You’ve got to love an AskReddit thread that pays homage to those basic skills that people are for whatever reason, plain old terrible at. It’s funny how life works out like that. Sometimes, we just end up falling through the cracks when it comes to picking up tidbits of common knowledge that we should really have known in the first place. Some people’s brains just operate at a different frequency, where they might have no idea how to write in a legible manner, no matter how hard they tried and were pushed to do so throughout their schooling. It ain’t nothing to be ashamed of. Or, perhaps you’re someone who has an impossibly hard time maintaining the flow of a conversation on the phone.

I mean, now more than ever we’re so dang conditioned to communicate through texts, Snapchats, memes, etc. that when it actually comes time to formulate some words, and comprehensible sentences in a dialogue, your mind can end up going helplessly blank. Or, maybe you’re one of those people who can’t whistle to save your life. Whistling’s hard, and shout out to the people in this world that can manage to whistle a tune. While others, can’t even get the thing going in the first place.

An AskReddit thread like this can serve as a powerful, humbling, if not inviting reminder that you’re not alone in your pursuit toward picking up those life skills and knowledge that you know you should probably know, but just can’t quite seem to get. Maybe you have friends and family that have lovingly tried to help you put the pieces together along the way. Hopefully, not the opposite, where you’re faced with fielding banter and roasts from people that love to make a mockery of you not quite being able to get there.

The overriding point is that patience is key, and above all else, who really cares at the end of the day if you can’t whistle or write out a letter/card that other people will be able to read? The truth is, nobody really cares. Maybe for a hot second they’ll get hung up on it, have a good laugh, and give you a nice old fashioned hard time. But then, then you move onward, and maybe you find in yourself a newfound desire to take the time to actually master the very thing that up until this point has escaped your attention. That can certainly be a proactive, productive way to lead a life. The very things that can initially give us the most trouble, can somehow evolve to be our special skills later on down the road. It’s like, life loves to test you, throw you off your rhythm for a sec, and ultimately see whether or not you’re going to accept the challenge. Challenges can be fun. There’s always a nice little dopamine rush waiting at the end of mastering that thing that gave you so much trouble at the onset. So, maybe this thread will give you new inspiration, or at the very least, it’ll make you feel better about those skills you’re currently lacking.