Closest You Ever Came To Death

[dutchdisease]

After choking on an afternoon lunch to the point I began to think "this is it, here I will be found dead on the kitchen floor after ODing on a high dose of peanut butter" (no not allergic). As you can all guess I am still here and oddly a strange sense of happiness came over me a few minutes later. I figured I would create a thread where everyone can share their near-death experiences.

 

[Yellow]

It depends on what you mean by near-death. Like having reached a physical state that is near death (like being shot in the head and surviving), or thinking/believing you are about to die without actually experiencing it (like someone holding a gun to your head with the apparent intention of killing you)?

 

[dutchdisease]

It depends on what you mean by near-death. Like having reached a physical state that is near death (like being shot in the head and surviving), or thinking/believing you are about to die without actually experiencing it (like someone holding a gun to your head with the apparent intention of killing you)?

Either/or

 

[Intolerable]

At 18 when diving. I dove off the wrong side of a lake and landed in a bed of seaweed. I had to swim back to the shore while cutting my way through seaweed getting tangled in my legs and arms. I was 18 and in the prime of my life and when I got back ( with help on shore ) I slept for two days. No kidding.

I did experience a series of panic flashes which I think most people experience. I probably did panic which made the swim back much worse than it needed to be. It seems as though time just disappears. No memory flashbacks though if I am remembering correctly.

 

[nanook]

I my worldview, the visionary realm of a psychedelic drug has become my idea of death and my biggest argument against suicide, because i don't want to end up there, i didn't like it at all. It was an utterly cold and impersonal realm, but it had the handwriting of higher intelligence (natural laws) all over it.

Of course it might all be illusion - i guess experiencing ego-death might cause any visionary realm to feel like it's a Bardo of death, a place of eternal return and rebirth.

In fact ego death on another drug has impressed me similarly, but in this case the visionary realm i was confronted with had some physical characteristics, like a cave, an dumb material enclosure, like a skull, and so this experience made me feel that dying means to return to the earthy realm of a rotting skeleton. Not appealing either.

I consider myself anti-theistic, theism is just silly, but i consider myself a-gnostic (not knowing) about life after death.

 

[Tannhauser]

There was a case when I was a teenager and I lost some ball or something into the water, so I decided to swim for it. This ball kept drifting away from the shore as I kept on swimming. I kind of got closer and closer to the ball, so I was continuously tempted to continue the effort – even though I was getting really tired. After a while I realised that the reason why the ball was moving so fast was a strong tailwind – which now had brought both me and the ball way out into the water. So at that point, I was exhausted, was far away from shore, and had to swim against a strong headwind on the way back. And nobody knew I was in the water. I remember turning around and seeing the shore way farther away than I anticipated – a true sort of fear struck me. At that point one just stops thinking and starts acting on instincts. So eventually I made it back, completely out of breath and with burning muscles. I remember feeling a certain seriousness when I got back on land. I have been in motorcycle accidents and stuff, but in those cases I could sort of laugh about it afterwards. Here, I really felt that I had been close to death.

 

[dutchdisease]

There was a case when I was a teenager and I lost some ball or something into the water, so I decided to swim for it. This ball kept drifting away from the shore as I kept on swimming. I kind of got closer and closer to the ball, so I was continuously tempted to continue the effort – even though I was getting really tired. After a while I realised that the reason why the ball was moving so fast was a strong tailwind – which now had brought both me and the ball way out into the water. So at that point, I was exhausted, was far away from shore, and had to swim against a strong headwind on the way back. And nobody knew I was in the water. I remember turning around and seeing the shore way farther away than I anticipated – a true sort of fear struck me. At that point one just stops thinking and starts acting on instincts. So eventually I made it back, completely out of breath and with burning muscles. I remember feeling a certain seriousness when I got back on land. I have been in motorcycle accidents and stuff, but in those cases I could sort of laugh about it afterwards. Here, I really felt that I had been close to death.

Is it odd that the first half of this story felt like a parable to me. Perhaps an allegory for chasing happiness. The Drifting Orb Parable.

 

[Yellow]

When I was about 7, I was in some rich girl's indoor swimming pool (it was a Campfire Girls party or something), and I said I couldn't swim, so the girls jumped on me and held me down.. I guess I did kinda die there, maybe. I drowned anyway.

