There comes a time in all our lives where we know we’ve reached the point of no return. Regardless of the consequences, we have to do the thing—whether that means shutting up that nasty customer, getting on the plane, or fighting for our life. These Redditors shared their most terrifying and exhilarating “No going back now” moments.
1. (Don’t) Take Me to the River
When I was younger, I let my older cousin talk me into a canoe ride down a flooded river. We'd planned it days in advance, but there was a lot of heavy rain in the area and the normally calm river was near flood-level and quite rough. I really didn't want to do it but I didn't want to let him down either, so I still went. It backfired horribly.
I knew as soon as we saw the river that this was a terrible idea. I honestly thought we were going to perish. We had no control, and at one point we got stuck nose-down in a large rock, knowing if we tipped out we were drowning. We somehow made it out and to the shore, where we walked back with the canoe.
2. Rolling Into Town
I hopped a freight train once. The real "no going back" moment came when the train stopped on a siding outside Winnemucca. After waiting there for like five hours, I decided to walk into town. As soon as I got 50 yards from the train, I realized: If it starts rolling now, I'll be too far away to chase it down. I'll just be stuck in this town for a while.
3. Let ‘Er Rip
I was on the beach, and there was a girl caught in the riptide. Without thinking, I stepped off the sandbar I could already barely reach and swam out to her. Except I didn’t really understand how a riptide worked. I remember calling out to people walking their dogs on the beach, but we were so far out they didn't even look towards us. It took what felt like hours but, spoiler alert, we made it.
4. Slippery Slope
I was mountain biking with some friends on a new trail, which wasn't even a bike trail. We hiked most of the way up since it was too steep to ride up. Rested at the top for a bit…and then we rolled over the edge. I remember as my front tire crested and gravity started taking over I thought, "There's no way I'm stopping now, unless a tree stops me."
5. No Man Is an Island
My “no going back” moment was getting in the ambulance after suffering a grand mal seizure from alcohol withdrawals. When I finally said “enough is enough” and decided I needed to quit drinking, I thought I could detox on my own instead of in a hospital. I was so, so wrong. I spent a week detoxing in the ICU, and now, almost a full year later, I'm still very happily sober and I'm completely thriving.
6. Call the Burn Unit
When I was about to get on the plane to my first semester of my very expensive medical school, my dad, never one for sentiment, said: “Well, you’re now actually worth more dead than alive, don’t screw this up.”
7. It’s Getting Hot in Here
“Here, try this hot wing.” I took a bite and for the next 18 hours, I could only focus on how this was an inhumane act. It was The Last Dab XXX on a drumstick. It was coated all over. I just ate one big bite. Then I went and shoved my head under a cold shower. Then, it was bed and bathroom for several hours as I threw up most of it, but some got digested.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I knew that it was going to be hot. My former roommate was a hot sauce aficionado. He never once handed me a wing that was less than a habanero sauce. The question was how hot it was going to be. I never would have imagined.
8. Baby on Board
My moment was the positive pregnancy test. We were trying, but seeing the test, my first thought was honestly, "Oh my god, what have we done?" He's now 8 months old and it is the best, but still the scariest, decision we ever made.
9. Do Not Go Gentle
My moment was when I took a bunch of pills in an attempt to end it all. It was around 10 pm on a Tuesday night and I had just gotten into an argument with my mom. I lay down in my bed and thought about my life. I considered asking my mom to take me to the hospital, but decided against it. I just thought, "Well, this is it."
Then I fell asleep. I took more than the lethal dose of Seroquel XR, but I somehow woke up in the morning, slow, but perfectly fine. I consider it a glitch in the matrix, but one I am very grateful for. This was almost a year ago, and I’m doing so much better now.
10. There’s No Place Like Home
My husband and I moved to Europe. For my husband, it was moving home. For me, yeah, nope. But I have a rare disease, and American insurance was about to actually ruin me. My husband managed to get an amazing job in a great city to try to save my life, so this story starts when we’re two hours into our flight there.
I was too sick to visit first or anything, so I’ve never seen the city before. Then something horribly came over me. I realized this was all forever. I wasn’t well enough to fly back to the US, so who knows when I’ll see anything or anyone from there again, and this is it, and...and suddenly, I’m just panicking out of my mind.
Like, “What is plane? Where is air?” The flight attendant was offering me a cup of tea at that almost exact moment and I just stared at my husband, who is a former Marine and has done all of these insane things, and he looked at me and goes, “Take. The. Tea.” I felt like an idiot version of Neo in The Matrix.
