[The Glass Doe]

Sometimes we crack under pressure, and thats okay

The winner of this moo is paopu, for a funny, lighthearted story
I will be making a runner up for echo into void, for shocking me with an intense poetic look into their life

[drift.]

Username: drift.
Name: Riss
Collar Color: blue porcelain plate inspired ? <3
When did you crack?:

There have been quite a few instances, but I think it'd be healthier
if I shared the one I learned and grew from <3

It was a few years ago, and I had just opted to foster a
certain breed of dog from a local rescue. I wasn't in a
very good place where I barely had enough energy to
take on my current animals, let alone a new one I know
nothing about. But at the time I thought it was a good idea.
I thought bringing something new and challenging into my
life would help pull me out of the rut I had somehow become
stuck in. Well, not exactly. A few months into training this
dog I realized very quickly that I had bitten off more than I
could chew. They were drivey, bitey, had mild dog aggression
and were rather stubborn. It took another two months just
for me to work up the courage to tell the head of the rescue
that I couldn't do it, and it was such a horrible moment for me,
as I'm incredibly shy and an overall nervous person. I cracked
under what I thought were judgmental glares, and the second I pulled
in my driveway I sent an incredibly long letter to the staff apologizing
and that I wouldn't be fostering from them again. I couldn't bear the weight
of my 'mistake' and instead of taking things slow I took the pressure I was
feeling about letting down the dog and ran with it. Now on this day I've found
ways to learn from this and also how to be more open with people when
I'm struggling. I've since mended most of the relationships I had with those
wonderful people and the sweet pup has found a home with a trainer
that could better suit their needs.

Yeah, I cracked when I thought I was being judged for admitting defeat,
and even though situations like this still haunt me, I've learned to
use them in my defense, to show myself how far I've come and that
no matter how difficult, I really can overcome anything.

[Winter Shores]

Username: Winter Shores
Name: Theia (goddess of gold)
Collar Color: Gold?
When did you crack?: Oof when did I crack under pressure... Oh my gosh its so embarrassing... In elementary school every year (1-5) we had to do a dance in gym class. We had about a month to practice on the dance that we wanted and come up with ideas. So me and my best friends decided to pair up and let me tell you that was the most unproductive month in gym class of my life. So the last week to practice we come up with something super quick. I'm cringing thinking about it. When we were ready to present, all classes from 5th grade where there INCLUDING PARENTS. I was so nervous and my mom was in the crowd so it was so much pressure. We went up in stage and preformed (we low-key just kept repeating the same thing because we didn't practice) During the performance I had to do a cartwheel many times and the last time I did it I slipped and twisted my wrist. I face planted. Honestly in front of everyone I was not going to cry so we ended the dance and the teacher asked if I was okay. I said yes but 5 minutes later I started pouring my eyes out in front of friends and my mom complain about how my wrist hurt and my ankle. I sprained both. SO KIDS, DON'T CRACK UNDER PRESSURE. Ya might get hurt lol

[metanoia.]

Username: metanoia.
Name: crackle
Collar Color: dark gold with a cracking effect
When did you crack?:


three years ago, i took the psat 8/9.
our whole grade had to do it, but i had been out sick for two weeks during that time, so i had to take it after they all did.
you see, i didn't know when i was supposed to take it when i came back.
anywho, my principal took me into room "tr3"; aka "testing room three", and gave me the test.
i was incredibly scared/surprised, but i sort of felt good about it.
you see, our school treats the psat 8/9 as a normal psat.
so that means that our psats last a handful of days, even a week.
i had almost finished my history part of the test, when i decided to take a break.
well, i walked around the room and then ate some of my leftover lunch.
when i went back to the test, my brain completely froze.
i had never had a brain freeze with history, especially with a simple question like 'in what year did george washington's presidential term end?'
my emotions got the better of me, and while i will save you the dirty details, it was not pretty.
so, basically, i broke down crying in the middle of the testing room...with my principal and guidance counselor in the next room incase i had a question or had to leave early.
i then got so mad and completely broke down, which resulted in me throwing my test on the floor and accidentally knocking over two desks.
oh, and here is the fun part, the guidance counselor had an hour long conversation with me to control my behavior.
this isn't really that interesting, but it was and is my only cracking point in life. <3

[paopu]

Username: paopu
Name: Hemlock
Collar Color: artist choice
When did you crack?:
After much deliberation I've decided to go for the more lighthearted answer to this and tell you all about the time I got into a fight with some large birds. Okay so the first time I ever cracked under pressure I was a very young child. I was visiting a wildlife museum that kept all sorts of native animals and fish and was supposed to be this cool educational experience. Usually, the birds were pretty chill so they didn't bother to cage them. Now, for whatever reason, on this particular day, there were a pair of turkey that took one look at little Pao and decided they were going to be jerks about it. At the time these birds were easily twice my size so I did the natural thing and ran as soon as those things zeroed in on me. I ended up cornered, my back up against a tank full of piranha fish, these two wannabe dinosaurs approaching me. Now, I was small and scared but also extremely Done with this situation. So, flight having failed, little Pao cracked and decided to go feral. Using my very important definitely accurate knowledge from the Lion King that roars were scary, I made like Simba and roared, charging at the two birds. This apparently shocked them, as they immediately scattered, but I wasn't done with that. I literally charged out of the building and across the street still roaring at the top of my lungs until I ran into a stranger who was kind enough to calm me down. From that day on, no birds were kept loose at this wildlife center and I, for a bit, gained a reputation among my teachers as 'the Feral One'. Although, I do still till this day retain a phobia of turkey.

