We’re all collectors of misadventure merit badges — those important life lessons we learn when things go sideways. I’d love to hear about your blunderful experiences and what they taught you!
To submit a story, fill out the form below. And each month, I’ll feature a selection of them here on Badge of Awesome.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Shorter is better. Try to keep your submission under 750 words.
- Your submission should be a true story (i.e., not fiction).
- Profound is great, but avoid getting too heavy. As a humour site, we’re looking for stories that may not have been funny at the time but can be laughed at in hindsight.
- Be sure to include a little life lesson about what the experience taught you. For inspiration, check out other stories on the site.
- Great stories don’t require exotic locations. Everyday misadventures make great fodder for submissions.
Although we review every submission, not every story will be published on Badge of Awesome. However, by submitting your story, you’re agreeing to let us publish it on this website. And if we do feature it, we’ll be sure to send you a link!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at joshmartinink@gmail.com.
Looking for inspiration? Check out these other stories.
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Easy Come Easy Go: What My Honeymoon Taught Me About Ebbs and Flows in Life
(By Becky Martin – Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) We had just gotten married. I was all of 25 years old; we had moved back to Canada from Taiwan after 2.5 years. We were young, we were in love, we had inflated egos, we could do anything. We had only been back in Canada for a month […]
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The accidental purse snatcher: When good deeds go punished
(By Breckon Angulo – Whitby, Ontario, Canada) Sometimes a good deed goes punished … and that’s okay! This is a story that I laugh at now but at the time I was trying with every muscle in my socially anxious body to keep from crying from pure embarrassment. I live in Whitby, Ontario with my […]
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What Taiwan Taught Me About Always Challenging Myself
(By Becky Martin – Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) Taiwan, the land of spiders as big as your face, cobras blocking your dusty hiking path, cicadas as long as your finger and so loud that in their crescendo they force you to cover your ears to prevent pain from their intense singing. It’s a place that has […]
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Mean, Mean Marge: Encouraging children to follow their dreams
(By Bryna Jones — Toronto, Ontario, Canada) Growing up, I wasn’t particularly athletic. Early failure in Phys. Ed. class (yes, I was the girl who was always picked last for the team) brought on a chronic fear of team sports, and physical exertion in general. I was quite content faking sick in the Nurse’s office […]
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The Legal Ramifications of Vomit: A lesson in perseverance
(By Rob Shirkey — Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) It wasn’t funny at the time… I was so nervous the first time I was in court. Outwardly, I did well. I won. A senior lawyer even paid me a high compliment on my cross-examination. But while I may have looked composed, my stomach was in knots. I […]
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Chapter 1: The coin Flip – What a cancer diagnosis taught me about life exploding into a bazillion pieces
I flipped a coin into the air and said, “heads I live, tails I die.” A tad dramatic, I admit. But I had just returned from the hospital where my doctor had told me I had a 50/50 shot of surviving leukemia. I figured I’d see what luck had to say about it. A few […]
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Chapter 2: The slip-up – What a puddle of puke taught me about asking for help
For many, kindergarten conjures up fond memories of finger painting, playdough and sing-alongs. Not me. Instead, I’m haunted by two moments of spectacular mortification. Both involved bodily fluids — some mine, some not. The first incident happened during art class. To minimize the mess caused by a room full of five-year-olds armed with paintbrushes, Mrs. […]
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Chapter 3: The Great Burning – What a million paper monsters taught me about things going up in smoke
Fortunately, peeing my pants during art class in kindergarten didn’t squash my creative interests entirely. Unfortunately, my mom seemed intent on finishing the job a couple years later. For whatever reason, I got in the habit of creating paper monsters with my younger brother, Nicholas. For weeks, we invested countless hours sketching, colouring and cutting […]
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Chapter 4: The Crayon Candle – What the lamest science project ever taught me about putting in the extra effort
When it came to tasks like making paper monsters, my work ethic was unparalleled. I could crank out a dozen demons in an hour — even if the marker fumes left me woozy and wondering if the monsters were starting to talk to me. Unfortunately, that gung-ho effort didn’t always manifest at school. Consider my […]