’t imagine anyone ever regrets leaving an abusive relationship once the dust has settled and they have got on with their lives. In fact so many threads have someone coming on and saying they are now with a lovely man and thank heaven every day for having left their first dp.

Like steff13 I also told my terminally ill (cancer) Mum it was ok for her to leave us while she lay dying in the hospice. I never thought of this as being particularly brave (it seemed like the right thing to do at the time) until someone on a similar thread to this a few months previously, said it was actually a very brave thing to do.

for expat and anyone else who has lost a child

@naiveandshy it wasn't a coercion and control case was it? I'm about to embark on that journey.

I am impressed, heartened and sadden by some of the stories on this thread, a d they make me feel very grateful for the low level of courage that I have ever had to find.

I read a poem at my dad’s funeral. I didn’t finish it.

I had an emergency c section when I was a very young 17 year old suffering with horrific mental health problems.
I left my abusive ex with my 3 year old, and being 8 weeks pregnant with no money and all my things in bin bags, best decision I've ever made even if I was absolutely terrified at the time!
Moved house 100 miles on my own with two kids under 6
After leaving it 18 months - finally went to the doctors to ask for help with PND

Going for major surgery, terrified for my DC if I didn't survive.

People who've had to bury their children, DS1 has a terminal illness, I've lived for 22 years with the knowledge that I'll have to bury him, how do you cope?

Well done SticksOut

I moved to a big city in France completely on my own for my year abroad of uni, with a suitcase and nowhere to live. I cannot fathom why 20-year-old me assumed it would all work out but it did!

itchytights you've got this, you can do it, it will be OK. I've been in your shoes, six years later, everything is SO much better. Good luck 🍀

PerefctlySymmetricalButtocks I dont know how I coped. But you do. I guess the one thing that helped slightly was knowing it was the last thing I could do for him, I wanted it to be perfect. (It wasnt, a combination of factors saw to that but I know I tried my best)

tears rolling down my face at reading how brave and sad some these stories are - you really are all amazing

Called my friend's parents to tell them he'd been in a life changing accident at work and to come now to the hospital.

We thought he was going to die in front of us. I never really got the chance to deal with it properly and now I think people don't want to talk about it any more

Keeping us both together when my grandma had a stroke in front of me and managing to get an ambulance there. She survived.

Finally leaving my abusive and massively controlling ex when he blamed me for an acquaintance raping me. Reporting to the Police and fighting so hard to not let this break me.

So inspired by this thread

Amazing post! absolutely love it!!!! had me in tears most of the way through!

The bravest thing I ever done was give birth to my son naturally on my own after finding out his heart had stopped earlier that day. Somehow found the strength to go home and tell my DS1 (teenager) what had happened. I started working a new job 2 weeks after I buried him. Like most of the people in the thread I pep talk myself with it every time I have a wobble.
I think it shows we are all much more amazing than we give ourselves credit for!

Thanks FreshTart

Leaving abusive ex with then 17mo dc and going into homeless accommodation, keeping up working full time whilst all this went on.

Being the "adult" in the house after my dad died and my mother drank more and more.

Looking after my teen aged brother and sister when my mother suddenly died of alcohol related multi-organ failure when I was only 20 myself.

Moving to London from small town Germany on my own, with no family and friends or a job to go to here. Found a well paid job quite quickly and am still in the same company eight years later.

You are all utterly amazing.

I havent had to be half as brave as any of you, but I have a couple to add.

Being in a charge on my own of a pub full of rowdy drunks. All locals, so managed fine, until they all started fighting at the end. Security training kicked in and I managed to get them all out and close the door. Where they continued fighting and smashed a load of the windows. Had to call the police, and the bar owner wasn't amused I'd 'gotten a load of his regulars locked up'

Having so much surgery so close together. Had a section, then 8 weeks later a left colectomy. The day after the emergency left colectomy, I needed a right colectomy. I'm scarred from my chest to my section scar. Then spending 3 weeks in a critical care ward while I had an 8 week old at home.

Living everyday with a stoma bag at the age of 30, and not letting it change my life in the slightest.

Nominating for classics :)

Had to tell my Dad and my brother that my Grandad had died because my mum was too upset to do so.

Same as some others - going through 12 hours of labour after finding out DD1 had died (I wanted a section and they said no). Getting pregnant again 3 months later, then getting a nuchal score of 1:10, having an amniocentesis at 16 weeks, finding out DD2 was fine, and then at the 20 week scan discovering she only had one functional kidney. (She's now 6 and completely healthy).

Standing up for my Ds. Can’t go into details but it had huge repercussions, all of which have turned out for the better. We went through dark times and have come out the other side.
I regret not taking action sooner though it was totally worth it to watch the smug smirk drip off the face of one individual once she realised that we weren’t going to play her power games any more.
It was an extreme situation which I can’t give details of. I’ve kept every document and hope that one day I can prosecute or name & shame the ‘people’ who hurt my child.