People Explain Which Things Everyone Should Learn To Do

Swimming

"Swim There’s no downside to knowing and it could save your life"

- polp54

"You don't need to be an expert swimmer, but everyone should be able to swim at least a little. A terrible number of people (of all ages) drown every year despite being a very short swim to safety."

- brufleth

"My dad who could not swim made sure us kids knew how to swim. I made sure my kids could too."

- PrisonerV

"May I add: if you do not know how to swim, take a very deep breath and relax completely. Spread your arms and legs and just let your body relax completely. Once you found out that the human body actually floats start breathing slowly. No one I know knew that and everybody is amazed how my lazy butt just floats around without me doing anything. Found out through pure distilled laziness."

"It's no alternative to learning how to swim! Learn how to swim! There are very few humans who are not able to float, due to body density. Most humans, however can learn it. Try it, it might come in handy one day."

- HKD49

You Need To Eat

"Cook. Even if you hate cooking you love to eat, cooking is an essential life skill. If it’s only one dish you know how to make, that’s still a meal you can prepare yourself."

- Sayurimai

"I totally agree. I know so many people who have no clue how to cook anything despite being perfectly capable of it. People are so scared of it when it's simply following directions"

- Welcome2_TheInternet

"As everything in life, practice makes perfect."

"Most people I know who can’t cook, have never really tried"

- West_Corgi8126

"Even if you hate eating, you still have to eat. Cooking means you can take care of yourself."

- notreallylucy

One Important Word

"How to say No without any hesitation"

- KalkiHill

"I agree, it’s completely okay to say no but some people feel that pressure to say yes"

- SlipnSlide78

"I have such a hard time with this when my only reason is "I don't feel like it." I can't accept that as a legitimate reason to say no so I just do whatever it is."

- asafum

"Go read Miss Manners. No is not only OK, it is polite. You don't need to provide a reason. Internalize that anyone demanding a reason is the rude one, not you."

- Grave_Girl

"I'm not joking when I say that, if you can, practice."

"Small things, big things, f**k it have a mate roleplay any scenario with you and you tell them no."

"I've gotten better at it since I told my mum I struggle to say no and she actually had me practice there and then with her."

- TheftMDom

"it’s okay to say no, because it’s very important to say no. if someone asks you why, they’re not worth it because if you say no they don’t need a reason why."

- SlipnSlide78

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

"CPR."

"I dragged my best friend with me when I had to get CPR certification because I wanted to be able to partner up with someone else that I knew. She was reluctant but eventually caved and did it."

"Her learning CPR saved my life. You learning CPR could save someone else's life. Go learn it."

- Jennyferr0412

"I worked at a homeless camp and someone overdosed on heroin. The 911 operator explained to my co-worker who explained to me how to do CPR while another resident of the homeless shelter administered narcan."

"We were extremely lucky that we got through to the 911 operator very quickly, and that he was able to communicate so quickly and effectively how to perform CPR. That 911 operator saved that woman's life, had he not come on the phone so quickly, she would have died. Learn CPR, you absolutely have to learn CPR because you can save someone's life with it."

"We got lucky is what I'm saying. Don't depend on luck, learn CPR. Right now."

- AntelopeElectronic12

"I learned CPR at work and a week later saved my mom's life when she was choking on food. Best 30 minutes at work I've ever spent!"

- No_Relationship1850

"The high school I go to makes us do a CPR lesson every time we get our athletic physical. If you’re getting the physical on campus and not from your PCP, you have to practice CPR with a paramedic before you leave the building, I think it’s great."

- Beautiful_Squash8854

Spot The Scammer

"Learn how to spot a scam, especially in emails and phone calls."

- ral365

"Definitely a skill worth learning. I've gotten pretty good. But recently my friend's elderly mother got one of those robocalls asking her to enter in her credit card number and she did it. It's a good skill to learn in this day and age."

- Roook36

"I recently ordered something from Home Depot online and now I'm getting fake emails saying I've won a power drill, BBQ, etc. They look like they are originating from Home Depot, but just looking at the actual email address it's sent from shows that it's a scam. One was an address from Perdue university."

"So if someone is trying to give you something for free, be suspicious. And just check the sending address at least."

