I often find myself surprised by... me. And after each and every time I deem myself worthy again I immediately fall back into self doubt. It's my life cycle. I could cure cancer and I'd still be like "meh." I need to start recording my "greatness" moments.

Savior

"I saved my husband's life using the Heimlich maneuver, on the first try, never having done it before."

- RainNotTears

Ramped Up

"Not as cool as some of the others here, but I was running through a building, down a ramp with polished cement floors, and I somehow ended up falling down on one knee. With my high momentum I managed to slide all the way down the ramp (it was very long) and then kick myself back up into running again. It all happened completely smoothly and it felt like an action scene."

- PourSomeAspartameOnM

In Kauai...

"I went on a snorkeling trip off the coast of Kauai. There was a newlywed couple there that I could tell weren't good in the water. We're out in the water and they're off by themselves and I can see that the wife is crying and the husband has a panicked look on his face. Turns out they didn't realize that skin contracts in water and he lost his wedding ring off his finger. I scan around for a while and find it 30 feet down or so. I run down and get it and give it back to them. They were thrilled."

- ChesterMcGonigle

The Champion Chucker!

"Chucked a piece of cardboard at a recycling bin at work, it was about 30 feet from me. A draft caught it and took it 40 feet up and it did a double loop before slamming directly into the bin. One old lady saw and went "wooow!" Felt like a freaking champion all day."

- FlyingNinza

Leaks

"I just relocated and extended the outdoor water tap for my 70 year old widowed neighbor, and when I turned the water back on nothing leaked. Felt kind bada**."

- OrphanFeast87

See there, now that is cool realness being served. We need to appreciate our own actions, big or small. That feeling of bada**ery is like none other. Why not try to emulate it instead of taking a pill to fake it?

Back Up

"I went to a shop to buy a new bike... and I went there on my old bike. I came back home riding my new bike and by holding the old one with one hand."

"Everything was going fine, until the bikes abruptly turned sideway and sent me flying over the handle bars. I ducked forward, landed on my shoulder and in a continuous roll, I got back on my feet and did a thumb up to appease a startled passer by."

- SluggishPrey

Survivor

"I didn't think how cool/good it was at the moment, but when I was like 5 or 6, a woman covered in blood crawled to my childhood house door and started banging on it, I woke up from the noise and went to open it. When I opened it, I just saw her in cuts, scratches, bruises, etc... Apparently her boyfriend was trying to actually kill her and she managed to escape."

"She asked to be let in for safety and I let her in and went to go wake up my mom. When she came out she was shocked to see her and went to clean her wounds a bit and later called the police and ambulance, I didn't fix her wounds or anything but I'd like to think that I saved her life that day."

- wowaperson1234

Lockdown

"Start of UK lockdown my dishwasher broke down and since shops were closed, I was looking at minimum three months of doing the dishes by hand. Forget that. Went to YouTube, watched a bunch of videos, took the pump apart and found a piece of broken glass which was messing it up. Put it back together, worked perfect, forget you entropy and washing dishes."

- invadethemoon

Things That Are Normal Where You Live But Crazy Anywhere Else | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

In Yellowstone...

"I got lost alone in Yellowstone, after sunset. But I'd come prepared with a headlamp, kept my cool & found my way back to my car alive. My detour added several miles to the route, and it was & still is the most I've hiked in a single day, probably just under 14 miles."

"I could barely move when I got back to my car. I had to just sit for about 20 minutes before I was able to drive. But I got the most amazing view of the Milky Way of my entire life along the way. Totally worth it for that alone. Any mishap you survive becomes an adventure."

- 2PlasticLobsters

A New Shape

"Obese most of my life. Worked really hard, lost 100lbs. Took up running, and decided to run a marathon."

"I've never felt more like a bada** than when I crossed that finish line. The training and the race itself were the hardest things I've done in my life, and there were many times throughout where I really wasn't sure I was going to make it."

- tbone56er

"Crap. That guy is an IDIOT!"

"I share mine with my dog. Did the adrenaline pumping, car lift thing. My idiot neighbor was trying to change his own oil, and didn't have the jack in the proper place. Whatever metal it was on, bent, and the car lowered onto him. Him which had his body positioned perfectly so the front tire would crush his dumb butt."

"My dog was out back and started going insane barking, so I bolted outside, wondering what could be wrong (he only barks when something's wrong, like my kid left the yard or something) I see my neighbor's legs sticking out from his freaking tire, race inside screaming for my brother, then bolt back out and try to lift the car. My brother comes out and as I somehow manage to lift the car just enough, he pulls the neighbor out. I was expecting him to be dead, but he stood up, coughed a few times, and said thanks."