“If you take the tea...the flight keeps going and you see how far this rabbit hole goes. If you don’t take the tea...this poor flight attendant stands here looking like an idiot for even longer.” So anyway, I took the tea from the dude, and then I guess it worked because who can panic while trying to make tea? Turns out, though, it was truly the point of no return.
It’s been five years. The insurance is MUCH better than the US, they’ve kept me alive when I definitely would have been a goner, but I’m too sick to actually leave. I couldn’t even go home for my grandmother’s funeral. So...there really was no going back. Unless something kicks in, new treatments, etc. I doubt I’ll ever see home again.
11. A Watery Wait
As a Boy Scout at summer camp, we would always take large group hikes on the last day of camp. This particular camp in west Texas was located in the middle of a deep canyon and cut through with a small stream. The day before our hike day, it rained a bit and was still drizzling when we got up, but not too much to make us worry.
So our long hike had us cross the small stream up the canyon maybe 10-15 times, no problem, and everything went great. At first. We passed this small pond, and then we get to the top of a mound and we suddenly hear this wonderfully ominous rushing noise. We look over a ledge and see that the water in the stream was moving a bit faster than we remembered.
A friend and I volunteer to go back and see what’s happened. What we saw stunned us. A FLASH FLOOD had ripped through the area we had just left moments before. The water in the pond was at least seven feet higher than it was five minutes before, and it was covered in foam and rapidly overflowing. But we didn’t even know how bad it was.
We decided as a group to test our luck and go back to see if we could get out, but the last stream crossing had turned into a very fast-moving river crossing. Needless to say, we were screwed. We literally couldn’t go back, and we had to wait a long time to get help and get to the now almost flooded camp. Not a fun day.
12. Loose Lips Sink Jerks
When my awful ex-husband was doing his weekly ritual of interrogating me and accusing me of some made-up infidelity, and then he suddenly went, “Well?! What’s the deal here, are we just done??” Before I could stop myself or think twice about it, I said, “You know, yeah, yeah we’re done.” And then I told him my dark secret.
Until that moment, my husband didn’t know that I had already spoken to a divorce lawyer and the authorities, and had all my ducks in a row to take the heck off. I was planning on actually meeting with the lawyer before I told him, and because I did there was two weeks awful Jekyll and Hyde stuff before I could leave. Still worth it, it felt so good to say.
13. Good Boy, Bad Tattoo
Five years ago, my dog Snoopy passed. He was my best friend for nearly 17 years, so I wanted a tattoo to remember him. One night, I had my best (human) friend draw a caricature of him on my right arm so I could then tattoo myself. I'm right-handed, so it was hard for me to draw it myself and I figured that would make it easier.
It turned out to be even harder trying to tattoo myself with my left hand. Right after I messed up a line really badly, I decided that I might as well keep going at this point since it was not going to look perfect anyway. It came out sloppy but it’s also my most cherished. I don't know if I ever want to get it touched up professionally because I kind of like how it's such a raw expression of emotion.
14. Going up?
I was in an elevator going to the 15th floor when suddenly it makes a fatigued sound before dropping FAST. Scared the ever-loving heck out of me as I rocketed down to floor 5 before it slowed, stopped, and reversed course back up again. I NOPE'D, hit the button for every floor so the freaking thing would just let me off, and walked down the stairs and out of the building. I never did get to visit the friend I was going to see.
15. Family Feud
I ran away from my horrible home at 19. I called my dad while I was at work later that day to let him know I was okay and not to come looking for me. He’s a narcissist, so I was so scared he’d tell the authorities and they’d track me down. I’d left my car keys on the kitchen table, emptied my bank account, and took everything I could with me.
He said “You’ll never make it without me and my money,” and I just said “I can’t wait to find out.” That was seven years ago now, and I’m making it.
16. Get Swole, Save a Life
The other day, I tried forcing the garage door closed while I was inside because it had been catching on something. It slid with a loud bang, and I noticed the wire had disconnected from the springs. It wasn't going to open, and it's like 800 lbs and the springs help carry the load of the door. So unless I got the wire back on the spring, I was basically trapped.
I found some gloves and sunglasses hanging out in the garage already—not safety glasses, but better than nothing—and had to essentially hold the spring with one hand, the wire with the other, and do a chest fly to pull it into place. I did it, somehow. Adrenaline is a heck of a motivator.
