Disclaimers: Our site uses demographic data, email opt-ins, display advertising, and affiliate links. Please check out our Terms and Conditions for more information.
When it comes to thinking about life skills, there are some that everyone should have. Things like basic cooking, doing taxes, being responsible with credit/budgeting, driving a car, first aid, etc., are all skills that we would consider to be essential no matter where you live.
But what about life skills that are not necessarily essential and are more fun or increase the quality of your life all the same? Well, we put together a list of life skills we've been learning over the years that, while perhaps not essential to everyday life, help raise our standard of living considerably.
Speaking a 2nd Language
We'll start this list with a big one- learn a second language.
Yes, English is the de facto language of the world due to many reasons we don't want to discuss, and native English speakers like ourselves are quite honestly spoiled whenever we meet someone from another culture. When we travel (below), we often meet others eager to speak in English because it is their 2nd or 3rd (or 4th) language, and we offer a chance for them to practice with a native speaker.
Conversely, we often feel terrible that we cannot communicate in the local language in return. At one bar in Amsterdam, a cosmopolitan city where you may find Dutch, Italian, French, and Spanish people all working in the same spot, speaking English to each other, we had a conversation expressing this remorse with our Dutch bartender who replied by saying 1) yes, he speaks four languages- most since early childhood, 2) why should we care about speaking a 2nd since we already speak English?, and 3) don't learn Dutch.
Ignoring that third one we only included to be funny here, learning a language that isn't English does a lot. If you are traveling, your communication abilities open up immensely. If your hometown has a strong immigrant community, you can speak with your neighbors better, too. If you have a hobby that is popular in a country outside of your own (such as our immense interest in wine, which is dominated by French and Italian, or Angie's growing interest in koji, miso, and sake fermentations), you can appreciate the topic ever-so-greater.
I could even make the argument that attempting to think in another language helps with keeping your mind active. This is yet another reason why picking up a non-English language is a life skill you may not need, but we love to try and learn more anyway.
Traveling
As a direct tie-in to speaking another language, we have traveling- be it domestic or international if you can justify the cost.
While traveling may sound superfluous within this article, particularly because it often costs a great deal of money, being a good traveler teaches many life skills like flexibility, dealing with stress, embracing cultures different from yours, languages (see above), and many more.
Before heading out into the world to travel, I probably would get lost in my city and be overwhelmed walking around a downtown setting. Now you can plop me down in the middle of some of the largest cities in the world, in a bunk on a 25-hour train in China, on a week+ long trek in the Himalayas, in a rural town in Oman in a broken vehicle, and others, all with very little preparation, and I would say that I would not only accept it but be excited about all of the stresses that go along with it. (All of these things have happened.)
Many basic stressors of life seem that much harder when you are in a destination with a language or culture different from your own, and if you can learn to embrace it (and even enjoy it!), most stresses of life at home fade away. Flat tire? We've had worse. Disagreements with a coworker? At least we speak the same language. We could go on.
So book that plane ticket, bust out the passport if needed, and throw yourself into another culture to see how others live- you'll never regret it in the long run.
Gardening
There is something so incredibly rewarding about growing your own food. Not only does food grown in your garden tend to taste better than what you buy in a local store, but it is a payoff that was many weeks or even months in the making with hard work.
The great thing about picking up gardening as a life skill is that you do not need to have a massive one to take part. Even raising one simple herb plant on a windowsill is still, technically, gardening. The same is true if you are struggling to keep a single tomato plant alive.
So whether you are simply tending to one pot that will provide you with a bit of flavor in your next meal, or a large garden that will sustain you almost completely, there is a lot to love about getting your hands in a pile of dirt and tending to the life of a plant. Next thin you know you may end up with a dozen tropical fruit trees, an indoor grow light setup, and a passion that may be borderline obsessive- for all the right reasons.
Beekeeping
Beekeeping is, in a way, a bit tangential to gardening. Without bees, there would be little to no food, and without food, there would be no life (in your garden or otherwise).
I recently got into beekeeping as a way to keep active pollinator colonies in our community, and have loved this unique form of maintaining livestock for a number of reasons.
First, there is the obvious yields of honey. Raising your own, delicious sweetener all from the comfort of your garden is incredibly rewarding. But, like gardening, I find beekeeping to be both a way to relax and focus on something that will not have a payoff for a long time (generous yields of honey can generally take two or more seasons).
While most may not be able to accommodate beekeeping due to the size of their property or local laws, this is one skill that I am really happy to have been learning as time goes on.
Playing a Musical Instrument
As someone struggling to learn guitar, who then looks over to musically-inclined Angie figuring out the mandolin in about six months, I often get discouraged because I simply did not learn to play an instrument when I was a young child the way she did.
That being said, you're never too old to learn a musical instrument even if, like languages, the task is much harder than if you were to do so when you were five.
Ultimately, playing music is art, and is one you can take with you wherever you go. Head over to a friend's house and they have a guitar? You can jump in and jam. Belt out a verse on the road? Yep. That too. But, much like our gardening habit spiraling, we found ourselves acquiring more and more instruments as time goes on because, well, we like to jam!
Food & Wine Pairings
Like a good glass fo wine? Who doesn't?
While we love all things wine, we have to admit that it is not that easy to understand just how vast the world of wine is. Some places put the grapes on the label. Others only put a region name. Some even only put a sub-region or other obscure legal labeling terms on the menu.
For those who want to understand wine, you have a lot to learn. But taking time to learn wine via a class like WSET Level 2 could be a great opportunity for those who really enjoy wine because growing your knowledge of the field opens up a lot- the ability to buy more bottles confidently, how to taste, and, perhaps most importantly of all, getting a great appreciation for flavor along the way.
This one is perhaps the best part of all because it ties into other life skills on this list. Travel and wine? Yep. Cooking food from your garden and wine? You know it. We could really go on here. So while you may not need to get certified all the way to the WSET Diploma level like I did, taking a few early levels in a wine program can really help improve a number of skills in one go!
Fermentation
One final skill that we really are glad we learned more about is the science of fermentation- not just to make alcohol like wine or mead (hooray honey!), but also for preservation.
Fermentation is a skill that seems to be fading with each passing generation, and many cultures have their own unique ways to ferment food be it lactofermentation like with conventional pickles or fermenting koji and miso in Japan, kimchi in Korea, and an array of other taste products from all around the world.
Not only is fermented food incredibly delicious, you get the added benefits of being able to preserve your food longer term (great if you are gardening!) and can make meals with even more elaborate flavor profiles than you would with the same products unfermented (hello wine pairings)! Throw that on with the skills of traveling and speaking another foreign language, and the next thing you know you're finding yourself inside an artisan miso factory getting tips from the owners- another fun thing that happened to us in Japan!
Admittedly, the list is near endless on valuable life skills that are out there. These are just some that we love having that, while not really necessary to any basic life function, have really helped us have a more enjoyable time along the way!
Do you have a life skill you don't necessarily need but love to have any way? Comment below to share it!