 

[Polaris]

Lesson learnt from thread so far: INTPs stay the fuck away from water.

I thought I was going to die somewhere out on the ocean. I was caught in a rip while learning to surf, and when I looked back I couldn't see the beach as the wind and tide had changed, and the waves were too high. I started paddling back, while attempting to catch a wave that would bring me closer to shore, but the waves were coming from every direction, it was like being in a washing machine.

I finally spotted my partner paddling out to me, white in the face. He must have felt terrible because he was the one who encouraged me to surf a very dangerous beach (I asked about the warning signs but he said Australian authorities always exaggerated warnings because of idiot visitors - yeah, the idiot visitor was me this time, listening to someone instead of trusting the sign).

We paddled back together against the currents and waves for what seemed to be hours. I finally caught a big wave and it brought me all the way back to a part where my feet could find the ground and dragged myself up on the beach. I dropped the surfboard and couldn't stop shaking for hours.

The second time I was left behind a group of people who I had been riding snowmobiles with all day. We had been looking for Polar bears for photographic purposes. I had an old Russian snowmobile that had to be lifted out of the deep, new snow every time I started it, and it was heavy work. I had to start it, then rev the gas while someone lifted the back of the snowmobile.

We had been watching three bears - a mother and two near-grown cubs. I was getting nervous because we were getting too close, and wanted to leave before we got into trouble. Suddenly the bears picked up our scent as they were downwind from us (bad idea), and came charging towards us. I tried to start my snowmobile, but it didn't respond. Meanwhile the rest of the party revved up their engines and took off on their fancy new snowmobiles - I got stuck behind on my old Russian museum piece.

I assessed the situation as my survival instincts kicked in and thought about how much time I had. I tried to start the engine again, and this time it kicked in - but the bears had halved the distance between us since last time I looked. They were sort of running at me at a leisurely pace - almost trotting, like horses - and I thought about how incredibly majestic the female looked with her long, shiny fur moving around her strong frame, like waves. It was a surreal moment as I contemplated this while thinking about dousing myself with petrol to make myself less palatable. Bears have a habit of playing with things they are curious about - in this case, it looked like the bears were curious, not aggressive - but I did not take to the idea of being a Polar bear toy.

So I lifted the back of my snowmobile one last time while trying to reach for the gas - but I couldn't. At this point I could sense the the bears close to me. I looked to the side and she was standing about 10-15 metres away from me - cubs behind her, moving their great heads back and forth to assess the situation.

Then I heard the noise - a loud whining like a mosquito, and I turned my head towards the glacier where my party had disappeared. I saw a blue dot coming towards me and realised it was my partner - approaching me at about 120 kms/hour. The bears looked as well and stirred - the female took a few steps back as she factored in this new element in her situation - and her cubs.

My partner was there in seconds - he made a disturbance barrier between myself and the bears - and the noise from the engine made them move back, but they still hung around. He jumped off his idling engine and I revved the gas while he lifted me out of the trap I was caught in - and I took off as fast as my snowmobile could muster while he followed me. By the time I had reached the top of the glacier, I looked back - and the group of bears still stood there, like a creamy white patch in the brilliant white.

We finally caught up with the rest of the party - and nobody said a word. Everyone just stood there looking at me from behind their masks and helmets.

I still have nightmares about bears stalking me, chasing me in a vast, white landscape. I wonder if it will ever stop.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Almost drowned once when I was a small child in L.A. on a family trip to Disneyland; etc while swimming in a hotel pool. Luckily, my oldest brother saved me. We were all in the pool and my youngest brother was on our dad's back as he took him into the deep end, and since my two older siblings could swim they went too. I tried to follow but apparently I didn't know how to swim yet. Then he came and saved me.

 

[Tannhauser]

Amazing story, Polaris.

 

[Rualani]

Took an extreme dose of an hallucinogen and nearly blasted off. I stubbornly took control of reality and starting waving it back together with my arms like some mad wizard. Friends said I was one of the only people who refused to let my 'ego' go and go with the flow. My magical powers make me proud, though, I hope I didn't miss anything being dead.