17. Dr. Google Gets Dark
I got admitted to a psychiatric ward when I was 17 years old. I was going through an emo phase: Dyed my hair blue-black, started listening to loud edgy music, wore skinny jeans, the whole shebang. I always was a shy, sheltered kid who didn't have many friends. School was my number one priority, but I was also hiding a huge secret.
I was also gay and living in a deeply religious family. I was self-medicating with videogames. When the school stuff started getting harder and demanding more and more of my time, it got harder for me to juggle between getting my homework done and getting my dopamine rush. Suddenly, I started wondering why I put that much effort into school in the first place, only to get mediocre results.
My grades weren't bad, probably the equivalent of a B+, but not getting As still made me feel like I had failed. To cut to the chase, I tried to make myself more likable and got acquainted with emo and alternative culture. Boy, did my mom not like that. She started wondering why her son turned from a nerd to this "circus act."
She figured there was something wrong with me, so she started dragging me around from one psychiatrist to the other. When the doctor eventually said that there was nothing wrong with me and it was just normal teenage hormones, we would immediately visit another doctor to "get a second opinion." And on and on.
Eventually, she booked an appointment with the head of a psychiatric facility, for which she paid an exorbitant amount of money. He asked me a few questions, most of which were answered immediately by my mom, and after about 5 minutes he gave me a depression diagnosis. He said that I'd need to start taking antidepressants and that I'd need to stay in a psychiatric ward for a week.
Now, I wasn't planning on going through with it, but after some pressure, I started believing that maybe he knows better and there actually is something wrong with me. So I went along. This screwed me up in more ways than I care to recall. I eventually shifted from diagnosis to diagnosis and all kinds of different medications.
What I saw during my stay there scarred me for life. I'm almost 28 now, still living at my mom's house. I've been off the medications for around seven years, though, and things are actually getting better, albeit slowly. I recently got admitted to a university to study abroad. I'm planning on leaving after this summer.
18. Going Under
I got a general anesthetic for a wisdom teeth removal. After waiting for what felt like an eternity in a little prep room, I was just thinking about using the restroom when I’m swarmed by nurses. Before I could react, they stuck things all over me and one of them got the medication in me and I could immediately feel effects.
I remember vividly thinking “Well heck, no going back now” as they wheeled me to get surgery. Luckily, the procedure and recovery went as smoothly as they could’ve gone.
19. Bedside Matters
About 10 years ago, I went for a routine STD screening, because I am responsible. The doctor comes out with that horrible bad-news face that they all seem to get and just stands in front of me for a minute clearing his throat and looking uncomfortable. He starts to say something twice while looking at the chart: "I'm afraid that, well..."
"Well it isn't goo...ahem." He clasps the chart in front of him and appears ready to say something. I glance at it quickly. What I saw made my heart drop. I make out "HIV" mentioned a few times. Suddenly, a nurse kind of jogs out of the office, takes the chart from the doctor, and hands him another one. She gives me a smile and then walks back inside.
The doctor looks at the new chart, grins like a kid given the day off school, and says cheerily "Well, looks like you’re all clean!" Close call.
20. Put a Ring on It
My “No going back” moment was when I saw my girlfriend's eyes light up at the jewelry store when she laid eyes on what would become our engagement ring. The last two months of talking about marriage suddenly felt much more real and serious. She’s now my wife.
21. Ah One, and Ah Two
The first was when my wife showed me the positive pregnancy test. This was particularly jarring, though, because we were already in the process of adopting. Then, the second moment came when our ultrasound tech said, "And here's the second heartbeat."
22. I Would Walk 500 Miles
I was on my way to see a girl who I had been talking to online for three months. Even more scary was that she lived on the total other side of the world. I just put all of my eggs in one basket and said, "screw it." That "No going back now" feeling really hit when the plane took off. That girl is now my wife. Sometimes you just have to go for it.
23. Have I Got News for You
I told my mom I was a lesbian after she asked if I liked one of my guy friends.
24. On the Rise
I took a huge poop at my girlfriend's parents' house. As the water level rose and rose and rose, I looked frantically for a plunger. Her family must have been small, delicate poopers, because there was not a plunger to be found. The water level got right up to the tip-top, and I was sure this was the end for me. I had to think fast.
