‘What weird skill did you accidentally become good at because of a bad situation?’ – 23 abilities forged during times of adversity

13.

‘I can preternaturally sense when an animal is about to make a run for it. I worked at a ranch for a few years but now I still find myself grabbing and pinning strangers’ loose animals out of instinct.

Especially in doorways, gates, etc. I’ve only ever done this where the animal is attempting escape, thankfully, so I don’t just tackle random dogs in a park.’
–probsagremlin

14.

‘Mouseproofing organisation. I worked at a summer camp for a while and got tired of throwing away supplies and hardware because of the mice that would nest in the off season. Everything was impossible to sanitise so I got real creative with organisation solutions. Years later, I still lowkey organise my stuff this way and somehow it works for my personal brand of scatterbrained.’
–TermKnown

15.

‘I lost the ability to catch things I drop because I worked restaurants. A falling knife has no handle, and anything you drop is by default unsafe in a kitchen environment until proven otherwise.

I no longer have the instinct/reflex to catch things I drop, just watch them fall like ‘well, that happened’ and then pick it up afterwards.’
–LadySandry88

16.

‘I’m a good writer and world builder because maladaptive daydreaming is a very good coping strategy for me.’
–crispier_creme

17.

‘I work in a chemistry-related field and I had a garbage job with way too much overtime and high pressure to produce results. I sucked at it for a year or so but figured out how to multitask and juggle multiple analyses at once eventually. I hated it, but it was a crucible in which my lab skills were forged. I’m now able to plow through work like a moose without much thought. ‘
–ShoddyClimate6265

18.

‘Fasting/willpower. Turns out if you fall into a company that regularly cancels lunches or double books meetings you develop the ability to forget to eat over 24hrs or eat one large meal a day.

I’ve not worked there in ages, but later in life this probably-not-super-healthy habit has turned a little more positive in that my willpower is pretty high and if my only current options for food are fastfood or other less healthy stuff (I drive a lot for work), I’ll just go hungry for a few more hours, work through it, and have a nicer meal when I get home.’
–Soilstone

19.

‘Fixing broken zippers. Had a cheap backpack in college that would fail constantly. Got so sick of it I learned every trick with a pencil, pliers, and wax. Now I`’m the weird zipper whisperer for friends and family.’
–PalpitationSmall4622

20.

‘I have massive ADHD and was never good at focusing on the same (boring) task for too long. Turns out, I’m an excellent project manager with 10 things going on at the same time.’
–mnetml

21.

‘I learned HTML coding because the coder I’d hired for my project had a mental health crisis just before the launch date.’
–KnowsThingsAndDrinks

22.

‘Worked in a bunch of different shoe stores in college. I can tell by looking at you whether you pronate or supinate.’
–tarps_and-straps

23.

‘I spent my high school summers and weekends in my fathers auto shop, not always by choice. Now I design, build, and maintain multi-million dollar industrial machines. I am really good at it.’
–Super-Ad91

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