 

[nanook]

I never came close to drowning but i tried holotrophic breathing once and i got really scared, due to sensing how my body and life depends on these lungs that didn't feel healthy under the stress of rapid deep breathing. I just gave up on that technique ... I'm really a coward.

 

[emmabobary]

@Polaris

Never had that kind of problem ^_^
I actually enjoy swimming.
I feel like at home when my body floats in the water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSLEnTV9WzU

 

[Tannhauser]

Is it odd that the first half of this story felt like a parable to me. Perhaps an allegory for chasing happiness. The Drifting Orb Parable.

Hah yes, I see that now.

 

[peoplesuck]

almost drowned as well.

 

[Happy]

I've got a bunch. Nearly died before birth, nearly died during birth. I spent my first 6 months a vegetable, and was expected to be 'special'. I've had just about every deadly childhood disease and pulled through with no negative consequences. I got trampled in the pool at a water park when I was 8 and on the verge of drowning, was saved by a stranger I never got to thank. As an adult, I've found myself in dangerous situations (e.g. knife to my throat, ganged in an alley - standard stuff like that), and like most people I guess, I've had miscellaneous close calls.

However...
My favourite to reminisce about is the time I was working in a slaughterhouse and a steer or bull (can't remember which) got loose, freaked out and had me pinned, about to maul me. The gun was just out of reach, but luckily a colleague grabbed it and put an end to the situation. Didn't think much of it at the time, but looking back, it was pretty lucky.

 

[Happy]

@Polaris: Your story is epic. Wow.

 

[Polaris]

@Tannhauser and Happy: thank you - the story is indeed epic as it still resides deeply in my psyche

 

[Helvete]

@Polaris: Ay caramba! Did you get any good photo's of the polar bears though?

The waters are indeed very dangerous, especially to those who don't know them.

I swam out to a small rocky outcrop off the beach as I wanted a spectacular panoramic view of the sea and it's surroundings. It was a long tiring swim which probably took me 5 minutes or so, but felt like so much longer. I remember feeling foolish for thinking it would be so close. I persevered and eventually made it to to the rocks, exhausted. After relaxing to a state of normalcy I enjoyed the view, basking in the tranquility brought from such a beautiful location in isolation.

After a while I noticed the the tide was coming in, and the beaches surrounding the tiny island rock I was atop of had started to submerge. I realised I had to get back fast and that it was already a long way which was about to get a lot worse. I wasn't particularly worried, or panicked at the time, there was no room for those thoughts. I jumped straight in and started the ever so long, grueling process of swimming to shore. I was grateful that I felt rejuvenated from the last swim, but knew it would not last.

I felt drained after only a few meters, the current was stronger and required more effort, yet I was trying not to exert the extra effort as I knew I had to pace myself, use the minimum possible and still get somewhere.

It felt endless, the shore still looked close but I must of been maybe only a quarter of the way and losing energy fast. The gates of negativity were opening and flooding my mind with terrible thoughts. Panic stricken I swam harder, straining against what felt like close to the physical limit. I am not a good swimmer.

Still, it's surprising far the limit can stretch in cases of such desperation. Everything hurt, muscles burnt, chest heaving, tight cold pitiful breaths. I found myself stopping to tread water more and more often in a vain attempt to save myself from myself and all that surrounded me.

Some how, I got far enough to stand and by some miracle a local spotted me, swam out and near enough dragged me to shore, where I flopped.

The beach had been deserted when I left, I was extremely lucky to have been spotted when I had; I'm forever grateful.



Aside from that, the only other time is something from early childhood which I don't remember. My father was vacuuming the attic which had the cord running through the hatch into the room below. I sat below the ladder, playing with the cord. I had decided it would be a good idea to tug it, repeatedly until it dragged the cleaner, which was on wheels to the edge of the hatch. It then toppled and fell directly above where I sat, blissfully unaware. By my good fortune the ladder intercepted it's fall, bouncing it to land heavily somewhere next to me, instead of squashing.

I am not afraid to walk beneath ladders, I do not see them unlucky, as a lot do.

 

[Intolerable]

When I was about 7, I was in some rich girl's indoor swimming pool (it was a Campfire Girls party or something), and I said I couldn't swim, so the girls jumped on me and held me down.. I guess I did kinda die there, maybe. I drowned anyway.