Fortunately, there was a wire hanger on a hook on the wall. I fashioned it into a makeshift plumbing snake and rooted out the clog. I rinsed the business end in the sink and reassembled the wire hanger as best I could. Then I pulled up my pants, washed my hands, a spritz of Febreeze to neutralize the stench, crisis averted.
25. Work to Live
I gave my notice to my boss last Friday. I’m across the country from all of my friends and family, and I have no job lined up. If I stay here, though, I’ll wind up a shell of a person. So I’m quitting and moving back home with only my savings and the grace of my family to catch me. No going back now. Wish me luck.
26. Rolling the Dice
I found out my husband was still addicted to gambling behind my back. We had an almost one-year-old child and he had been acting shady. I logged onto his bank account where he had a secure credit card and saw all the transactions from the casinos. My heart just dropped. See, this was actually the third strike for me.
I had tried to get him help and support before, and he scorned my attempts every time. "I'm not a bad enough gambler to be in Gambler's Anonymous," "I just went to use the ATM and pay my phone bill," and "We don't need to pay a therapist to tell us we need to talk more." So, he asked me to bring him lunch at work, and I knew what I had to do.
I printed off the credit card statements, handed them to him with his lunch pail, and began the process of moving my things into my mom's house and looking for a place to live.
27. Ice Cold
I once fell through the ice when I was around 11 years old…and didn't know how to swim. I flailed around wildly, and started screaming at the top of my lungs. But then I realized I had just gotten very, very lucky. I noticed that the water was only about chest-deep. Still, I'm surprised I didn't get hypothermia.
28. Cliffhanger
Once when I was driving in Vermont, I made a wrong turn and ended up on what I think was a dirt road that had a bunch of hiking trail markers on it. The second I was on this road, I realized it was a huge mistake. Except the snow was slushy soft ice, and I was nervous to stop for fear of not being able to get going again.
I had to keep going forward to keep my momentum. Also, the "road" was so narrow, and one side of the road was a 10-foot drop-off down to a river that ran parallel to the road the whole way. The other side was a steep three-foot gutter, probably just formed from rain runoff. I had no choice but to keep going, though I kept looking for a place to turn around.
I finally found a slight widening that looked like it had space for someone to park to go on a hike. After I got the car turned around and headed back out the way I came, I was constantly sliding and swerving. At one point, I started to slide toward the river. I jammed on the brake pedal with EVERY OUNCE of strength I had and came to a stop.
From the angle of my seat, it looked like I was dangling off the edge toward the river. I got out to check, and there was literally only a few inches of road between my tire and a 10-foot drop into a half-frozen river in the middle of nowhere with nobody around to find me for days. This was the only time in my life that I was actually shaking from fear.
29. Throw out the Whole Man
It was my wedding day, and my mom was helping me put finishing touches in place. As she was positioning my veil, she told me how much she loved me, what a beautiful bride I was, and then she dropped something that made my blood turn cold. She begged me not to marry this man, an hour before the ceremony was due to start.
I did it anyway. And the sad thing was, she was right. The first day of our honeymoon, he beat me and I left him. My mom hugged me so hard that day. Sometimes you can go back.
30. Man of Honor
My little brother was in a fight with a guy who I didn't want to fight, ever. This guy was huge. Still, he was picking on my little brother, so I knew I had to do something to help him. I went up to him and pushed the guy, and then before I knew what I was doing, I had punched him in the face. In my head, I was like “oh my god.” We went at it. I ended up getting messed up, but I won. Proudest fight of my life.
31. Ready for Takeoff
I’m a student pilot. Every time I take off by myself in the plane, I have to land it. There’s no question. Still freaks me out.
32. The Dirty Deed
I was once young and stupid. My friends and I loved to play in construction sites. Once we’re messing around and see these dump trucks dumping lots of black dirt. So we're playing on the dirt piles, being little monsters, when a truck backs up and dumps a full truckload of dirt right on me Even as a little nerd, I understood the immediate, overpowering, screaming urge to go NOW NOW NOW NOW.
I was running, scrambling, falling on this moving dirt pile trying to reach the edge before it buried me completely. Which it did. I thought the classic line, "This is how I go. Weird." Just my hand was sticking out…when the dirt stopped pouring. I immediately felt my friend's hands clawing the dirt away, and it couldn't have been more than a few seconds but it felt like an eternity.
