Learning how to say no. Having personal boundaries.
Can I have money?
It said easy skill
Learn where all the shut off valves for your waterlines are at your house or apartment. When you have a leak is not the time to find out or rather figure out where your shut off valves are at. if you don’t know where your shut off valves are at, what could’ve been a minor water mess could turn into a major bill.
Everyone should learn the basics of troubleshooting!
When trying to resolve a problem it’s really important to keep as many variables under control as possible so that you can find the root cause and fix it.
I see lots of people who try a bunch of things without isolating the issue first but can’t figure out what is wrong. Then because they messed with it so much it’s almost impossible to figure out.
This is important for car maintenance, home maintenance, electronics, computers. Just about everything that can break or stop working right in your life.
My skills at troubleshooting are pretty much limited to
“Turn it off and back on again. The slow way. Sometimes twice.”
But you know what? Mostly it works!
A lot of the issues learning to troubleshoot are surrounded around not understanding the problem/not understanding the system enough to determine where the problem is. Generally, if you have no idea what the issues could be, you end up trying a bunch of stuff and messing everything up more and people get frustrated you didn’t ask for help sooner, or you do nothing and people get frustrated you haven’t tried anything before asking for help. This may be a perpetuated problem if someone doesn’t have the foundational knowledge to understand the type of system, or if it’s just totally out of their wheelhouse and they don’t have them mental capacity to try and understand any aspect. This can be seen when people have little to no understanding of: cooking and/or baking, car repair, computer repair, fruit and vegetable farming, sewing clothes or clothes mending, etc. we can pay people to do these things for us because there is so much complication in modern life most don’t know how to do everything.
Swimming.
It’s easy and it will save your life.
Parents threw me in a class when I was 5. Scared shitless, screaming bloody murder, all that.
And I did indeed save my own life. And I was swimming with a certified lifeguard. Read on…
19, second year of college, fucking around with my neighbor, who I got to fuck, because I lived.
Perfectly still pond, nothing crazy. We were a bit drunk but had our wits about us. For some reason, I lost it. No idea what happened.
Went down like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Literally. Hand sinking for the third time.
(At this point, I would recommend you all watch a video of what drowning looks like. It probably ain’t what you think. You might save someone’s life.)
Thought, “Figure this out or die. This very second.”
Remembered my lessons on floating, got my lips above water and took a sip of air. Stopped fighting, floated back up, did it again. After 3 or 4 tries, I had enough air to calm down, lay on my back and breathe. Just dandy after that. Went home, got laid, and here I am typing this dumb comment 30+ years later.
Learn to swim no matter if it scares you or not.
I wish I’d learned a few useful knots earlier in life. Saves so much time when you know how and which one to use.
The ones I use the most are the square knot, taut line hitch and once a year the truckers hitch for tying down the Christmas tree to the top of the car.
https://scoutlife.org/outdoors/176401/how-to-tie-the-7-basic-scout-knots/
Video guides are nice, but I prefer Grog’s Knots. He even has an app for offline knot learning, say, when you’re deep in the woods and it’s raining hard and your tent’s rain cover blows off into the lake and you thankfully brought a tarp and rope but don’t know how to make one of those adjustable knots that you can just slip-tighten. You know, theoretically speaking.
On a side note and completely unrelated, bring one of those big grout sponges when you go camping. In addition to mopping up all the water in your tent, it makes a nice pillow if your inflatable pillow decides to run away in the night in a storm and go swimming in the lake.
TL;DR: I hate camping.
If you can’t tie a knot, tie a lot.
And if anyone is having trouble with that last one, here’s a useful video guide.
Square knot, Trucker’s hitch, and bowline are the ones I use the most.
For others, I use an app, animated knots, where you can have a favorites list.
Man I’m an Eagle Scout and I forgot how to tie the basic knots already. It takes repetition and practice, I mostly use the square knot so that’s the only one I probably remember.
CPR. You may not think about it in your day to day life, but in an emergency it’s a very low hanging fruit to save someone’s life. If someone is not breathing, chest compressions baby… go to town.
And FYI for anyone reading this, mouth to mouth isn’t really recommended anymore.
