Hi lovelies,
What are life skills, and exactly what skills do you need in life? Everyone's life is different; we all know this. However, having some valuable life skills that will serve you and those around you well will be highly beneficial.
Remember, the more you know, the more you can do. Whether you're learning for fun, career advancement, or simply to be prepared, building a repertoire of valuable life skills is a smart move. These skills can empower you to navigate life's challenges with confidence, knowing that you have the knowledge and ability to handle them. After all, you never know when a skill might come in handy.
But what exactly do you need to know, and where should you start?
In the first instance, you can identify things that can make your life better, improve your career, or help you out in some way. Next, you can look at those things you have always wanted to learn and get started. You can also read on for some inspiration and some of the top life skills everyone should know.
CPR
Arguably, one of the most important skills anyone can learn is CPR. CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and knowing how to do it correctly can save a person's life when their heart stops beating.
Knowing how to do this in an emergency can make all the difference between life and death, and this skill will be instrumental in helping someone in need of medical assistance while you wait for emergency services to arrive. On top of this, knowing how to use a defibrillator, too, can be a tremendous top-up skill.
You can find many tutorials online to help you learn CPR and how to perform it correctly. You can go one step further and take a CPR online course that teaches everything you need to know about performing CPR and using a defibrillator. You get a certificate once you pass the course.
First Aid
Learning basic first aid skills, such as CPR, is something you might never need to put into practice or even want to, but it can be the difference between life and death if you do need to perform them.
Basic first aid is airway, breathing, and CPR, which allows you to assess the person requiring the treatment. On top of this, it can be learning how to help someone choking correctly, dressing burns and wounds, stopping bleeding, securing broken limbs, taking a pulse, or checking for internal injuries or concussion indicators. You can start by learning basic first aid before increasing your skills if you wish so you can perform more minor procedures to help out someone experiencing a medical emergency.
Sign Language
Sign language is often overlooked, but it’s a powerful communication tool. It can be especially useful when interacting with individuals who are deaf or have limited hearing abilities.
The deaf community can often be left on the outside in social gatherings with hearing people, and being able to involve others in the conversation will be highly welcome in any situation. Whether you know the person you help out or a stranger who is struggling to communicate, sign language can be a great skill to add to your collection.
You can learn sign language by taking online courses, asking someone proficient to help you learn, or by watching others and engaging as they use sign language so you can pick up some bits. At the very least, you need to know the alphabet and a few common phrases that will be more likely to be used.
Cooking
Cooking is an essential skill every single person needs to know. After all, we all need to eat. However, nearly 30% of Americans don't know how to cook, and almost half of the population struggles with even essential recipes.
Again, you can find many tutorials online, ask a friend to help you with the basics, take a cooking course, read cookbooks, or follow your favorite chefs on social media to help you build your skills.
Start with small, simple recipes, following the exact recipe without changing anything, and then build up from there. You should know the difference between different cooking methods, how to use a knife and prepare food, and basic food hygiene. Once you become confident with the basics, you can then spread your wings and start experimenting with more complex recipes.
Learn A New Language
With over 7,000 languages spoken globally and around 350 in the US alone, learning a new language can open up a world of opportunities. Whether you're exploring a new culture or enhancing your CV, fluency in a second language is a valuable skill to have.
What language you choose to learn is entirely up to you. You can choose to learn one language entirely; this can also be an excellent boost for your CV. Or you can also choose to learn more common phrases in many different languages if you wish or if you travel a lot.
The most commonly spoken languages in the world are English, Hindi, Mandarin, and Spanish. You can start here and learn any of these, one or even all of them if you wish, but if you're looking at skills to enrich your life, then learning a new language is definitely a valuable skill.
Basic Survival Skills
Basic survival skills can come in handy in many different environments, from a power cut, extreme weather events, getting lost in the wilderness, or even finding yourself homeless; recent surveys have found that around half of Americans are one crisis away from homelessness.
But what are classed as basic skills, and what do you need to know?
Building a shelter
Finding water
Starting a fire
Procuring food
Finding help
Basic first aid
This is another life skill that most people hope not to have to use, but if you ever find yourself in a situation that requires this, having it in your toolkit can make a bad situation just a little bit better.
Conflict Resolution
There are many instances or scenarios in life where you might face conflict and need to know how to act in high-pressure environments. Being able to diffuse tense situations, calm down someone angry, or be able to articulate yourself when you are stressed or frustrated will be the difference between things being resolved quickly or escalating further.
Conflict resolution is the application of many different actions and the use of language to help calm others and remain calm yourself. Good examples of conflict resolution skills include
Active listening
Problem-solving
Effective communication
A willingness to compromise
Acknowledging feelings, constructive criticism, and not reacting to high emotions by matching them
Whether you encounter this in your personal or professional life, knowing how to react to emotionally charged situations and resolve conflict will help you avoid making issues worse than they need to be and allow you to reach a mutually beneficial conclusion regardless of the cause.
Basic Motor Skills
In an ideal world, no one would drive without basic car maintenance skills. A survey by NBC News found that around a quarter of people can't change a tire, with Gen Xers being the most likely to be able to change a flat tire than other generations.
Basic motor skills are simple things such as changing a tire, knowing how to use tools to change a tire, checking tire condition and pressure, filling up various fluids, jumping starting a car, what to do in an emergency, and identifying some of the more common automobile issues that you might come across when driving to get the right help.
Take some time to learn about your car, how to perform minor maintenance and emergency tasks, and exactly what goes on under the hood. Even if you can't fix it yourself, you can get the repairs you need because you know the problem.
Self Defence
Self-defence can help you gain confidence in those times when you are aware that you might be in danger. Protecting yourself, knowing what to do if you feel under threat, and getting help in the event of an attack can help you out in a tricky situation.
Again, you will wish to never have to use this. However, you never know what will happen when you are out in public or even behind closed doors, and learning self-defense skills or strategies to get out of a violent or dangerous situation will serve you well should you find yourself in this scenario.
There are so many life skills that will come in handy whether you use them daily or they are there in the memory bank for those emergencies that you might happen upon; knowing what to do or how to act in various situations will help you to come out of things as good as you can as well as offer value to those around you. From learning a new language, learning how to communicate with the deaf community, learning first aid, CPR, or cooking, and adding more arrows to your bow can enhance your personal life and be excellent additions to your CV, too.