I now understand the reason why people get trampled and whatnot in disasters. I don't like to think about it, but I probably would have pushed my own mother out of the way, I was so overcome with a singular thought: SURVIVE.
33. If Not Now, When
The night before my dad passed, I thought about texting him to say I was listening to Amy Winehouse and thinking of him. I chose not to. He passed the next day. Text people when you think of them,
34. Rollercoaster of Emotions
When I was seven years old, snuck onto the world’s tallest roller coaster. I was so focused on getting past the teenaged workers that I didn’t consider how it might be dangerous. This was The Magnum at Cedar Pointe, Ohio US back in 1988. There was only a lap bar, and I remember waiting extra long to sit in the front row.
I was alone. I finally got to the top of that first hill and looked out on the park...and it dawns on me THIS COULD BE A MISTAKE. But there was no getting off now. I went over the hill and started picking up speed, and this is when I started to feel my small self fly up out of my seat! There was only a thin lap bar, and I clutched it the whole rest of the ride.
35. These Two Have Chemistry
Dating my best friend. A few years ago, I met a guy in college and he ended up being my lab partner for two and a half years. Classes, labs, team projects, you name it, we did it. We were basically attached at the hip. I'd see him weekdays from 9 am to midnight with a break for dinner. It got to the point that I'd go to parties on weekends and people would ask where he was.
I'd then have to explain that we were just really good friends. We never dated in college; he had an on-again, off-again, on-again girlfriend and I was usually seeing someone, casually or seriously...despite the undeniable fact that I really (REALLY!) liked this lab partner. After graduation, we ended up in the same state, an hour and a half apart.
Two years later, he asked me out but I said no—I was in a relationship at the time. However, it was already failing and had multiple communication issues. A few months later, I grabbed breakfast with my lab partner because he was flying out of my town for a work trip. That’s when I realized I was still madly in love with this guy.
He left, and I went to a happy hour with my girlfriends later that week. While there, I got the idea to text my lab partner. We talked for a bit and I confessed I wanted to date him and that I was heartbroken that I'd had to say no earlier. I was still in my (failing) relationship and told him as much, and he (rightfully & respectfully) rejected me.
But this encounter made me realize I was sick of being miserable, and I broke up with my then-boyfriend. Lab partner and I waited a month, checked back in, agreed we were still interested, and went on a date. I was scared and nervous because he's been my best guy friend for years, I could talk to him about anything.
If this doesn't work out, then I'll probably lose him forever. But I have no regrets. It's been a few months, which isn't forever, but it's been the most challenging time I've ever had to try and date someone. But he's incredible, kind, supportive, and there's no one I'd rather be navigating the world with than him.
36. Wanderlust Rewarded
When I first landed in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I had never been to Asia before, and everything about the place completely overwhelmed me. This was amplified by the fact that I had quit my job in the US to go teach English there, so there was literally no going back. It turned out to be the best decision I have ever made.
37. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
We had just moved into our new house and it was our first day with the keys. I was 6 months pregnant with my first kid, so my husband left me at the house and took his buddy to start moving stuff with the moving truck. There was no furniture, food, or entertainment, and I was bored out of my mind.
I saw one of the neighbors across the street had a garage sale going. I thought to myself, “Hey, maybe they have something we could use! Plus, good way to meet some of the new neighbors!” I walked out the front door and started across the street. As I reached the middle of the street, halfway between our houses, I recognized my new neighbor, and my heart dropped.
It was this guy I worked with and he HATED me. I was a supervisor on his shift and had addressed his anger issues in the past. I jolted mid-step as I recognized him, but I realized turning around would be worse than just walking up and saying hi. I walked into his garage and said, “Oh, hey Jeff!” His reaction couldn’t have been worse.
He just stared at me for a minute and then said, “Uh... you...you live here?” I said, “Yeah! We just bought the house across the street! I had no idea you were our neighbor!” He said, “I thought you lived...across town??” “...No, we did, but we just moved.” He turned around without another word, went into his house, and closed the door. That was it. He moved like six months later.
38. Above Your Hill Grade
12-year-old me, who had only been skiing for a year, decided to go down a double black diamond. I genuinely thought I was done for.
39. The Show Must Go on
I was a mascot during college. During my first season, my school was playing football against our rivals. I planned a sketch with my roommates where during a commercial break after the first quarter, we would have a potato sack race in the end zone. The plan was for my roommates to win by cheating, then I would climb into the student section of the stands and jump on top of them.
