Acquiring Skills, Independence, and Connecting with Others

I think it’s a good idea for people to acquire as many skills as possible, including one or two that may not come naturally. For example, I don’t have a natural interest in cooking. That’s aside from the fact that I don’t have that much time in my schedule to put in the couple of hours it usually takes to plan, shop, do the washing, chopping, cutting, seasoning, and actual cooking to prepare a dinner. On the other hand, knowing how to cook a few very basic dishes frees you from constantly ordering out or eating packaged foods.

It also gives you the opportunity to invite people to your home to be fed in an intimate, caring way. And everyone loves that. Everyone also loves the opportunity to meet new people at a friend’s dinner table. It seems wise to know the basics of cooking, have a few good recipes, and enough basic cooking tools.

Acquiring skills is important for independence and connecting with others that it’s worth stretching yourself to learn one or two that you may not have a natural inclination for. It certainly facilitates meeting and spending time with a wide variety of people if you know how to play tennis or ski, dance, play a musical instrument, speak a second language, or whatever. Or two or three whatever. 🙂 You don’t have to be very proficient at any set of skills, but just know the basics. If an opportunity arises to go somewhere with new acquaintances, you can at least participate in the activity. What do you think?