Breathing Lessons

Just so you know, there's a list available of forty old-fashioned skills all kids should have:

https://frugalfun4boys.com/40-old-fashioned-skills-for-kids-today/

I really love this list. I particularly love that it blends "hands-on" skills with "soft" skills.

The hands-on skills: finding a book in a library, making scrambled eggs, checking tire pressure, planning a budget, ironing a shirt, caring for a pet.

The softer skills: writing a thank you note, choosing an appropriate gift, playing with a baby, making conversation with an older person, shaking hands, giving others the benefit of the doubt, being kind, apologizing in a sincere way, introducing oneself.

The list is for kids, yes, but it also seems to capture something universal about an *adult's* daily life. Aren't we all mostly running around making scrambled eggs and struggling to communicate?

I have no idea how to iron a shirt or check tire pressure. For planning a budget: I just overspend until I reach a crisis, and then I become weirdly draconian and suffer for several months, until the perverse pleasure of suffering wears off, and then I veer wildly back in the other direction.

For "being kind" and exercising the "benefit of the doubt": A client at the front desk just now became impatient when I couldn't produce a pen immediately, on demand. In a singsong voice, she said, "Isn't it funny how no one at this front desk ever has a pen? It's so strange! It's a front desk! And no one has a pen!" She flashed me a big smile.

I considered her pain. Various fancy academic degrees, and now she is likely bored at home. I pulled a pen from my bag and bit my tongue. Cool as a cucumber.

Small victories are the bread of life!

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