That's terrible.

I still have nightmares about bears stalking me, chasing me in a vast, white landscape. I wonder if it will ever stop.

I would say that story is nightmare-inspiring.

 

[QuickTwist]

I stuck a fork in an outlet when I was a small child once. I tried doing a backflip off a diving board having my entire feet on the diving board (as opposed to just the balls of your feet). My friend and I had a debate that you couldn't do a backflip that way. To prove him wrong I attempted to do it that way and ended up hitting my chin on the way down. A side of my jaw clicks when I yawn to this day and it required 5 stitches. Another pool story is where I was about 4(?) and I had picked up that basketball plays slam dunk. I pleaded with my mother to let me take off that stupid floating equipment that I was forced to where and she said I could take it off. I then proceeded to take a ball and pretend to slam dunk on their water basketball hoop and ofc I did not know how to swim at the time so I was truly panic stricken when I found out that this swimming thing is something that takes time to learn and you can't just figure it out your first time without a floating device. Someone had to come in after me and I had the worst time trying to get the water out of me.

There was another time where I almost died with was the most notable and closest to dying one. I was probably feeling pretty manic at the time and decided I had never driven super fast on a winding road so I thought it would be fun to push it to the limit. I wasn't really going super fast, prolly like 80 mph or something. The speed limit was 30.I ended up trying to turn but the momentum kept the car from turning so when I hit the curb with the tires parallel, it caused the car to flip. it was night and I ended up hitting a light post with was ofc knocked down. There was also a lake just past the light post so who knows if I would have made it to the water without hitting the light post in the first place. I came out of it with a broken rib and that's about it. I didn't see a doctor about it, but I should have because it hurt like a bitch to laugh or even breath for the first 2 weeks. I still have a very weird lump where the rib was broken - I guess it didn't heal right.

 

[The Gopher]

Water surprise surprise. Was knee boarding or something, ended up stuck to the board underwater. Wasn't close to death but it was the closest.

I love that story Polaris.

 

[Polaris]

@Helvete: I wasn't the photographer at the time, but I do have bear photos buried somewhere from other trips. The temperature was around - 30° C, so getting my gloves off to fiddle around with a camera wasn't very tempting, and I was busy trying to keep my Russian piece of metal afloat most of the time....

Your story was great to read - the scenario is frighteningly familiar. Would be great to read some more of your travel tales on here.

@Intolerable: your seaweed entanglement sounds truly nightmarish...

@Gopher: thank you - getting trapped under a knee board while being dragged along at high speed must be like hell

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

Errm i have no exciting stories to tell(nice story polaris)...

I have a history with petty car accidents, but there was one where I seriously thought i would die:
A lit cigarette fell from my hand while driving and after a short hand dance i managed to catch it midair
When I looked back at the road, and my heart was already beating like crazy from the cigarette episode, i discovered that im now using both lanes of the road and a car was coming my way
I turned the steering full to get back on track and the other car hit the brakes too but we still bumped into eachother (it bumped into the back of my car)
For a moment there i thought i would die, i think the compound effect of fearing that the cigarette would put a burn to the seat or my hand/clothes and then seeing the car zooming towards me made it all the more scary

 

[Pyropyro]

A few years ago I almost drowned.

I was trying to casually swim my way to a platform around 30-50 meters away from the seashore. I borrowed one of my friend's snorkel and swam towards it with my head below the water (looking downwards to the sea bed is fascinating). I kept bobbing my head up to see if I'm still on course. However, every time I do that, some water entered the snorkel's tube and googles. Soon I was struggling to breath. I thought of setting my foot down the seabed but all I felt was water... I panicked and tried to frantically remove the water with my breath which only let more water enter into the snorkel.

Fortunately, I managed to have enough presence of mind to tear the snorkel off my face and dog paddled my way towards the platform. I found that you can shove panic somewhere else if you focus on some certain task that you are doing. After regaining my senses I instead joined my friends in a boat that was bound to go back to shore.

That night, saltwater was oddly leaking from my nose and mouth.

@Polaris. Okay I'm no longer that excited in looking forward to seeing snow and winter.

