Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Your Most Difficult Moment

What was the hardest thing you ever did in your life?

When I ask this I refer to the emotional side of the spectrum, not physical labor. What was the most difficult emotional experience you ever voluntarily (or involuntarily) chose to experience and why did you choose it? What made you do this very difficult thing?

10 comments:

tesyaa said...

Infertility and being childless was much harder emotionally than raising a child with a disability is.

(Maybe the previous difficult experience with infertility made the second experience less so. When I experienced infertility, I spent almost every waking moment blaming myself, looking for character flaws, trying to be "more religious", because this was obviously my fault. Facing a second challenge, I found all that negativity very unproductive. I have a positive outlook and I don't blame myself. Or maybe it's just the wisdom of being a lot older.

Anonymous said...

Tesyaa - you're a matriarch in my book.

Anonymous said...

Probably deciding to allow myself to feel and be vulnerable. -Joseph the Dreamer

Unknown said...

my hardest emotional experience was losing both my grandfathers w/in a 2 month period. just a half year later i lost one of my closest friends in front of my eyes he was run over by a drunk driver. i still wake up at night screaming to him to "watch out". i still cry about it even though it happened four years ago.

Chana said...

Tesyaa,

I can only imagine the pain and grief that you have experienced and I stand in awe of your positivity. I wish you so much good luck when it comes to raising your child, who I am certain is beautiful and doubtless has many things to teach us all.

(For an example of one incredibly inspiring child's story- he has Down's Syndrome- watch the film 'Praying With Lior.')

Binyamin,

That sounds like hell. It's amazing that you have been able to live through those difficulties. I'm sure your tears ascend to God and your friend is moved by your consistent efforts to save his life. The fact that you cry out in your sleep like that only expresses the depth of your caring.

Christopher Chance said...

Sometimes the hardest thing isn't doing something, it's not doing something. I realized that I had been living in a false world, doing bad things. I ran away from it all and now try to do the right thing.

Unknown said...

about the movie praying w/ lior, i was in his class in politz heberew academy, and i still keep in touch with him. he is an amazing boy and a true friend.

rabbi neil fleischmann said...

Great question to ponder. I will keep my answer(s) private. And yet I wanted to thank you for getting me thinking about this question.

Jameel @ The Muqata said...

Helping my friends disassemble their home in Gush katif, pack it up in a matter of hours, take the mezzuzot off the doors knowing their home was about to be destroyed...and then host them for a month.

Anonymous said...

loosing my father after 18 months of battling brain cancer.