When I finished watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider I was blown away. I quickly sensed that here was a cinematic masterpiece.
It was everything I had ever wanted in a movie. It had Angelina Jolie
playing a wealthy heiress in a very tight cat suit. She had endless
amounts of time. She had expensive gadgets. She had a mission. I wanted
to be her.
I was so impressed. Now there is someone who is prepared for life,
I thought. Lara Croft spoke the native language of Cambodia. Of course
she did. She’d spent years learning it just in case it ever came in
handy. And what do you know—she needed her random language skills when
she least expected it.
That’s how I wanted to be: prepared for anything, like Lara Croft. I
wanted to be strong and confident in odd situations, to not lose my head
when things got tough.
And things do get tough! Even when (unbelievably) you don’t end up
being a tomb raider with piles of money, there are some Life Skills that
are really, seriously helpful to have under your belt. You never know
when you’re going to need them.
I can think of tons of Life Skills you’d be real happy to have at
random times (starting a fire in the woods without matches, changing a
car tire, figuring out if a mushroom is poisonous), but here are nine
major Life Skills, in no particular order, that my friends and I agreed
that we’ve randomly needed in our college-and-beyond lives so far:
1. Introducing Someone Well
At some point, you’ll have to do introductions that don’t go like
this: “Everybody, this is Kim. Kim, this is everybody.” Sooner or later,
you are going to need to introduce someone you want to impress to
someone who is important to you, or introduce two people who you are
certain would loooove each other, and the way you introduce them
matters!
Introduce these two people with old-fashioned, 1950s-party-hostess
style and grace. Include something personal, non-superficial, and
interesting about each person when you do it, and act like they’re the
two most important and fascinating people in the world.
No: “Jenny, this is Matt. He loves blondes with big
boobs. Matt, this is Jenny. She has blonde hair…and you can see the rest
hahahha.”
Yes: “Jenny, this is Matt. Matt has a black belt in
karate, but he won’t show you any moves unless you really beg him. And
Matt, this is Jenny; she’s one of the funniest people I know—we were
actually just talking about what happened to her at the calculus finals
on Friday. OK so Jenny, what happened?”
BOOM! They have two possible conversation topics, they’re both
fascinating…and you quietly excuse yourself, you Grand Puppet Master of
Matchmaking.
2. Really Apologizing
We all screw up, and when we do, the way we apologize is important.
Now, no one has to accept your apology—that’s their right. But! No
matter how sorry you are, you can make things a hundred times worse by
using one single word: IF. Watch!
You didn’t invite your less-popular-but-very-good friend to your
house for a sleepover on purpose, because more-popular girls are coming
and they think she’s weird. You tried to hide it, because you know not
inviting your friend is an assy thing to do, but she found out and now
she’s pissed and not speaking to you.
Bad apology: “I’m sorry if you feel left out, or like I didn’t want you there or something.”
Look at you! You’re not sorry! Look at that if! You’re basically blaming her for feeling the way that you
made her feel. “I’m sorry if you…” is a shit apology. You’re sorry? BE
SORRY. Don’t blame the other person or use sneaky words like if to shift things around to sound like you’re not really to blame. Apologies involving the if
word tend to turn into major fights, because one person believes they
are trying to make amends, and the other person doesn’t hear any actual
sorry-ness.
Good apology (always happens in person, btw): “I’m
sorry I didn’t invite you to my house. That was a shitty thing to do. I
won’t do that to you again. I understand if you’re still mad at me.”
Look at all those I words. You did the bad thing, you take the blame. Nice!
So that's what I've got so far, of course you're going to encounter a lot of other things in life that these 3 points don't necessary cover, but it's a start no?
I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend x
3. Throwing a Punch
Sad but true: someday, you might need to hit someone. There have
definitely been times in my life (hi, college) that I needed to get a
boy off me, like right then, and I wish I would have known how
to throw a good punch to make him see things my way. Now, I’m not saying
go pick some fights, or punch someone for insulting your mother, but
knowing how to throw a punch that means business is a good skill to have
under your survival belt. I mean, make no mistake: please try to not
fight. Get away; run from fighting if you can. We’re not talking
fighting for the sake of fighting. We’re talking a good punch to stop
some fighting, or to get yourself the hell away from someone who is
physically all up in your business.
When throwing a punch:
• Use the hand you write with.
• Make a fist with your thumb outside, not tucked inside. If
it’s tucked inside your fist, when you punch someone, you might break
your thumb. The thumb goes across your fingers, not on the side.
• Don’t be like in the movies—don’t aim for the face. Face punches
don’t usually stop people, and you can miss when they duck their head or
break your hand on their jaw. If you want to get away quickly, or end a
fight, aim for the chest, or the ribs. If you really want to do some
damage, e.g., you’re being attacked, aim for the throat, which will make
it hard for your attacker to breathe for a hot minute.
• When you punch, you want to aim and hit with your first two
knuckles. Not the flats of your fingers, and not your ring or pinky
knuckles, which can break more easily. You can use your weight, if
you’re on your feet, to add wallop, and spring into a punch with your
feet and torso.
So that's what I've got so
far, of course you're going to encounter a lot of other things in life
that these 3 points don't necessary cover, but it's a start no?
I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend x