 

[Alias]

When I was 11? 12? I was hit by a car in a parking lot. Driver was in a hurry to leave and sped through hitting me on the way. I bounced back a meter or two, and for a second, I saw it all in third person. My chin made a small dent in the hood, and the moron behind the wheel cared more about the car than a child who got hit by a car. Really materialistic. She said she was a "lawyer representative", which I can only assume is even worse than a lawyer. My dad, my brother and I eventually just left.

More of an out-of-body experience, but still a fun story.

 

[Sinny91]

I've been an inch away from death more often than should be the case.
Literally, physically...The amount of times my head has been in the clouds and others have had to pull me from on coming traffic etc.

Apart from that, I really really dislike the idea of (ultimating) pain, and have thus far managed to avoid serious encounters with it.

A few weeks ago I tried crossing an extremely busy dual-carriage way, I made the mistake of bypassing the lights.
I found myself trapped in the middle for 25 minutes... and I'm not one who's overly cautious when it comes to playing chicken.. but I reminded myself that I was really stoned, and that shouldn't move unless I'm 100% certain... and so eventually I got a chance to cross.

A week later, a guy was squashed like a bug in the exact same spot, attempting to do what I was going to do initially.

I cross the same spot often, but at less busier times of the day.
Sort of brings it home.

 

[Oprale]

Lesson learnt from thread so far: INTPs stay the fuck away from water.

Yup.

Nearly drowned at the beach when I was 4 or 5, in not even half a meter of water and while wearing swim aids. I was playing with a new friend and at one point I laid back in the water and felt her sitting on me. I tried to push her but I wasn't strong enough. I can still see the sunlight rays making their way through the water ripples just a few centimeters above my face, as I struggle to make my way up there without being able to.

I don't know how long it lasted. At one point I gave up and stopped fighting, realising there was nothing more I could do. I just looked at the water ripples and thaught it was beautiful. At this precise moment I was dragged out of the water and suddenly felt that my mom was holding me in her arms. My father was by our side. I started crying out loud of course, and my '' friend '' kept saying she was '' sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry ! '' but I didn't even want to look at her and I never saw her again.

A couple of days later I had an extremly high fever and was hospitalized for ten days. My memories of this are extremly blurry, both because of the fever and wathever they gave me ( I went in the playroom and played at pokemon with my father. I was very impressed by all the striking blue, red, yellow colors that seemed to spread out to me. It felt like I was in the game. I guess I was pretty stoned ).

 

[headspace]

Can't say for sure.

Either the time I was drunk and driving recklessly at 120 mph swerving left and right through traffic,

or the time I got caught in a brutal windstorm in a canoe with no life preservers on the Okanagan Lake (notorious for its propensity to capsize watercraft as well as hosting a large population of cadavers).

Or maybe the time I got stuck on a sheer rock face and had to jump 10' to a steep slope covered in loose shale and then slide 30' downhill uncontrollably while trying to avoid the plummet that was promised at the end of the ride by grabbing a fallen tree and praying it was anchored down somehow.

 

[Alias]

Wow, some of these stories are intense. Oprale faced a homicidal 4 year old, headspace has pulled off crazy stunts, pyropyro fought his way through water with a two-faced snorkel, and Sinny, while stoned, dodged dead man's traffic.

Makes my story seem like nothing. INTPs have a thing for cheating out death. It's like we're all Frane Selak or something.

 

[Jennywocky]

I kind of feel inadequate for not doing something to the degree I might have ended up having my ticket punched.

But srsly, usually I think ahead and minimize risk, so I'm not forced into a scenario where I could end up being hosed. I learned how to swim at a very young age and knew about undertow, for one example; overall, I'm aware of things that could be dangerous and I'm very careful around them. This doesn't impact the complete accidents (such as highway collisions, etc.), but I really haven't had many of those either. The worst was when the car engine caught fire, and the driver pulled over and ran away yelling for help while I calmly gathered my stuff and then walked away from the burning car.

The closest I probably came to death was being on the edge of self-harm for months and having the means to easily carry it out, which scared me enough to change other things instead to alleviate the depression. Unless a plane crashes on top of me or I have a heart attack from years of poor eating habits (or maybe I do eventually try to climb something and fall off), I'm thinking I'm probably most in danger of ending my own life from depression/existential angst versus ending up in a risky situation.

