If you look back on your life, you will realize that not every day is the same, even if it feels like it now. Some days you become a legend for throwing a pencil into a hole in the wall. One day was the first when you got rid of a bad habit and took back control of your life. So much cool stuff happens and often you get to enjoy it more when you share it with other people. It's not unhealthy to pat yourself on the back from time to time.

Therefore, someone asked Reddit "What's the most bada** thing you've done?" They received 3K answers, people there shared the times they showed excellent coordination, saved someone from imminent danger, etc. Turn on superhero theme music in the background and enjoy.

More info: Reddit

#1

Got sober. 4 years and 8 months.

Image credits: level 1 tarantulatonsils

Curiously, people in this thread tended to interpret bada** in 4 different ways. One of them was stuff like catching food or making an excellent move in a sports game. Then there were edgy things people did and got away with, like flipping the bird for a camera and having that picture printed in a school newspaper. Third—successful self-defense and petty, violent revenge. Lastly, heartwarming stories about saving another person against all odds. What united them is the feeling of pride.

#2

I was at a small local concert that was being held in a park. It was a bunch of metal and thrash bands, mostly local acts , but a few touring bands. The gazebo where we were playing was on a small island in a lake, with the only access being a bridge that led to the parking lot. The event organizers had a couple of people stationed on the bridge to take tickets. It was a pretty cool setup to just be available for us to rent out.

Everyone was being pretty chill and enjoying the show. There was a mosh pit with a few guys, but there was plenty of room. Then this group of idiots shows up. 70% of this crowd is underage, but these guys show up drunk and with more beer and immediately start causing trouble.

They are asked to leave, and told the cops are being contacted. Tensions are high, yelling and cussing all over, but hey they are leaving now. Maybe we can go back to enjoying ourselves.

One of the organizers walked behind them while she was escorting them out, phone in hand. Just as they reach the bridge, this guy turned around and slapped the crap out of her.

I saw red. The stage was about 50 meters from the bridge and I broke into a sprint heading for this guy, ready to whoop his a**. I'm half way there I all five of these guys turn and run. I'm a big guy, but still, I didn't expect all five to run.

I get to the chick that got slapped and I stop running, she is safe and I'm feeling like a bada** for chasing these guys off. Then I turn to see that all of the no less than 200 people at the show saw the same thing I did and were right behind me, ready to stomp these guys onto the ground.

So, I didn't chase them off myself, but I basically led a battle charge.

Image credits: fruitsuitriot

#3

My husband has stage 4 cancer. I'm doing it right now.

No one will ever know the things I've had to learn to do and to tolerate. And I'm just like every other bada** caregiver who has gone through this.

Hats off to you all, silent bada** army of widows and widowers.

Image credits: PanickedPoodle

#4

Held on to a person who was trying to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge until police arrived and we could lift her over the rail.

Image credits: Mad_Lib206

The thread had mostly believable stories, hard to find anything about walking away without looking at explosions or catching ridiculously oversized fish. Reading many of them is like having a movie end in a way you wanted with an even cooler twist. People responded to one another with respect and cheered each other on, particularly if a person did something selfless, while many added similar stories of their own.

#5

I was pumping gas at a station with my sister (me being 19 at the time and her being 16) when a man (probably like 25 years old) got into the backseat of my car. I started to yell at him to get out of my car. My sister was shaking scared. He then pulled a gun on me and told me to get in the car and drive. Without even thinking I started to make him question himself by saying “or what? Are you going to shoot me right here in this well lit gas station? There are other people around, did you really think this through?” He started to look around, called me a “stupid b**ch” got out of the car and ran off.

Image credits: Red517

#6

On holiday, waiting for a shuttle bus at 6 in the morning my wife got attacked by a lunatic. Before he could touch her with his fist I jumped in between and punched him in the face. I felt it was a life and death situation. In the end my wife and I scared him off with the help of a street dog that bit him in the a**. I don't consider myself a violent person but I literally saw red. I still have a scar on my chest from where his fist hit me (he was wearing a ring), but never when I see that scar do I feel like a victim.

Edit: I'm a woman, guess that wasn't clear.

Image credits: SarenSparks

#7

Buddy of mine in college had an absolutely awful string of family members passing away. He had booked his Amtrak ticket home for something like the third time that semester. The last time he did that, he was two days delayed because of a cargo train derailment on the same tracks.