First call 911 or have someone else do it. Then start chest compressions for as long as you can. Switch off with another person if you need to. But keep going until paramedics arrive.
Exactly. I’ve never actually seen anyone do mouth to mouth in real life, only in movies.
First aid! I did a four day course many years ago and I still use the training in so many things. The final day we had to navigate a bus crash scenario and the part that stuck with me was the taking ownership and delegating roles when other people might be scared to act. I think it really instilled in me an ability to turn panic into action, and you can use the triage playbook in so many ways.
I learned that too… knowing what to do in an emergency also reduces the level of panic you experience while you do it.
Love the Heart Runner system in Denmark and Sweden. Wish the US had something like that.
Mindfulness. You may not be able to turn off the (insert negative feeling here), but you absolutely can turn off the suffering.
I tried guided meditation daily for two months and didn’t really notice a difference. Do you have any recommendations?
EDIT: I should mention this was with the Headspace app, following their mindfulness uh… lessons.
It took about a year to make a difference for me.
I guess they call it mindfulness practice for a reason
A year! I didn’t really know what to expect, so two months seemed like more than enough.
… With an app…
I’ve had good experience with the Waking Up app, which is primarily Insight Meditation. If you can, a multi-day silent retreat allows you to be truly immersed in the practice of just watching your mind and all of its silliness.
Oh man I tried meditation with Headspace too and I couldn’t hack it. For some reason meditation made me so angry! Like this weird rage would come out of nowhere.
I did find it frustrating that the narrator would give a prompt for what to do, then just enough quiet time to begin, and then interrupt my effort with his talking. Aggravating! But the anger was a separate thing.
I always thought meditation was supposed to help you feel calm and grounded but all it did was frustrate me. :(
It made you feel something. Now sit there quietly and think about why that is. What are you getting frustrated with? Why is it bothering you? Unfounded rage is trying to tell you something about yourself. There’s a reason, but you have to be able to be honest with yourself to figure out what it is. Once you can begin to understand it, you can begin to find ways to manage it.
I feel frustration because it sounds like you are right and that is not helping.
I’ve heard of people having similar reactions to yoga.
Lol that’s really funny…I actually hate yoga too, but it doesn’t provoke rage, just annoyance because the last thing I wanna do is listen to some white lady done on about chakras! But for it to provoke anger in inmates is disturbing.
When I was little, meditation was the buzz. I’ve tried it many times and I just found myself “sitting in style”. Meditation is described as inspired by hypnosis but they never tell you what to do when you’re from the small percentage of people immune to hypnosis.
I have no doubt some people struggle more than others to get to the point where they can sit back and watch. It wasn’t immediately obvious to me either, but a couple of months of short daily practice enough to start seeing what the fuss was.
I use the Great Meditation Youtube channel.
For this topic, it’s far from what I would call an easy skill; I’m going on six years and it still feels like a weak muscle. But it can be really helpful.
I mean, mental illness is still going to exist, no matter how much power you give your mind.
Mental illness is treatable, and being aware of the symptoms as they’re happening is a major part of the treatment for many such illnesses.
Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it completely goes away. Mental illness is the human equivalent of software issues, the very definition entails you can’t be like Neo from the Matrix and seize one’s own mind.
I’m not understanding your comment. Mindfulness is paying close attention to the actual experiences in consciousness, as opposed to just being carried along by thoughts. It’s not about taking control of your mind.
Oh. Yeah that makes sense then. The way you described it in your original comment made it seem like gnostic-esque advice.
Touch typing, if you spend more than an hour a day in front of a computer screen.
Baking bread. At first, your results will be uneven. (brick like, over baked, underbaked, too much yeast, not enough kneading, etc.) Just don’t give up, the first time you get it close to “right”, you’ll be addicted to home made bread. It’s about training your hands and other senses until you don’t need a recipe any more.
The one thing that got me into home made bread was getting a bread machine and using it exclusively for kneading. Machine made bread is weird and uneven to me, but taking the dough and baking it the traditional way makes brilliant bread and saves a lot of time.
I completely agree. Plus I like the shape from a tradional loaf pan vs the odd cube from the bread maker.
Also check out the Bertinet Method. Slap and Fold, baby.
Personal finance
Couldn’t agree with this more.