 

[Yellow]

I think ahead and minimize risk, so I'm not forced into a scenario where I could end up being hosed. [...] I'm thinking I'm probably most in danger of ending my own life from depression/existential angst versus ending up in a risky situation.

For most of my life, my stance has been something along the lines of "the chances of this going terribly are really slim, so I'm risking greater damage by limiting my experiences". However, I've walked into a LOT of damaging and dangerous situations with the whole "what could possibly go wrong?" attitude. I still think I was enriched by the direct experience, but I think I could have lived without a few of them. Now, I try to think ahead to minimize risk.

On the other hand, you illustrated how flawed the "you're only as safe as you want to be" philosophy is. We all take risks and in fact we pose risks to ourselves even sitting my our lonesome. It's scary.

I know I've mentioned before that I accept the idea of death, but it doesn't stop it from being a surreal thought from time to time. Something is going to kill all of us. We're all going to die at our own pace, in our own time, but it's going to happen no matter what we do. We go through so much effort to delay the inevitable. We resist death with such tenacity, and pity those who don't. I dunno. It's just weird.

 

[Jennywocky]

For most of my life, my stance has been something along the lines of "the chances of this going terribly are really slim, so I'm risking greater damage by limiting my experiences". However, I've walked into a LOT of damaging and dangerous situations with the whole "what could possibly go wrong?" attitude. I still think I was enriched by the direct experience, but I think I could have lived without a few of them. Now, I try to think ahead to minimize risk.

On the other hand, you illustrated how flawed the "you're only as safe as you want to be" philosophy is. We all take risks and in fact we pose risks to ourselves even sitting my our lonesome. It's scary.

I know I've mentioned before that I accept the idea of death, but it doesn't stop it from being a surreal thought from time to time. Something is going to kill all of us. We're all going to die at our own pace, in our own time, but it's going to happen no matter what we do. We go through so much effort to delay the inevitable. We resist death with such tenacity, and pity those who don't. I dunno. It's just weird.

I've found that my perspective has changed over time as I shift into middle age. I think when I was younger, avoiding risk and an untimely death loomed larger in my mind (strangely enough), I suppose because I felt I had more to lose. Now that I can actually feel my body in a slow decline and realize that I could feasibly be dead in just 15 more years (although chances are I could have 25-30 more to me, maybe even more if I take after my mom's side of the family), the inevitability of it changes my perspective.
　
What I find is that I am less concerned about whether I die today or in thirty or forty years. I don't necessarily want to die tomorrow, but survival is no longer my top priority. As long as my kids know I love them and that all my stuff is in order for when I go (now or later), I feel freed up a bit. Accepting that you really could be dead (cancer or other health concerns, an accident, etc.) within just a few years means that life experience becomes more important than sticking around. I don't have to be on top of everything nor have everything factored in, I can take more risks.

Not that I'm going to take unreasonable ones, but I would like to spend my 50's doing things I haven't done yet, that will improve the quality of my experience.

Anyway, it's weird reaching a place where survival is no longer so all-consuming. How I live (and my state of mind at death) has become more important than when I die, IOW. So if anyone plans to go shark-diving any time soon, or parachuting, or alpine climbing... hey, let me know.

 

[headspace]

knew about undertow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A46dVwpd71o

I'm probably most in danger of ending my own life from depression/existential angst versus ending up in a risky situation.

Same (sort of)
Risky situations are just one more way of expressing a death wish.

 

[Sinny91]

The invocation in your DP could also be likened to a death wish.
In some schools of thought, it's all about where you channel your energy.

 

[Irukanji]

Took some(a little too much) 25i-NBOMe, vasoconstriction + mad heat/humidity at night made me feel like I was going to die, kept seeing a shadow behind me/corner of my eye which I thought was death creeping up on me.

Sitting in a forested area looking at some kangaroos(I was out looking for rabbits/foxes to shoot), wave of intense sadness came over me and I almost shot myself lol

Other than that, most "oh shit" moments come from driving way too fast on roads designed for lower speeds, hitting the brakes a few seconds too late into the corner and feeling the G's want to throw you into the trees. Haven't binned it yet, but your sphincter clenches up real hard in those times.