"We called EMS to get him checked and they took him to the hospital. He had some internal injuries, but survived and recovered fully. What I remember most is flopping to my butt in the driveway, thinking, "Crap. That guy is an IDIOT!" It was my brother that said I'm a bada**. And as the real hero, yes, doggo got all the pats and scratches and treats."

- WingsTheWolf

"I was at a party and apparently some guy had a problem with me (I didn't even know him). I was sitting with friends and from across the room he yelled something to me, but with the music I couldn't hear what he was saying. So I said "What??" And he yelled it again. But again, I couldn't hear him."

"So I stood up and said (more forcefully) "WHAT?!" His face dropped, he shrunk back a little, said "never mind" and sat down. My friends laughed their BUTTS off. I genuinely thought this dude had a question. But I had inadvertently backed him down. My bad@ss moment was an accident."

- Productofbillnye

High Five

"When I was like 9 years old, I choke-slammed the neighborhood bully, full WWE style."

"It was directly under a streetlight, and there were people all around to witness it, because I think someone was having a party. I ran away because I thought I would get in trouble, but the adults (actually teenagers, but being 9 I thought of them as "adults") just wanted to give me high-fives. And don't worry, the kid was totally fine other than being shaken up."

- eleven1177

The Perseverance Award

"I signed up for an archery merit badge at my boy scout camp a few years back and I sucked terribly at if with the lowest average for the whole damn week, but toward the end of the trip I crunched it and spent my entire free day with the bow at the archery area and sank them center left and right. When it came time to announce awards at the end of the week, the counsellor in charge of the range stepped up in front of the bonfire and gave a speech about the scouts he worked with that week."

"He gets through most of the names and I'm feeling pretty down on myself because I figured I was overlooked but I can still recall what he said."

"...And the last award is something very special, the camp barely hands it out because only a few kids here are cut from this cloth. The Perseverance award goes to a scout I watched tirelessly fire down the range until his hands were red and covered in blisters. He started off with the lowest average of this summers group, but ended with the highest I've seen while working in the ranger. The award goes to (my name), congratulations, you earned it."

"I was beaming for like 4 months after hearing it."

- Hazeunix

Middle School Days

"Middle School. I stood after school to play basketball with some other kids. I was just sitting on a bench taking a break when a younger kid — I think it was one of the other kid's little brother — comes up to me and tries to start something for no reason. Little kid throws a punch at my face, and without missing a beat, I move my arm from resting on the table to catching his fist inches away from my face."

"I don't say a word and I just let the kid think about what just happened. It takes him a moment to process and then he just walks away like nothing happened. Felt really cool in the moment but none of the other kids saw it."

- Dijirii

Save the Girl

"Leaving work at a big box store a little after 1am and I'm next to my car in the parking lot and changing out of my work shirt into a t-shirt. There's a couple benches outside a few random people around. I see a car swerve toward one woman and then brake hard and knowing a couple people out there I figured it was just a very bad joke."

"But then I see the car lurch forward and brake hard again and can see a woman in the headlights with a terrified look on her face so I start running as fast as I can toward them. A ridiculously muscled guy gets out of the car and starts moving toward her. I wasn't the first person there."

"The first was a 14-year old kid who was very short and skinny. The kid shoves the guy and then the guy knocks him down and gets right on top of him. The guy hits him three times before I get there and hit him in the back of the head. This dude was hella drunk and got off the kid to take a couple swings at me that I was able to avoid."

"One of the others in the crowd yells that the cops have been called and he books it out of there. Thankfully the cops got him before any more damage happened. He pled guilty and went to jail for a bunch of charges. I don't think I was the most bad@ss because the kid took those hits like a champ and saved the girl, but I still felt pretty awesome."

- Stone_Reign

A Critical 2 Minutes...

"Possibly saving a life. I saw a motorcycle crash in a parking lot late at night. No one but me went to check on the guy, everyone else was just standing around looking. Dude had a compound fracture on his leg and blood was pouring through his jeans onto the ground. I used my belt to tourniquet the leg. The ambulance didn't arrive for another 2 minutes so I might have saved him from bleeding out."

- LATourGuide

"I can do this, I was in the girl guides."

"Once, at a party, a friend of mine got trapped in the bathroom accidentally when the doorknob fell off."

"Despite being plastered, I got her out with a pair of scissors. The quote, still remembered a decade later among our friends was "I can do this, I was in the girl guides." Took perhaps five minutes."

- thousandtrees

I Am Woman!

"I'm a relatively petite woman and I changed my flat tire without any help in a snowstorm. It was a struggle, and my hands were scraped and bleeding by the end, but I felt really proud of myself."

- Eishethbeth

Bravo and Cheers to all! None of that was easy to pull off, and more times than not it's even more difficult to share. Go forth y'all and lean into your inner BADA**!! Let the inspiration lead you.