I’m 21F from India. I graduated recently, got a job and I’m going to move out very soon.

The thing is, I’ve realised that I’m not very independent when it comes to basic life skills. I don’t mean financially. I mean basic everyday things that a person should know how to do for themselves.

Growing up, my parents never really let me do many things on my own. It wasn’t necessarily because they were trying to pamper me or treat me like a princess. They just usually did things themselves. Maybe because they thought I would mess it up, maybe because it would take longer if I did it, or maybe because they felt they would eventually have to fix it anyway.

So I never really got the chance to learn things properly.

I can wash dishes and I can hand wash clothes. That’s pretty much it. I don’t really know how to fold clothes properly, cook properly, clean a house properly, organise things, etc. There are a lot of things that I see other people my age doing without even thinking about it and I realise I have no idea how to do them.

Sometimes this genuinely makes me angry at myself and at my parents. I feel like if I had been doing these things since I was younger, I would have naturally learned them by now. But I also know that getting angry about it isn’t going to teach me anything.

I want to change this now.

I want to become the kind of person who can take care of herself without having to depend on someone else for every little thing. Not just the stereotypical "girl things", but actual life skills that anyone should know.

So I wanted to ask people here:

If you were teaching a 21-year-old from scratch how to become independent, what would you tell her to learn?

What are the basic things you think every adult should be able to do for themselves? Things related to cooking, cleaning, laundry, personal care, managing a home, dealing with emergencies, money, going places alone, basic repairs, paperwork, etc.

And if you were in my position, how would you actually go about learning all of this without feeling completely overwhelmed?

I’m not looking for someone to tell me that I’m too old or that I should already know these things. I know I’m behind in some areas. I just want to know what I should start learning first and what is actually important.

I have the opportunity to start over when I move out, so I want to use it properly.

Hello! I consider myself to be pretty slow when it comes to learning. I just started my freshman year and I have 26 hours of classes a week split in 4 days (A big chunk of my hours are due to lab classes, they take up 9 hours) Im in one of the more prestigious schools in our country and Im honestly feeling like im falling behind when it comes to lectures. So far ive only been doing okay in Calc 1 but University Chemistry + Lab and University Physics + Lab really is super hard for me plus Ive failed my first two quizzes for it. I really want to learn how to study for these three even with how tight my schedule is. So far my only strategy is to consume all my free hours and pull all nighters but its obvious to me that it doesnt work now. What do I do? Even with consultation I still feel like Im so behind and I am afraid of not even getting the passing grade for both of these which is JUST 55%. I woule like some insights as I have an exam worth 20% of my grade in physics and chemistry in a week or two and I feel like with me failing to catch up with the current lectures that I will fail badly.

I love music and dancing, but when it comes to singing, I don't know where to start. I grew up as a very shy and non-verbal person in an abusive family, so I had nowhere to practice singing safely. Now that I am an adult, I really wish I could sing nicely sometimes. I feel so much emotion inside, but whenever I try to sing, the sound gets stuck in my throat and comes out sharp. 

I tried looking for a vocal teacher, but it seems incredibly expensive, maybe $50-80 per hour or more from what I remember. I would love to get some advice on affordable courses, especially ones that teach how to produce sound properly instead of squeezing from the throat, and how to explore different vocal ranges from there. And any recommendations for budget-friendly private teachers would be great too.

It would make me so happy if I can sing beautifully one day. That would feel like such a trauma healing.

I want to learn how to express thoughts, emotions, and experiences through writing in a way that genuinely touches people's hearts.

I'm not sure what the exact name for this skill is. I am interested in things like storytelling, poetry, spoken word, personal writing, and maybe literature, but more than any particular format, I want to learn the underlying skill of making writing emotionally powerful and meaningful.

I want to be able to take something I'm feeling or thinking and turn it into words that make another person feel something, whether that's sadness, warmth, nostalgia, hope, wonder, or simply the feeling of being understood.

I have basically no formal training in creative writing.

How should I start learning this?

Are there particular books, courses, exercises, writers, or communities you'd recommend? Should I start with poetry, short stories, journaling, or something else?

I'm not looking to become a professional writer or anything, I just want to develop this as a new little hobby and learn how to express myself better through words..

There's a job opportunity that will become available quite soon at a place I've been working externally as a let say "field technician" and since I don't have any higher education diplomas I'd like to get some legit certifications to increase my chances.

Most of the stuff they do is in relation to oceanography, we work a lot with campbell data loggers, monitoring stations, CTDs, ADCP's, Bathymetry and overall data analysis.

I'm a diver by trade but I know a little bit of everything. I used to be a self taught programmer but I haven't done much real programming in quite some time.