Normal life is boring, only way to feel happy for some time is to do crap which has a higher potential to kill you.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

What an interesting thread. My own brushes with death are not particularly interesting imo; mostly just a product of my own foolhardiness/stubbornness.

Of course one involved water. I was on a very powerful rental jet ski, going back to shore for a quick errand and had forgotten my life jacket. I was accustomed to older, much much more under powered jet skis and went from 0 to full throttle while turning and flung myself off very violently and very nearly knocking myself out and wringing pretty much every muscle in my body. It was a struggle to stay conscious and afloat; and I was barely able to get back to the jet ski, and it was probably 45 minutes after that before I could pull myself up and get back to camp. I could barely move the next few days and it was weeks before I could do anything strenuous. Needless to say I felt very idiotic about the whole affair.

In the next one, I had pneumonia about 2 years ago for 5-6 weeks and I'm asthmatic. I have a tendency to completely isolate myself when sick, under-medicate, and pretend I'm fine when I'm not, so there were several instances I'm frankly surprised I didn't suffocate. I still have crackles in my lungs from that. -_-

I've also tasted gun metal on several occasions, but I'm not sure that really counts.

 

[Yellow]

Pneumonia counts as water too.

 

[Intolerable]

I would like to spend my 50's doing things I haven't done yet, that will improve the quality of my experience.

This should always be the guiding principle for people whether we are 20 or 80. As soon as I start feeling like death may be preferable I stop and ask myself what I'm doing wrong living.

It should be no alarm that in my 39 years I've felt that way several times. On the loss of my fiancee and then again much later when I could not draw enjoyment from my career or my hobbies.

In both cases I needed a fresh take. I got it and adjusted. Change as much as you can.

 

[Oprale]

Wow, some of these stories are intense. Oprale faced a homicidal 4 year old, headspace has pulled off crazy stunts, pyropyro fought his way through water with a two-faced snorkel, and Sinny, while stoned, dodged dead man's traffic.

Makes you think how fragile life is... And it also made me realise that water truly is extremely dangerous. Most of the people here almost died of drowning. I usually tend to think it's ''just'' water.

And how different this place could be if all the members that faced death actually died ? And what if some interesting people died before discovering this forum ?

Also...

Oprale faced a homicidal 4 year old

My deadliest ennemies seem to have an approximate age of 5 years old. Who would've thaught ? My sister tried to kill/hurt me really bad when she was five y/o and I wasn't even 1. She was extremely jaleous because I stole all the attention she used to have ( I was only the second baby of the family, and I had a lot of health problems ). She couldn't get over it. One day she told my mother that it was really cold outside and that '' It would be bad to leave her on the sidewalk, riiight ? '' . That's how jaleous she was. So, what happened :

In my childhood house, there was a staircase with a wall on one side and an open space on the other. It lead to the living-room. I was laying in my baby crib next to it, below the open space. That day, there was a really heavy radio in the stairs for some reason, and my sister looked at it, looked at me, and then pushed it down. What stopped it from landing on me was the crib's rooftop that was half open. It bounced on it, then crashed heavily on the floor and broke. I was to young to remember it nowadays. My mom told me.

I don't know if it would have killed me, but given that I was extremely young, it's very likely that I would've at least been seriously injured, and that I would have to live with the after-effects.

Better stay away from kindergartens

 

[Pyropyro]

And how different this place could be if all the members that faced death actually died ? And what if some interesting people died before discovering this forum?

This should totally be an Arena thread!

 

[bvanevery]

Nearly snuffed it due to an inattentive biological mother when I was 3. I wandered out of the apartment complex unsupervised. I came to a curve in a road with a lot of cars whizzing by. I ran to the island in the center of the road, then got scared. A passing bicyclist stopped and lifted me back to the correct side of the road. I wandered back up to the apartment and nobody knew any the wiser. Decades later I actually found this same place as an adult and relived my memory of it. Everything matched up, and other things too, confirming that it all really did happen.

I totaled a car. It was scary, 4 seconds of being absolutely unable to think about anything, just bracing for impact. But in hindsight, not life threatening. I came away from that with a mere bruise on my shoulder from the seat belt. I might do it again if I had any certainty about the results, but that's kinda the rub.

