This question popped into my head the other day, and even after considerable thought, I haven't come up with a good answer for myself yet. What about you guys?

Is this specific to anything?

I did a 25 Kilometer hike over very, very rough terrain, and then had an unexpected 6 KM hike back to my car. It took a full 8 hours if I remember correctly.

The last 6 km in particular were grueling, as they were both unexpected, and consisted of walking along a completely unlit rural highway on crushed stone.

A close second would be my 500 pound squat, which was more about a mental challenge than anything else.

One too personal still enduring.. Second is taking shit from my former gf for months until that day i finally stopped expecting any of her and quit chasing, just.. Let her go.. Never turned my back on her though, never will if she ever look back. Yeah.. Life is about suffering, sometimes!

Breakups, overseas volunteering loneliness, illness diagnosis.

Forgiving.

And it was a bad idea.

I parted the Red Sea.
Oh wait, that wasn't me, that was Moses.

I beat cancer but I didn't really beat it, modern medicine did, so I guess it deserves all the credit. The bitch was convincing people I was bald because of disease and not because I was becomong a Hari Krishna. So maybe it wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done rather it was the hardest thing I've ever "gone through", lets put it that way. :)

Either climbing a fourteener or earning my college degree. I haven't done many hard things... I should play Dead Space 2 on Hardcore mode.

Buried my Mother.

Take your pick:

- left my secure job and started a new business
- proposed to my wife, which, maybe not surprisingly, is also one of the easiest things I've ever done.

In general, I'll go with many instances of "swallowed my pride".

Am doing it now, or rather attempting to. Have been engaged in this doing for many years now. Am desperately trying to organize my parents household such that i can address some critical home repairs. Then install a system of order which is low maintenance and otherwise sane! i'm stuck in a mad hybrid game of Rubics Cube meets Tetris. There is simply too much stuff! Too many priorities, to much obstruction. Even had they a home as big as the Glenbogle House, there'd still not be room to display it all. i think Archie MacDonald had it easy ;~p So there needs be a system of on-demand stowage. i work towards this but am blocked at every turn.

Mother hoard's stuff. All sorts of stuff. And it seems that all of it has "emotional attachment". She shuts down during any discussion of give and take. Wants to be involved in everything, but utterly stymies all. Starts something, never finishes. Brilliantly clogging up process to grind progress to a complete stop. Meanwhile the roof needs repaired, the land needs drains to stop the molds, heating ducts need be cleaned for they dump dust throughout the house, wiring needs serious attention, the grey water system needs rebuilt along with major plumbing alteration, and more and more and yet more. The stuff is serious liability. Leading to a deteriorating house of unhealthy proportion. i can't overstate how much stuff there is, or how much a mental mindfuck it has become to deal it. And there is no money to hire out for any of the home repairs. It is all on me as the only sibling willing to help out elderly parents on fixed income.

i've built their black water system by hand, digging 200 feet of trench and moving 2 dump trucks worth of rock. by hand. That was a tough job. i've hiked to the top of the continental U.S. highest mountain, twice. And spent much time backpacking long distance. i've traveled the country afoot for near ten years. Living with just what i could carry. i've done lots of tough things. This is by far the "hardest". Nothing even ranks tough enough for comparison.

Oy, Whaah! Whine. ARGHHHHHH!!!

/rant

The hands-down hardest thing I ever did was probably having to completely turn my life around, essentially changing the very notion of who I am, forcing myself to become more social and trying to forget the mistakes of my past.

Funny thing is, I've recently found myself in the same spot and I have to do it again. And it doesn't sound easier now than it did back then...

Being nice to people.

Dock Ellis through a no hitter for the Pittsburg Pirates while on acid. It can be done!