Discussion Is anyone else incompetent with daily life stuff?

[ScorpiusDragon]

I'm almost 26, and I'm useless with practical life stuff. I've been called a genius by people who know me IRL (I skipped a grade in math when I was a kid, I used to compete on TV to represent my high school in quiz bowls, and I graduated from one of the most prestigious universities in the USA), but I am absolutely terrible with a lot of simple daily life things. I failed my driving test 4 times (taking it again at the end of this month, and I wouldn't be surprised if I fail it a 5th time). I'm also not good with house chores, even when I try. An IRL friend once joked that I am the type of person who would accidentally burn her apartment down while trying to cook her lunch because I was too busy mulling over foreign languages or literature.
My incompetence with daily life things isn't the reason I want to ctb, but it certainly contributes to me feeling out of place in this world.

 

[faust]

Hello, ScorpiusDragon!
The thing is that you are not alone in such a situation.
Let me tell you about some things which I do that are actually out of human understanding boundaries.
1) I can't cook food. I can make some tasty wraps and once tried to make sushi. But cooking is obviously not for me.
Once I was boiling chicken. And after 20 minutes it should have been ready. But it was not ready yet. It was raw inside. And I told myself: "Okay, I will eat as it is" and did that. Well, at least I tasted raw chicken.
I prepared dumplings a few times, boiled rice and pasta. But I don't like doing it.
I also ate "unboiled" cereal, put tea bags and coffee in cold water or was just emptying the tea bag, putting contents in mouth and swallowing with a use of cold water. Same I did with coffee.
2) I am taking out the garbage once in 2-3 months. We have to put plastic separately and I rarely eat, so garbage consists only from plastic. Usually it is around 100 coke bottles and some packages of cookies, crisps, etc.
3) I do the laundry once in a month. I don't like it. I am just taking other clothes if the ones I currently wear are not fresh. Dirty clothes are put separately.
4) I failed my driving test 4 times and many times nearly crashed the vehicle. Had fallen from a bicycle many times too.
5) I hate buying food for a week or so. I almost never have anything in the fridge. And if I buy for a week, eventually I have to throw off everything because it is getting moldy/reaching expiry date
6) I drink sooo much coke or water if I don't have money. Can be more than 5 liters a day. Yesterday it was even more. Never make a tea or coffee.
7) Almost never buy water in foodstores. I drink from the tap.
8) Today was the first time I heated the room (I did not even heat when it was sub-zero temperatures at night). It is usually 12-14 degrees in my room.
9) I am a storm chaser and I am more likely to go out if it is stormy and the weather is horrible.
10) I almost never sleep at night. Nyctophilia is a part of me. It drives another people crazy and they start telling me I am ruining my health.
11) Never brush my teeth. Had many gfs and none of them complained of a smell or that my teeth are yellow. Plus don't have any visits to dentists.
12) Cannot experience any kind of pleasure (anhedonia). So smoking weed or hanging out in the club like many people do gives me nothing
13) I believe that work, profession, college and other stuff is actually a waste of time. It is not an achievement, it is just a rat race for me. However, I will find a job this month because I am joining a suicide tourism.
14) I don't like too much comfort. There are some more important things in life.
15) I don't hear alarm clocks, even if there are 3-4 alarm clocks in the room. They don't exist to me, I just unconsciously turn them off.
16) Can't save and "handle" money. That's just a wrapper for me. Although will have to take care of it because of pt. No 13
17) Buying private property is not for me. I'd prefer to travel around the world instead of paying back mortgage.
Maybe I have forgotten something, but these 17 points prove daily stuff is not for me.

 

[UpandDownPrincess]

I am a genius. I am also quite hapless most of the time.

My family growing up thought it was hysterical.

Now, my husband does almost all of the tasks of daily life. About the only thing I do is my own laundry.

I have a little business that makes me about a hundred dollars a month for about six months of the year. My husband does most of the heavy lifting there as well. About the only things I do are select and price the merchandise. Since I'm not great at managing things, our house is covered in piles of my purchases.

I feel like a failure. If not every day, certainly often enough.

 

[ScorpiusDragon]

Now, my husband does almost all of the tasks of daily life. About the only thing I do is my own laundry.

I have a little business that makes me about a hundred dollars a month for about six months of the year. My husband does most of the heavy lifting there as well. About the only things I do are select and price the merchandise. Since I'm not great at managing things, our house is covered in piles of my purchases.

I feel like a failure. If not every day, certainly often enough.