I know they are a lot of places I can learn most this stuff but I'm looking for something that delivers actual certificate of completion a la CS50.

All suggestions are very much welcome!

I grew up in a non-Anglophone country where we had to compulsorily speak English in our school. I would also play and connect with a lot of online friends and that definitely helped. However, in my later years, ive been mostly exposed to my mother language and recently when i took an English test got ranked as a beginner. I spent my past year basically dissociating, and these days, i cant even find appropriate words for the situation i am in. How can i become fluid and versatile again?

Hi, I posted in the advice reddit a couple days ago with a similar title and feel like what I said was wrong or not how I properly meant it. I want to know if there is a method of learning, or a exercise, drill, or just technique, that I can use to learn how to draw people. I guess the best way I could describe what I want in terms of learning people is comparing it to learning how to play a game, I could watch a billion videos of high level play, break it down step by step and why, and while highly efficient also hard in itself to do, so why not play the game normally and look back and think what could I have done better. It’s a pretty mediocre comparison but generally captures a method I’d like, a low brainpower way to slowly digest material to eventually become better. And before you say “just draw” I understand that, and I’d like to, however everything I want to make is far outside my skill range and hurts me more than helps me.
I don’t mean it to sound lazy or passive or entitled, thank you for your time.

Drawing was like my childhood best friend, ever since I was a kid it used to be a talent of mine, I was able to draw animals, buildings. Last time I draw was a few months ago. I've always wanted to draw digitally not just traditional. Is there a course on youtuve or coursera that teaches how to draw digitally and if I'm speaking in terms of paper, is there a way I could improve my drawing skills? Will a course online help with that? Thank you! ​

a few years ago, i was downhill and something in life happened that made me angry and just idk made me a focus machine for like 2 weeks with complete discipline. im talking like wake up at 5am and work till 10pm (with short breaks in between) and then sleep enough and repeat the cycle. back then it was for an important exam and after that exam was done my body felt fatigued and just gave up. Ever since ive been wanting to bring that back but i keep failing and procrastinating. I dont know how to do it, but i was so proud of how i did it.
any help?

Hey ,

I'm finally taking the plunge and learning Italian from scratch, but I really want to focus on practical, real-world speaking rather than just memorizing tables of verb conjugations for months.

My main goal is to reach a point where I can handle everyday interactions, follow along when native speakers talk at a normal pace, and get thoughts out of my head without having to translate every single word first.

For anyone here who has tackled Italian, how did you actually make real progress when you were first starting out?

I'd love to know which apps, books, or courses were genuinely worth your time, and how you balanced learning vocabulary with getting a handle on the grammar. I'm also on the hunt for beginner-friendly podcasts or YouTube channels that help tune your ear to natural speech without being completely overwhelming.

If you have a daily routine that worked for you, or even just some big mistakes to avoid early on, I'd really appreciate the advice!

This happens to me way too often.

I'll randomly decide:

"ok i'm finally gonna learn X."

Then i'll spend like 2 days finding the best resources.

YouTube.

Reddit.

Articles.

Books.

Courses.

I'll make some beautiful plan in Notion.

Week 1: amazing.

Week 2: okay.

Week 3: gone.

And honestly i think the biggest problem for me is that when i'm learning by myself, there's no accountability at all.

If i stop, nobody cares.

If i'm behind, nobody knows.

If i'm doing something wrong, there's no one to tell me.

So i'm actually building something around this and i wanna know if i'm the only one.

The idea is basically:

You tell it what you wanna learn and how much time you have.

It gives you a structured path from free resources already available online.

Then you can join a small group of people learning the same thing.

You set weekly goals, check in, see everyone's progress and basically have people who know whether you're actually doing the work.

The learning itself would be free.

I'd charge for the accountability part.

So for students here:

what are you currently trying to learn outside of college?

what usually makes you stop?

do you have anyone keeping you accountable?

would you actually use/pay for something that solved this?

Be honest. If this sounds useless, tell me why.

Tomorrow I am returning back to college and don’t know what is good outfit to wear. I would like to present myself well and to show more of myself but I honestly dont know how. Open to show how I look and what types of clothes I have. Want to make sure that I look nice enough and comfortable since I would stay in college for many hours.

I find it really difficult to learn and memorize new things. Especially things like a new language, verses, chapters, or spiritual texts.

I can understand something when I’m learning it, but after a few days I forget most of it. Even if I repeat it, I sometimes struggle to remember it properly.

For people who are good at learning or have improved their memory over time, what actually worked for you?

I’d really like to know some practical methods that helped you remember things for a long time.