They would then catch me and fall backward to make it look like I took them out. All went according to plan. They cheated and won, the crowd started screaming at them, I climbed into the student section and prepared to jump onto them. That’s when I saw two sheriff’s deputies running towards my roommates, who had their backs turned to the officers.
I realized at that moment, “Oh right. I should have told security we were going to do this.” I stood there, thousands of college students screaming at me to jump on the two “cheaters,” but I was momentarily paralyzed watching the sheriff deputies running closer to detain my friends. So I said to myself, “Welp, no going back now.” What I did was legendary.
I timed the jump to take out my roommates AND the deputies. All five of us hit the turf, and the student section erupted. I took a bow while my buddies were picked up and had their arms forcibly fed into the chicken wing position. The looks of shock on my roommates’ faces were priceless. For the next four years, all of my planned skits had to be approved by the university.
40. An Indecent Proposal
I accidentally proposed to my now-wife at like 7:00 in the morning. I had just driven all night to move into my new apartment, I had no furniture, and I was talking to my future wife over Facebook messenger. I decided on a whim to ask her to move in with me, but I said it in a very romantic, unclear way, and she actually misunderstood.
My wife asked, “Did you just propose to me?” That was the moment, and I just decided to go all in and said, “Yeah, what do you say?” She said yes, and we’re still married today!
41. Did I Do That?
A woman driving a minivan and simultaneously doing her makeup once ran me off the highway. I drove for a while in the grassy median zone before being able to jerk back on the highway. When I looked at the lady again, she looked sad and apologetic—sort of like a puppy when it knows it's chewed your favorite sandals.
42. Forget You
I moved across the country with my partner, and it eventually became a VERY bad relationship. We broke up but still had to live together temporarily while I figured out what to do. I thought if I stayed in the same city, we’d be able to work it out. So I found a room to move into in the next town over. This is not what ended up happening.
Moving day came and I had to have my ex help load my bike into my truck and only had room for a few more things. I planned to come back and get the rest. Put my dog in the passenger seat, cried, hugged my ex…and then instead of driving to the room I was supposed to stay in, I just drove home instead. It took five days and there were plenty of “no going back now” moments.
43. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
One time I was visiting Indian Wells California, a huge rich people destination. I decided to go night hiking up a hill and got lost off the trail. Finally after about an hour of wandering up, I saw the side of a sidewalk above me. I raised my arms up and hoisted myself to look overhead. There stood the biggest mansion I have ever seen.
Turns out, the "sidewalk" was actually the side to someone's infinity pool. I noped out of there real quick and lowered myself onto the trail-not-trail. I turned around and saw about a twelve-foot green and black snake slither in front of me. Now I'm not afraid of snakes, but it was night, I had no idea where I was, and the snake was blocking my only way down.
I decided to hoist myself over the infinity pool, lay flat on my stomach, and spent the next two hours crawling around the person's home until I made it to the driveway. Then I got up and jumped over their fence and ran as fast as I could down the road.
44. High and Not-so Mighty
I was on a two-week holiday in Thailand for my best friend’s wedding. I ended up hooking up with a bridesmaid and we decided to spend our last few days together. We signed up for a “deep water solo climbing” course. Basically, a guy in a small boat takes you and a few others around the small islands which have HUGE cliffs to climb.
We did a couple of simple climbs to start. The "instructor" would stay in the boat down below and shout instructions. We all took turns climbing up to a safe height and then jumped off the cliff into the water and swam back to the boat. Lots of fun…until our last climb. For our last climb of the day, the instructor told us this was a bit of a tricky one, so not everyone tried it.
I wasn't too keen, but he said I was a natural and should give it a go, So off I went. I climbed the rope and started scaling the cliff. It was really difficult, but I got to the point where the previous climber had jumped from. I looked down and realized how high up I was. The guy shouted up to me that there was a second more advanced route up that I should definitely try.
I didn't much want to jump off, so continuing climbing seemed like a preferable option. I eventually reached a ledge that was just big enough for me to turn around and face the sea. I immediately froze. The instructor, seeing my fear, told me to climb back down to the other jump-off point. I was relieved at first…but then I saw there was NO WAY I could climb back down.
My only option was to jump. I stood there, hanging onto the rock for what seemed like ages, trying to summon the courage to do the jump. I am NOT good with heights, but with the boat waiting down below, I felt quite pressured just to get it over with as quickly as possible. I took a deep breath and just gently hopped off the ledge…Instant regret.