While he was sleeping, I used my northwest airlines miles to book him a ticket home in first class.

He deserved it and I had “earned” them just riding back and forth to home.

Image credits: Screaming_Emu

Since several answers here involve saving lives, here are some first aid tips from St. Jones Ambulance. If you see someone collapsed, they advise you do a primary survey. DR. ABC is a good acronym for remembering what steps you need to take. It stands for Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation.

#8

When I was 18, I was an EMT

My first emergency call, after we got the guy to the ER alive, the ER doctor looked at me and said “Do you know what you did? You just saved that mans life.”

I’m 23 now and EMS wasn’t the career for me, but I still think about that moment a lot.

Image credits: [deleted]

#9

Guy pulled a knife on me when I was a bit tipsy and waiting for a bus and demanded my wallet.

Without thinking I hit him in the jaw and knocked him out cold.

Stole his knife and walked away. Still have the knife somewhere around here.

Image credits: Yakab0w

#10

Saved both of my kids from drowning!!

Image credits: QUIBICUS

First, check if it's safe to approach the person yourself. As you approach, introduce yourself and ask questions to see if they respond. If they don't, kneel beside them and gently shake their shoulders while continuing to ask questions. If they still don't respond, pinch their earlobes to see if they respond to pain. To sum up response check results, the person can be alert, responding to voice, to pain (pinching), or unresponsive.

#11

I chased a man down at the mall who had stolen a woman’s purse. Tackled him, and restrained him until security showed up. Then went to Cinnabon and treated myself.

I ate the Cinnabon in one bite, it was the most bad#&s thing I’ve ever done to date

Image credits: Hippojaxx

#12

A while back i looked outside my house to see the sky was overcast so i lifted up my hands and snapped my fingers and lightning flashed right in front of my house. I felt hella bada** after that moment and recently i thought back to that moment and and decided to snap my fingers again and then a power surge or a short outage took place in my house. This was late in the night btw. One day i will learn to master this power i have over electricity and exploit it for my own lazy benefits.

Image credits: Bailey833

#13

So when i was like ten my little league baseball team got into the final game. It was really intense because we where in the tenth inning when there is usually only 6. We were tied for a while. It was looking like the end of the game for my team because we had two outs and they were up by one. There was i guy on second and s guy on third. I was up at bat with two strikes. I was prob the worst player on the team at that time. But anyways what would be the final pitch comes. I swing and i connected with the ball! It flew right over first and both of the guys on base got home and we won. All my team came out of the dug out running twords me shouting, " MVP! MVP!" That is prob my proudest moment ever. I know it isn't much compared to the other stories but i am proud of it.

Image credits: Matt2e43

If the person does not respond, you need to open their airway by gently tilting their forehead back with one hand and with the other hand's two fingers under the chin. Check if the person is breathing by placing your ear near their nose for 10 seconds, looking to see if their chest moves. If they are not breathing normally, ask someone to call an ambulance or do it yourself on speakerphone. Then begin CPR with chest compressions.

#14

I stepped on a Lego and didn't flinch

Image credits: German-Vagina

#15

Pulled someone out of an overturned burning car while pregnant. I was pregnant. I was on my way to work at a home health company. It was a huge snow storm and i was the only one with 4WD and had to go open the office alone. So i had to leave the guy with some other bystanders and go open shop so none of our patients would get stuck without care. Then later i had to rescue my boss from the side of the highway aftermath she ran into a ditch.

Image credits: ultraviolent_lite

#16

I grew up in a not-so-safe neighborhood, and when I was 16 had a job at the local Dairy Queen. One slow night, 5 minutes before closing, I'm working with one other person, a smaller girl, when two guys ride up on their bikes. Nobody else was around, and it was already completely dark. They walked up to the door and talked a bit before entering. One of them pulled out a gun from a pocket or his pants and put it into his jacket, and a few seconds later goes to open the door. I still don't know why this was my reaction, but suddenly I, the tall, skinny, pale ginger, took a step towards the door and pointed back outside, made eye contact and said

"You're going to have to leave that outside."

The guy with the gun stopped and just said "oh", politely set the gun outside on the concrete, and came back inside. This was immediately followed by the most "okay, just act normal" moment in my life.