\Better stay away from kindergartens

Sounds like you needed some firearms and concealed carry training.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

I totaled a car. It was scary, 4 seconds of being absolutely unable to think about anything, just bracing for impact. But in hindsight, not life threatening. I came away from that with a mere bruise on my shoulder from the seat belt. I might do it again if I had any certainty about the results, but that's kinda the rub.

I was in three major car accidents (all totaled) as a child, one of which I was thrown 40 or so feet across the road and airlifted (only time I've gotten to ride in a helicopter) to a hospital. All the onlookers and my family thought I was going to die or suffer some horrific injury. The lady who basically caused the accident was crying and apologizing profusely to my mother as she held me on the roadside, but I was ultimately just fine, except for a bunch of road rash. I was picking gravel out of my legs as they healed for weeks though....

I do tend to react rather strongly when I'm driving with some else who swerves; I mostly keep them to myself, but I have these little sorts of flashback of the physical memories of crashing. I think it's weird I was never more seriously injured though. My sister pretty much permanently fucked up her hip in a little fender bender.

Naturally, the most serious injury I've ever had I acquired falling off a 3ft chair.

The human body is fickle; both surprisingly fragile and tough.

 

[crippli]

From 18-20 I fully crashed around 8-10 cars. Most of them while drunk, so I don't think they quite reflect driving skills. The worst I was sober, but fell asleep. Tumbled 3 times. Awful noise. But my usual luck of course kept the area where I was sitting relatively intact. Everything else was pretty much hammered flat. A few tiny scratches in my head due to glass shards.

While flying I crashed once. In the alps. Really hung over. And after flying 3-4 hours in super picturestic landscape. After a turn point out on the flat after lac leman(genova) then towards Chamonix and Month Blanc. On this little tree covered tiny hill, I miscalculated the wind. Maybe I had used up my ability to concentrate due to the severe hangover or whatever. I don't know. I don't know what happened. Only one WTF memory 5 minutts before the crash. That the wind came perpendicular to the hill from the wrong direction instead of alongside the ridge. Probably due to the higher mountains behind and evening sun. The rest is deleted. After several hours unconscious. I actually woke up, and could radio my distress once I figured out I had crashed. The helicopter came. Was pissing blood. My spine was an S on X-ray. The straps on the helmet had actually broken. But the body was sort of okay. A physiotherapist put things back at it's place. So when I had some time to think it through. I came to the conclusion that it was important to have luck if one was to be unlucky. It would be depressing to be unlucky without good luck as retaliation.

I'm sort of intrigued by the ice bear episode. Why wasn't it shot? I would not have gone into ice bear territory unarmed. And I would have had in advance a max distance they could approach before having to pay for the privilege with their life. The ice bear story is sort of something out of a fairy tale. Or even like sleep paralyses. Where all your power is taken away from you, and ..something else.. occurs instead. Wonder full. I think it's okay in such a situation even to become dinner. One would certainly be appreciated.

 

[bvanevery]

Good grief how did you keep up a steady supply of cars to crash?

 

[crippli]

Insurance.

 

[bvanevery]

wow, uh, I assume your premiums went way up? I think there are, or may have been, states where you can't even get it anymore after a certain threshold.

 

[onesteptwostep]

I was in the Kobe earthquake of 1995. My mother tells me she just held and covered me thinking she'd die. It was pretty much a Harry Potter moment. But besides that.. not much. A couple of car accidents here and there which did nothing. There was a short period in college where I almost starved to death, but that's probably an overstatement. I didn't have gas during the winter so.. haha.

 

[crippli]

I assume your premiums went way up?

Actually no. I had good time to get my stories "straight". I usually got more in return then I had initially paid. As helped on my misfortune.

Like luck after when have had unluck. Its important.

I also have a whole lot of other episodes that may or may not have been close to death. Hard to say for sure. When 5 I was sledding and couldn't stop. Hit a brick wall. Unconscious for half a day. A few years later I fell in a barn on my head to the floor below on a saw. Must have at least missed the blade. Unconscious again.

And again...

And again.

I was the sort of kid who fell on the bare floor. Over and over and over.