I was falling through the air for an eternity. I literally had time to think about how stupid this all was before seeing the water down below rush up at me. When a professional jumps from that height, they would hit the water feet first, straight down, nice and controlled. There was nothing controlled about my dive. BAM! I hit the water.
It hurt. A lot. When I resurfaced, the boat picked me up and I lay on the floor. I thought I was just winded. They left me on the boat with the bridesmaid while they went to get lunch. By this time, my whole back and side had turned a greenish-blue and I couldn't really move without the most incredible, awful pain.
Luckily the bridesmaid was a trained medic and recognized that I was going into shock and I needed to go to the hospital ASAP. She spoke to a passing fisherman on a little boat and asked him to take us back to the mainland. After two hours in the boat and another two hours on the back of a truck, I ended up in a hospital where they quickly X-rayed me to reveal 3 broken vertebrae. Ended up in hospital for a month, had two surgeries, eight screws, and two bolts inserted in to my spine. Almost 10 years later, I’m pretty much 100% recovered, all thanks to the bridesmaid.
45. Eyes on the Road, Mister
When I was 10, I was on a helicopter. Everything was going smoothly, until the helicopter turns onto its side and nosedived for a good 10 seconds towards the sea. Needless to say, this had everyone screaming. I thought that was it. Then it suddenly levels off and the pilot comes onto the PA system and says, "Sorry people, could have sworn I spotted a dolphin, won’t happen again."
Full Metal Jacket, Warner Bros.
46. Know Your Worth
I was laid off twice from my teaching job, just a really awful thing to go through once let alone a second time. So when they called me with an offer to come back to another school in the town at a different grade level, I declined. I had decided to go back to school to pursue pharmacy. Still, when I hung up the phone I realized that everything ha just got real.
47. A Whole New World
I had just given birth, and it was the first night with the three of us together. Husband is passed out on the love seat in the hospital. The orange digital clock was blaring 02:30. It’s painful to even exist right now. Newborn screaming and I have no idea what to do to help him. It’s scary being so new, and the baby was so little.
I realized my life was never going to be the same again. Sure, I thought about this a lot while I was pregnant. But this was the real, seeping down into my toes, moment. The realization that I am completely responsible for this little being’s growth, wellness, health, and happiness. Everything. It was a pivotal moment for me.
48. Coffee Karen
I work at a café, and a woman very rudely asked me for a 16-ounce hot coffee. We don’t offer that, and I tried to kindly explain to her why, but told her I could make her two coffees if she likes as long as I stick with the recipe. She demanded I change the recipe, I said: “No, I can’t.” She then spotted a 16-ounce cup behind me and asked “WHAT’S THAT?”
Things were already very tense by then, and I grabbed the cup and explained “This is a 16-ounce cup, yes, but it’s only for cold brew. It looks similar to the hot cups, but this one is compostable, made from sugarcane, and it will melt if hot liquid is poured into it.” She grabbed it out of my hand and still demanded I make her two coffees and pour them into that cup.
I said again, “I can’t do that, the cup will melt.” At this point, other customers were in there giving me the “Oh man, she’s crazy, I’m sorry you’re dealing with this” sympathetic eye. I knew if she poured the coffee into that cup and burned herself, we would have a bigger issue. But she’s still just totally furious.
She spoke to me so horribly and condescendingly. There was never a please, she spoke to me like a servant, and she was creating a safety hazard. So I took a long pause, looked her right in the eye, and went past the point of no return.
I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t let you speak to me that way and I won’t serve you.” She was shocked! She was appalled! The cafe was silent. My co-worker came out from the back and the customer held her card out to her and said, “She won’t help me so YOU will. I’ll have two coffees.” When I heard the response, I nearly burst out laughing.
My co-worker just looked at her and said, “I don’t know what’s happening, but I trust my co-worker so I’m sorry but I won’t serve you.” It was SO COOL! Yes, the woman yelled at us, berated us, mocked my voice, all this. But I stayed so calm the entire time. When I called my boss and explained the situation, she understood.
49. My Best Friend’s Breakup
I kissed my best friend while she was in a relationship with an awful dude. Obviously, she broke up with him with my help, and we had the two happiest months of our lives together. Sadly, it didn’t last. One day out of nowhere she remembers him, breaks up with me, and goes back to him. This was a month ago now.
Sources: Reddit,