Whenever I try to learn a skill I keep searching about it or keep looking for courses and then stop I am stuck in this cycle iwtl how to learn a skill

want to become independent. for which i will have to study. but i dont know how to study and make a career. can someone who has figured this out, or is still figuring help me and teach me how its done. please.

I used to draw with pencils decades ago, but I've basically lost all ability to draw since then. I have always had a passing interest learning to draw digitally with a tablet, but I haven't the foggiest clue where to start. Just assume I am a beginner learning everything from scratch (because that is essentially what I am now)--what tablet would you all recommend I start with? And some tutorial videos would be amazing, also. Thank you!

I am a 1st year student in Computer Science. But I want to learn basic mechanical engineering skills. I don't really aspire to be a super qualified Mechanical engineer. I just aspire to learn some of the skills in Mechanical engineering.

I will be getting a new laptop soon. So I will learn CAD. I have also taken BME Elective in my college. But it's not a well known college so I don't think I would learn much here.

I am also planning to do Masters in Mechanical Engineering. But I know it's not going to be easy.

I have gotten a lot of pdfs on Mechanical engineering books but I don't know how they will help me. I have heard a lot of the curriculum is outdated.

Conclusion; What skills to learn in Mechanical Engineering apart from CAD. I have seen a lot of roadmaps but they all say only Make your Maths skills strong, Learn CAD, Do masters and then Apply for Public sector jobs. But I am more interested in starting my own small scale industry.

I just started out and I’m completely lost as to what to do, where to do it and I’d love if someone could help me out getting started

When I am in a social setting and someone else decides to pick on me I literally froze and can't do anything and then I get furious and think about the situation days, weeks and months later.

I feel like an idiot since I can't stand up for myself and it makes my blood boil.

However, when I am with my family or friends I have no problem.

For exemple, a guy randomly decided to come to my desk and throw a string at me continuously, laughing at my face and I did absolutely nothing.

I'm a quiet person and a little anxious when I'm in a social setting which doesn't benefit me at all. I worry that people see that and choose me as a victim. I would like to learn how to be more assertive and respond to such situations .

Sorry for any mistakes, English isn’t my first language.

I want to learn how to learn—whether from studies, life experiences, or videos—and how to apply those lessons to my own life. Can someone explain, in simple terms, the actual process of learning? We want to understand life and live accordingly; we enjoy the process of understanding, but sometimes we find it very difficult to grasp things. Can anyone help me with this?

Hello, recently my professor gave us an assignment where we are to write a literature review on a topic and arrange it in a thematic manner.

The issue is that we never had any class or sessions where we were taught how to 'do' it. We asked our professor to explain us, and he just downplayed it like "just break down your topic, and search on Google Scholar." I did try to search on Google Scholar, but then I get hundreds of Papers from different journals. I don't know which ones are important, which ones are useless.

And to top it off, he wants us to do it in one month, while continuing with regular studies.

I will be grateful if someone can provide some learning resources for the same.

I've always been curious about this stuff, from a young age, but never really learned about this more in depth.

looking for advice/resources for how to start developing this as hobby, where to start.

Also I'm a computer science student, so I'm also curious about possible ways to somehow do somthing in that area with my degree.

I’ve always had a serious talent for music and singing but as a kid we never had money for instruments or lessons. On top of that I was bullied by ppl at school and not treated well at home , I really didn’t think I was anything special back then. But now I look back and wish I had the confidence to pursue music back then. Thru my school I learned how to play violin but I only had a few years of instruction but I’ve retained a lot of what I learned. I didn’t realize it back then but I had a strong grasp of violin technique, I had good pitch, and I was a sponge that soaked up sheet music. I also have a great voice and I’ve been complimented by both friends and strangers. People have asked me to give voice lessons but honestly I can’t even describe how I do what I do.

Instead of pursuing music I pursued engineering bc money = freedom and now that I have some I want to learn how to…

1. Gain connections.
   - I know that there is an aspect of being extroverted enough to find people who want to play. And I have a hard time meeting new people or being extroverted. But usually if I know at least one person at the place I’m at I feel way more confident.

2. Learn music theory to create my own music.
   -I lean heavily more towards country and I have always been drawn to traditional Irish and American fiddle music and I can play with a baseline proficiency. I live in the south so there are plenty of other people who also play country. I am good at writing short stories but not so great at poetry.

3. Learn to preform.
   -I never had much confidence and embarrassed myself during every play I did as a child. Usually I try not to be the center of attention.

So if anyone has any information as to how to improve in any of these areas please let me know.

I am a programmer, sometimes I can't find out what I want, i wanna learn how to search better and efficiently, instead of wasting so much time.