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.

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..

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.

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! ​

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?

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.

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!