[slythecho]

Username: echo into void
Name: charlie
Collar Color: black
When did you crack?:

i'm currently cracking.
in the midst of this global pandemic.
in the midst of my surprise pregnancy.
in the midst of the hardest semester of college.
in the midst of losing a job.
in the midst of not having enough money to pay bills.

during this time in my life,
i am cracking.

[Knickknacks]

Username: Knickknacks
Name: Raine
Collar Color: dark gray-blue like her head, but with a golden bell.
When did you crack?:

The last time I cracked it was... really my own fault. That's probably the worst part about it.

I've been struggling with my procrastination this past year- and a couple months ago, it just reached a peak, where I was so overwhelmed by the things I still had to do and kept telling myself I would do, but then didn't end up doing. And this was all piling up, and I kept telling myself it's fine, it's fine, I'll take care of it before my family realizes how badly I'm doing, how terribly I've been offputting my work-

-but then they did. The extent of my failure came full-on into the light and I had the worst breakdown I've had in a while. Because all I could feel from my mom in particular was disappointment and sadness and I hated that, hated knowing I was disappointing my parents, who have so much faith in me, and knowing that I couldn't even say it was unfair of them to feel that way because it wasn't. It was my fault. I felt myself cracking that night, under the weight of my own guilt and my mom's disappointment. I cried for the better part of an hour that night. I had been feeling terrible because I'm usually open with my mom but I was hiding all this unfinished work and stressing myself out not only from the fact of it being unfinished but from being afraid of her finding out and reacting exactly like this. I had been avoiding coming home, even, because I was so afraid.

But I have learned from that time. I've been trying to be better- and succeeding, slowly. And that 'cracking' actually helped me to unload a lot of bottled up emotions, I think. So though it felt awful at the time, and that kind of overwhelming feeling is one I want to avoid... I learned from it.

[DarkestWerewolf]

Username: DarkestWerewolf
Name: Coral
Collar Color: Like her eyes
When did you crack?:

Oh my god. The amount of times I’ve cracked that led to hysterical sobbing at 2am. However, dare I say, starting to break down halfway while doing a presentation in front of a panel of 3 teachers is intense. 3 years ago, I took a course that I didn’t like because i didn’t have good enough scores and that was my appeal choice. I didn’t get any course of study I wanted and it was either take that course or wait one year to try again, with no guarantee of getting the course you want. At that point, I just took it. I just wanted a diploma.

Fast forward to this year January, I was already finishing up my final year project and I needed to present it to my course heads, a panel of 3. My final year project was literally cleaning up after someone else. I didn’t start from scratch. I had to go through someone else’s codes and add on to it. I hate going through someone else’s codes because each person has their own way of programming, coding and organising. This person was a mess. Regardless, I did it. 12 weeks of absolute hell. I was already on the final week, I just needed to present my project and I was done. My course managers sat down and I began. I explained my project, even having a video to demonstrate how the program works.

After the video ended, one of them just said and I kid you not, these were his exact words “It seems like you didn’t do much.” I was taken aback. I’ll admit, I didn’t have much to do, because the previous one had already done 80% of it, I was just cleaning up. The course was unprepared to take in final year project students and yet, here I am. We are the last batch to do a final year project. My juniors will all be doing a mandatory 6 month internship. I had to do 3 months intern and 3 months final year project. I was already done with my intern. Anyway, I just tried my best to explain the situation but I started tearing up halfway. The panel dismissed me and I just left the room. Cried for 2 hours straight after that. It felt so frustrating and unfair. I was so worried I’d fail. This was literally the last module I have in this course.

That week came to a close and just like that, I was done schooling. I got a D+ for it, barely passed but I’ll take it. My GPA isn’t good and graduation got cancelled because of the pandemic but regardless, I’ll be getting my diploma and hopefully I can finally branch out into my interest.

[PolarizedVertigo]

Username: PolarizedVertigo
Name: Mouse
Collar Color: pastel yellow
When did you crack?: Taking this question more literally because I have a feeling this thread is gonna be rather dark!
The one time I cracked under pressure is when my sister ran me over with a fourwheeler ("by accident") and my back made numerous loud cracking noises that made me think I was going to die, and I'm pretty sure I had a hairline fracture in my arm. I look back on it fondly now but at the time I lost my absolute marbles.

Also now whenever I lay on flat surfaces a specific way, my vertebrae in my back crack in like a chain reaction kinda way, kinda cool.

[Rescue2001]

Username: rescue2001
Name: Glass (yes I am baseing it off the movie)
Collar Color: something doing with that cracked theme would be cool
When did you crack?: I cracked under pressure with some of my college classes. My Accounting class really made me just crack. My computer and the site I was needed to take my exam were just not working and I had like 3 hours before it was due and I just got so stressed I just started crying. It has happen twice to me the second time was the worst I think because of the fact the first time my teacher let me take the exam after the due date but I knew that it probably wouldnt happen a second time so I pretty much lost it and shut down for a good 10 min. Was not my greatest moment but hey, lol.