I believe most people have what they learnt in their childhood that is still useful to them as an adult.
One of such things for me is the ability to fix things. When I was a child, I would usually help my dad while he tried to fix a broken electronic device in the house, or while he tried to do some electrical wiring, or even while he fixed his car. I must say, my dad is a man of many skills. Sometimes I wonder if there is anything he can't do.
I remember how we would spend hours at night fixing his car. I would stand there, watching him, pointing a torch for him to see better and providing the needed equipment for him while he went on fixing. It was because of him I knew a lot of tools and their uses while I was still a very young boy.
He also made me stay close whenever he tried to do some electrical wiring. He was really good at that skill. Of course, I never liked any of it back then. I saw it as torture having to stand there with him doing those things instead of me playing or doing something else.
Now that I'm older, I realize that all that was to my benefit. As I grew older, I saw myself connecting electrical circuits as a hobby. I would dismantle my toys and electronic devices and try to put them back together. i guess his skill robbed off on me. I remember one time, when I was experimenting with an electric device, and I got an electric shock. That didn't deter me. I just learnt to take better precautions.
Now, thanks to my dad, when a household device gets bad at home or a problem comes up with the wiring, I don't have to call someone to fix it and spend money. I'm capable of doing it myself. While I saw it as torture, my dad knew it would be helpful to me in the future, and he made me stand, watch and learn. He was someone who always seized any opportunity he had, to learn something knew, and he wanted to imbibe that culture in me too.
Another thing I learnt in my childhood that I still use in adulthood is that there is always a way. No matter how difficult something may be, there is always a way of solving it, there's a solution somewhere. You just haven't found it yet.
I learnt this at a very early age, and it has been one of the major philosophies guiding my decisions. This made me develop resilience. It was always difficult for me to give up. As a kid, I loved math and physics, and I would spend a lot of time trying to solve a calculation problem. When a problem seemed too difficult, I would take a break, and go back to it later, trying a different approach.
I apply this principle to every other aspect of my life. In fact, the more difficult something proves to be, the more I want to crack and solve it. My perseverance doesn't fade. I'll only take a break from it and go back to it with a different approach.
This post is an entry for the Inleo prompt Initiative for April. Today's prompt is about "Something learned as a child and used in your childhood". To learn more about this initiative, check it out here.
Image is mine