Effective planning. It’s very easy to say " I’m doing this today and that tomorrow" but how realistic is that? Know how to break something down into its component pieces and be able complete them along a schedule. It’s basically project management, but for everyday stuff. It helps immensely to be able to tackle big projects and recognize that things are progressing even though the project still isn’t done. Hugely helpful for stress management.
Good advice. And one of the keys is to focus on accomplishing the parts of the project you took care of today, not obsessing about working ahead or what’s on your plate tomorrow. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Years ago, I learned to shave with just about any sharp, straight edge (yes, I even practiced with a razor sharp axe). It’s interesting how the ‘fine edge control’ transfers to other activities; using a kitchen knife, swinging an axe, cutting with a Xacto, etc.
In the apocalypse, I will be the clean-shaven villain, who is surrounded by all the hot mutant ladies who adore my pretty jowls!
Edit: I use cannabis daily. I found I can shave quickly with a straight razor (after years if practice), or I can shave high. But not both. FTR: cutting yourself a bit here and there simply isn’t as bad as it sounds.
Switching to double edge safety razors changed shaving for me.
My beard hairs are so thick even a 3 blade cartridge clogs and slips. I’ve had multiple barbers comment on how tough my beard hair is.
For a better shave: 1) switch from canned shave creams to a higher quality cream or a shave soap with brush. 2. Switch to a DE razor and buy a sample pack until you find a blade you really like.
Cartridges are faster still, but I always get rash or burn from them. A good DE blade I might nick myself but an after a little styptic and it’s not noticeable.
I’ve never tried a straight edge, it sounds cool but I’ve been told to expect to cut yourself when learning and I’m happy enough with my setup.
I’m so glad I learned to use shave creams and safety razor. The experience is miles better than foam and disposable razor.
You get a bit of aromatherapy and a good shave without clogging the razor constantly.
I find shaving much more mediative with brush and hard soap. It took a little while to learn the technique and the directions my hair grows in but it’s a much more enjoyable process than with a cartridge razor and canned soap. Plus I can change my blade every 4 shaves or so and it’s like 10p a shave so much cheaper than cartridges.
I enjoy it too
I bought myself a scuttle and some nice shave bowls, I’ve got a brush I like and an adjustable razor that I start with open and close for my final passes. It’s a nice way to start the morning for sure.
Don’t forget the shiny jumpsuits and garages full of sports cars. You never know when you might want to upgrade to being a Bond villain.
Already have the jumpsuit. Crotchless, silver, soft on the inside.
Cooking.
It’s shocking to me the number of people I’ve come across who’ve no idea how to cook or find it to be too troublesome to do. Moreover, feeding yourself should be the single most primal skill for anyone to have.
I realize there’s a lot to unpack here. Some people are taught / learn to cook at a young age while some people have parents who’ve never cooked for themselves. Personal preference, finances, and scheduling play a huge part. The definitions of “cooking” and “feeding yourself” can vary widely. So, I’m not claiming everyone should know how to make a roast chicken dinner for four with sides and dessert. Although, I do think people should be at a level above boxed mac and cheese and
microwavedair-fried chicken nuggets.Cooking is, in my opinion, shopping for fresh foods and turning them into a meal. It’s about your health, your pleasure, and your finances.
When my best friend first moved in with me I had to teach her how to cook lol. When I was a teen my mom forced my brothers and me to cook dinner a few times a week which I’m really thankful for
Valuable! I never had to cook at home, so I never learned it. I still don’t like cooking - because I am bad at it!
To me it’s a chore. I use to say it’s like brushing my teeth - it’s no fun but we have to do it every day.
Wire stripping and crimping. Especially if you plan to do offgriding homesteading with solar but occasionally comes up in home applications when you want to revive a mangled extension cord or install a fixture. Specialized cables start to add up very quickly its much more cost effective to buy a big bag of connectors, a big roll of decent gauge wire, dig out an old set of wire cutters+needlenose and fire up a 2 minute instructions yt video. Like all other skills it takes time and error to get good at it but its not too terribly difficult as wel as very cool to essentially build your own electrical grid from the ground up with wires and connectors you made yourself…
Sewing on a button
