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RobertBMarks
Dec '22

I've been thinking about this for a while now, and this is as good a time as any...

We all live varied and remarkable lives, even if we don't realize it. And, all of us have some experience that nobody else has...and could be very useful as a resource for somebody's else's story. So, here's a thread for us to share these experiences in the hopes that somebody else can use them as reference material.

For this to be useful, I think we need to divide each experience into 3 parts:

  • The experience (short description)
  • The context (the circumstances under which the experience happened)
  • What was going on in your head when it happened (self-explanatory)

So, add whatever you're comfortable sharing!

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RobertBMarks
Dec '22

I have two experiences to share. I'll do the positive one first.

Experience: Delivering a baby.

Context: For our second child, my wife and I decided to go with a home birth (an option that was available with the midwife we were using). My son, however, had his own schedule, and on the day of his birth, he came fast...and the midwife was running late. So, I delivered him myself.

In my head: Truth be told, there wasn't a lot of thought involved. It really was a situation of "This is happening - put your hands here and catch!" It was the wee hours of the morning, but as soon as it started, I was wide awake. I knew from the birth of my first child that the umbilical cord could be wrapped around the baby's neck, so I knew to check as the baby came out (it wasn't), but otherwise the baby slid out so quickly that the birth was over as soon as it started. I remember being somewhat numb as I processed it, at the same time as I looked into my son's eyes and realized that I was the first face he had ever seen there was this incredibly warm feeling...which transformed into a "huh...what's this white stuff on my sleeve?" after I handed my son over to my wife and realized that my sleeve was coated with this substance that kind of looked like cottage cheese (apparently, in the womb babies are covered with this stuff for insulation and the like). The experience of the birth itself ended with the midwife arriving and then asking me if I wanted to cut the umbilical cord, to which I replied something along the lines of "I just delivered this baby - YOU can do it."

Experience: Preparing to tackle a potential gunman at a synagogue.

Context: I used to be the vice-president of my local synagogue. During my tenure, alt-right extremists were planning the week of one of our services (at least, I think that was the timing) to do a march through the city demanding racial holy war. The march happened, and we had to decide whether to call in the police for extra security in case the service came under attack. In the end, we decided that the risk of emboldening these extremists by showing fear (and possibly provoking an attack that would not have otherwise come) was greater than the risk of coming under attack, and we decided to proceed with business as usual. On the day of the service, those of us who had been at that meeting all knew that if we got things wrong, it could mean a man with an assault rifle showing up to kill us all. I mentally prepared myself to tackle any gunman if they appeared in the hopes that it could give others the opportunity to escape. Happily, we got it right, and no gunman appeared.

In my head: These things are never what you expect them to be. You'd think you'd be afraid, but there really wasn't any fear involved. Lots of tension, and a not small amount of dread, but fear of dying was not a factor. It really was a "this is a very unpleasant thing I might have to do, and if it happens, let's just get it done." I knew intellectually that if it happened, I probably wouldn't survive, but my mind just didn't care - it was spending its time figuring out the best way to tackle somebody with an assault rifle. On the day, there was a bit of a "coiled spring" type of tension, but that wasn't overwhelming either. I don't even remember being all that relieved when it was over - my recollection of the experience was that it was just "Okay, that didn't need to be done - cool," and moving on to business as usual. I'm not kidding when I say that I have a stronger emotional reaction to remembering it now than I did when it was happening.

RobertBMarks
Dec '22

Actually, I don't think I am...

I think that most people's lives are far more remarkable than they ever realize, and the reason they don't realize it is because when we do or experience something remarkable, it's just another thing we had to deal with that day. It's not until we either tell somebody else about it or look back on it years later that we realize just how out of the ordinary it was.

And I'll bet that if you look back on your life, and the things you did, you'll have at least one moment of "Wait...I did THAT?!"

...and if you feel comfortable sharing that experience, this is the place...

TheLemmaLlama
Dec '22

Haha yeah; I don't even consider my life to be unremarkable, but I honestly don't have many discrete, single-occurrence events of any particular interest; and those I do have aren't really something I could describe in detail in a way that's helpful to a writer XD For instance it'll go something like this:

Experience: Riding a helicopter
Context: It was my birthday. The helicopter ride was a birthday gift
In my head: It was fun :stuck_out_tongue:

There's also stuff I do semi-regularly that people might consider unusual, but I don't exactly know how to describe them either, like:

Experience: Dumpster diving
Context: Uhhh ... I wanted to dumpster dive? I kinda just do this sometimes?
In my head: It's kind of mundane to me now. I guess I can describe the first time I did it? It was kind of scary, was afraid of getting into trouble. Dumpster was grimy but the food was surprisingly intact and good and it pains me to leave behind the other stuff knowing it'll get disposed of for good. But it gets easier :'D

konori
Dec '22

I can share a funny experience that happened to me when I was a teen.