Image credits: Verrq

If the person is breathing normally, check circulation, look over the body to see if there is severe bleeding. If you find it, try to control it. At this point, you should call an ambulance. You can check the video here. It was posted in 2016, but the approach to CPR during the Covid pandemic might be different, which you can learn more about here.

#17

I was young, probably 11. I had a kid try to tackle me from behind and I flipped him over my shoulder.

It was f**king dope.

Image credits: [deleted]

#18

I saved my dads life during a medical emergency on the side of the highway last year. The 911 operator couldn't hear me because of all the road noise so I didn't have anybody coaching me through anything.

Image credits: [deleted]

#19

I stubbed my toe last week while watering my spice garden, and I only cried for twenty minutes.

Image credits: drvirgilmd

Did these stories make you remember something cool that you have done? Please share them for everyone to enjoy and make them try to imagine what it looked like. Don't forget to be nice and pat each other on the back for the best deeds.

#20

One time I was babysitting my 2 year old nephew with my little sister. She was on her phone like always not paying attention. He was sitting backwards on the couch, I was sitting accross the room from him. I seen him starting to fall so I jumped up and went over, I swear this next part happened in slow motion like a movie. Right as he was about to land headfirst on the hardwood floor, I caught him, flipped him around and put him back on the couch. I could tell he was prepared to start crying, but he never hit the floor so he just sat there confused. My sister missed it all despite sitting right beside him.

Image credits: ElBrando18

#21

Not my most bad a** moment but once in 3rd grade, we were playing dodgeball with those iconic red rubber balls. And my two friends happen to be on the other team that day and well. I had a ball, f**king whipped it at one of my friends, cracked him straight in the face, the ball bounced off, only to hit my other friend right in his face. I got a collateral headshot in dodgeball. By far my favorite elementary school moment.

Image credits: paleobear1

#22

I volunteered at an aquarium and got to hand feed sharks while diving!

Image credits: [deleted]

#23

I made the front page of my college newspaper by giving the middle finger.

It was at this music festival they put on every year and I noticed my buddy Nick taking pictures for the newspaper on the stage, so I decided to flip him off. My girlfriend had written "Te amo" ("I love you" in Spanish) and drew hearts around it. I guess they thought it would make a great picture for the cover of the Valentine's day edition and went with it.

The coolest thing about it is that the college has an archive of every single issue of the newspaper since they started it back in the mid-1800s, so there is a copy of that being preserved there for future generations to see.

A close second is winning "Most Likely to be Out of Dress Code" my senior year of high school because I was in detention all the time for dress code violations. It was probably one of the most bada** things at a private Jesuit school with a dress code.

Image credits: -eDgAR-

#24

University researcher blew off part of hand while using a glovebox (kind of a clear box that has gloves attached to it facing into the box so you can work with chemicals under a nitrogen blanket.). They ran around bleeding, fire fighter got the part of hand and took them away, then I was hazmat incident commander dealing with the situation. My boss and I suited up and went in to secure the box so that air didn’t get into box causing explosion. nitrogen was just blowing out of the box-we had to essentially close it again. Good old days.

Image credits: Justanotherdichterin

#25

Got an inflatable kayak flipped somewhere between class 3 and 4 rapids on the Colorado River. Was drug down about 10 to 12 feet came up under the kayak had to get out from under it in the rapids. Gathered all my gear back in the water and didn't even lose the sunglasses off my face somehow.

Also found out a kid died in that same spot a week prior.

Image credits: vegetarianrobots

#26

Once I threw a pencil into about a 4” hole in a wall, some 15 feet high from 30 feet away, first try

Image credits: david-denicola

#27

I was on a tall rock at a beach and I pretended to waterbend a giant wave right as a big wave crashed at the base of my rock and the water rose like twenty feet in the air in front of me. Felt pretty cool

Image credits: jahnutt

#28

Working on the ambulance 3 years after graduating high school, I got dispatched to the home of my high school crush, who friendzoned me, and saved her mom's life during a diabetic emergency

Image credits: bwint1

#29

I was sitting in a chair and I threw a gummy bear up and hit a really high ceiling and I caught it in my mouth without moving uncomfortably to catch it That's where I peaked imo

Image credits: a_sentient_cup

#30

When I was a wee lad, I got flung from a kiddy rollercoaster that went into a turn too fast. Got out with just a scratch.

Image credits: Vito_Moretti