the hardest thing I have ever done

Until the next time.

Did you ever begin something by thinking " this is (is going to be) the hardest thing I have ever done in my life"? Sure, who hasn't? My list of "hardest things" goes back to the dim past. I remember when I was 10 or 11 my friend and I were caught shoplifting a toy of some kind from the corner store (back then there were corner stores in neighborhoods, no malls). The guy called my mother to tell her (everybody knew everybody) and she made me go and apologize to the man. I almost died. Definitely the hardest thing I had ever done. But as time went on invariably other things came up that made the apology seem tame. And so it went for a lifetime. Moving on to the next "hardest" thing.
The lesson I learned was that it didn't matter how hard (read that embarrassing risky self deprecating etc) the current "thing" wasn't, when it was over, as hard as it seemed. Sure it was hard to say "I'm sorry I stole from you" (not once as it turns out but twice [another tale for another time]) or to confront an angry husband or quit the team but once done it was over. Not forgotten god knows but over.
So the next hardest thing is around the corner. What will it be I wonder?

Image: http://33.media.tumblr.com/3245c2d5af8c4991ddaae150469736c6/tumblr_n33qjwdVrx1qciesyo1_500.jpg