Your relationship with your husband sounds like my relationship with my boyfriend. Even when I try to do more practical daily things around the apartment, he often swats me away and says, "I'll do it because you'll mess it up."
Considering how often I managed to mess up seemingly simple practical tasks that come easily for most people, I guess he has a reason to believe this.

 

[ClonesAnnoyMe]

I'm sorry to hear that but please don't kill yourself, if you're a genius (and I believe so from what you've said) apply it somewhere so you feel of use, driving is total bullshit tbh and the less people we have driving the safer the roads are anyways. Doesn't mean you're incompetent it just means you excel at things you find interesting. Follow your dreams man, (aslong as it's not in the music industry cause I tried lol)

Hope youre doing better, keep your head up

Just realized you're a woman but don't be afraid of making the changes in your life that you want! You got this!

 

[UpandDownPrincess]

Your relationship with your husband sounds like my relationship with my boyfriend. Even when I try to do more practical daily things around the apartment, he often swats me away and says, "I'll do it because you'll mess it up."
Considering how often I managed to mess up seemingly simple practical tasks that come easily for most people, I guess he has a reason to believe this.

It has something of a joke that whenever my husband is away on business, I burn a frozen pizza and then eat popcorn for dinner for the rest of the trip.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

It seems like some parts of your brain are stronger than others, that's normal. Some people learned basic life stuff more easily but had to work harder at school subjects, you excel at school subjects but the basic life stuff is harder. I don't think you're deficient or learning disabled, just other-abled! I totally get what you mean about the cooking and thinking thing! I am intelligent but have other areas of awkwardness. Your body consciousness may not be as strong as other types of consciousness. I have a question, do you see in 3-D, or is your vision more like a 2-D photo?

 

[Whale_bones]

I very much struggle with daily tasks too. And I'm also like you in that I excelled at things in school. Do you think your difficulties are at all related to depression? Mine definitely are, I get "brain fog" and can't focus on anything, I forget the order in which I should do certain steps that would be obvious to most people. For example, I have to look up directions for a bus route even if it's the same one I take every week and I've ridden it 50 times. It's extremely disheartening and is part of the reason I don't do any recreational activities outside the house.

 

[porfin1234]

Most of my life I've been bad. Then about a year ago something clicked and I got into the habit of cooking healthy elaborate meals, was a neat freak, and kept up with responsibilities. Now I've let all that go.

 

[ScorpiusDragon]

It seems like some parts of your brain are stronger than others, that's normal. Some people learned basic life stuff more easily but had to work harder at school subjects, you excel at school subjects but the basic life stuff is harder. I don't think you're deficient or learning disabled, just other-abled! I totally get what you mean about the cooking and thinking thing! I am intelligent but have other areas of awkwardness. Your body consciousness may not be as strong as other types of consciousness. I have a question, do you see in 3-D, or is your vision more like a 2-D photo?

I think I see in 3-D? I'm not sure what you mean by this question.
I've been told from a young age that I'm talented at art. Even as a little kid, I was able to capture subtle shadows and details that made my sketches look 3-dimensional. I never really did much with this interest though. Never turned it into a career.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

I think I see in 3-D? I'm not sure what you mean by this question.
I've been told from a young age that I'm talented at art. Even as a little kid, I was able to capture subtle shadows and details that made my sketches look 3-dimensional. I never really did much with this interest though. Never turned it into a career.

If you had problems with binocular vision and could not see in 3-D, the world would look like a photo, objects irl would not pop out. This impacts spatial awareness and can cause physical and perceptual problems with driving, walking, cleaning, etc. It's treatable, but it's not a root cause of issues for you, as I had thought perhaps it might be.

 

[S1mpleme]

I'm almost 26, and I'm useless with practical life stuff. I've been called a genius by people who know me IRL (I skipped a grade in math when I was a kid, I used to compete on TV to represent my high school in quiz bowls, and I graduated from one of the most prestigious universities in the USA), but I am absolutely terrible with a lot of simple daily life things. I failed my driving test 4 times (taking it again at the end of this month, and I wouldn't be surprised if I fail it a 5th time). I'm also not good with house chores, even when I try. An IRL friend once joked that I am the type of person who would accidentally burn her apartment down while trying to cook her lunch because I was too busy mulling over foreign languages or literature.
My incompetence with daily life things isn't the reason I want to ctb, but it certainly contributes to me feeling out of place in this world.

That's fine, everyone has something like that. Something I can do better than the other things and sometimes I really suck. How did you fail driving test 4 times?