Experience: Getting myself stuck under a Japanese table.

Context: I was on a family trip to Japan, and we were staying at a ryokan or traditional Japanese inn for the first time. Because it was all new and exciting for me, the first thing I did when we got to our room was to try sitting "traditionally" at the low Japanese table. In my excitement, I pushed myself under the table while kneeling. And because that table was very, very low, (and very heavy,) I got stuck in a kneeling position and could not get out. My legs were wedged nicely and tightly under the table and I could not push myself out from under it.

In my head: Because of how ridiculous it was that I got stuck in this way, I started laughing. I was also in pain, so I guess my laughing was also a way to distract myself from how painful my legs were. My mum saw my red face and (probably) pained expression, so she said, "Get her out! She's in pain!" My aunt, on the other hand, said "No, she's not! She's laughing!" Thankfully my mum had more credibility and I was quickly pulled out from under the table.

XiuLyn_12
Dec '22

I'm not sure if this is interesting, but it's one of my funny and painful experiences.

Experience: Stabbing my foot with a glass door.

Context: In my old house, I had a shelf with a glass door. As a child, I would do the opposite of what my parents said, which at the time was not to kick the door shut. After opening and closing it many times, I pierced my foot with the edge of the door.

In my head: I'll start listening to my parent's warning, LMAO! p.s the scar remained almost 20 years later

feuersichel
Dec '22

My live seems to be more intense when I was younger, as all this stuff happend when I was around 12-16 years old. Well, I'm ok with that, I'm happy with peace xD

Experience: Saving a newborn calf from drowning

Context: I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to check on one of my families cows who should give birth. As I arrived, the calf was already born but still in the waterbubble as the mother was to tired to get up and lick her baby. I rushed over and freed its nose from slime but it seemed already dead. As I poked its nose with a straw, it moved a little bit. Now I spent over an hour with pressing air into its lungs and animating it to breathe on its own. In the end it worked out and the little bull survived :smiley:

In my head: I had all sorts of feelings starting out with being pretty chill to "I have to do something imediatelly" in a split second. Sadness but also disbelief set in, as the little one seemed dead. At this point I was eager to try everything. I knew, that freeing the nose was necessary. I never gave mouth to ... Nose to an other beeing before but it made total sense in that moment. I was so happy, when it started to work and a huge relief when he finally was able to breathe by himself. But I still am to this day in awe on how I just woke up on the right moment and also decided to check them out. Seconds later it could have been to late.

Experience: Waking up after I got unconcious

Context: I was playing with my sisters in the straw-storage, jumping from strawroll to strawroll. Suddenly I fell... and in my head I just fell over and over again... That moment just repeated and repeated until I thought, I need to move my feet. I REALLY need to move my feet right now! Then I started to slowly wake up, me on the ground with my feet just moving a bit. It seems like I tangled my foot and fell frontal on my head. Needles to say, I had a very bad concussion and an equaly bad day ^^'

In my head: No feeling at all. Just that will to survive

Experience: Running toward an angry bull and shooing him away (don't do it, it is stupid)

Context: In my apprenticeship we had an aggressive bull. He was a hassle every time we brought the herd to the fields to graze and you had to be on constant guard when entering the stable. At some point, when I brought the herd to the field, he ran towards me, head down, full attack mode. I was soooo angry at this point and fed up with his antics. I ran towards him loudly ranting with my hands up in the air to appear bigger. In the end, I seemed to be more angry than he was and he hastly turned around and fleed the scene.

In my head: Moment of absolute anger followed by triumpf and the feeling of being so stupid and lucky. This could have took a way different turn.

19 days later
Ordinaryaverageguy
Jan '23

Let's keep this thread alive, shall we?
This experience is almost a cliché.

The experience: Being used & realizing it for the first time

The context: I was hella smart in high school. It was the first week of a chemistry class. Everyone had to choose an experiment partner. I was shocked when I was asked to partner by probably the cutest girl I'd ever seen to that date. She was a textbook pixy; small, blonde, bobbed hairdo, always funny. "Perky" in the dictionary would have had her picture. Of course I said I'd be her lab partner.
The first lab day went cool, I thought. She asked a lot of questions. I did a lot of helping. But what I didn't do, was fill out her calculations & results for her. I missed the hints. By next lab day, she had asked to switch to a different partner and that... was that.

In my head:
At first - Maybe she liked me?? Even if that wasn't why she'd picked me, I'd still get to be near her, talk to her. We'd work together & sort of become friends. She was one of the cool kids. Everyone liked her. This was going to be great.
Afterwards - Really? Is that how she is? How could I have been so wrong about her? OR, if she's so nice, maybe that's how everyone is. How many times had I missed it before? Others come around if they need something, when I'm useful. In my mind, it reinforced a feeling that I'd never really be normal. Never really belong.

1 month later

closed Feb 7, '23

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