- could_use_a_snack

"I got a scam email from “Paypal” from a scammer on Facebook Marketplace trying to get an expensive item without paying. They said that Paypal would give me the money after I shipped the item to them and inputed the “shipping verification”. They even sent a fake Paypal email saying the money was pending. The email address was a @gmail instead of @paypal though, so good thing I didn’t fall for that."

- reap3rrrx

Sew

"For something thats less obvious/most people learn how to do one way or another anyway, I'd say basic sewing."

"Maybe it was just from my experience working at a craft store but a lot of people don't seem know how to do the basic sh*t like, sewing on a button, applying a patch, stopping a frey before it completely unravels, or hemming pants/sleeves. People could keep their clothes much longer or avoid paying a tailor for basic services if they just watched a few youtube vids lol."

- Reddittoxin

"I decided to learn some basic tailoring because i was sick of every shirt being so big in the gut. Its surprisingly easy to just take in the side seam a bit and makes the shirts look so much better"

- deathgaze5

"Came here to post this. Learned it in Home Ec in high school and has helped me soooo many times."

- Ender914

Light Agriculture

"Grow food."

"Even if it's a tomato plant, some green beans in a pot, or some herbs, home grown food tastes better than store bought, and tending to a garden, no matter how small, reduces stress."

- cinch123

"My needy a$ dying plant stresses me the fuck out…"

- Flyingdutchm3n

"To be fair, house and container plants tend to be much more high maintenance than plants you put in the ground. Plants are meant to be in the ground and many food plants are fairly versatile/adaptive in their soil/water needs."

"Once it's in a container though, it's tough to figure out exactly how much water it needs, and there's a finite amount of soil that doesn't replenish itself with nutrients naturally so you have to do that for it (not a bad idea for a garden either, but more nessecary.) And house plants tend to be lower light needing plants which means they'reore likely to need unusual soil types. Drainage is also more important because everything is contained in that small (as compared to the ground) pot."

"The only plant care bonus for potted plants is that yoy can adjust the amount of light they're getting much more easily than plants that are stuck in the ground."

- Wonderful-Custard-47

​Basic Maintenance 

"Change a tire and car battery."

- StoneAge00

"Adding on, learning how to check oil as well. It takes two seconds to learn and can literally save your car. A friend of my girlfriend asked me to check her car because 'the lights were blinking inside'. I pulled out the dipstick and a plume of smoke followed it. The car literally gave out that afternoon."

- greenwasp3000

"Agreed. My dad taught me to check oil, top up fluids, jump-start a battery, change a tire before I got my license. It’s come in handy many times"

- purplegoldcat

Let The Emotions Talk

"Develop emotional language and how to use it."

"Usually this is something taught by parents like 'use your words' or 'how did that make you feel'."

"Along with this the ability to ask for what you want."

"I know many adults that have had to work at undoing old hangups about relationships and how their parents raised them. And it's hard when you have to teach yourself."

- Darkwaxellence

"This is a mega important skill in life. It’s vastly underappreciated."

- Dont____Panic

"I am always recommending 'love languages' to people. The whole thing is a bit 'woo' but the concept of expressing love/affections/emotions in different ways is eye opening for a lot of people. The first time I learned about it a lot of my interpersonal relationships suddenly clicked. I'd missed so many opportunities to feel and express love in ways that others understood. Expensive gifts for some = showing how much they love and are willing to sacrifice for you. Keeping your shoes polished is an act of love (because really, who likes polishing shoes), etc."

- Wtrset

"Wow this is amazingly succinct and it's so right!"

- fali12

Survival Skills

"The basics of surviving in the wild in this order:"

"How do you get freshwater"

"How do you get a warm and safe place to sleep"

"How do you get food"

- Fakedduckjump

"3 hrs for shelter, three days for water....three weeks for food."

- anewleaf1234

"Ok, yes, the order of the first two really depends on where you are. You are right, if it's really cold and wet, a shelter and fire absolutely has first priority. If it's hot you don't have 3 days time to get water, especially because getting water takes much time sometimes, when you have to catch vapor from leaves or wet ground for example, you should start that at first and let it run while caring about the rest. I had the latter one in mind, because I once nearby had been died by thirst."

- Fakedduckjump

Alright y'all, apocalypse prep team is a go!

Let's learn some things and be ready.