Life comes at you fast and it can be difficult to stop and slow down, until the world throws a fastball and suddenly you realize that things cannot continue on the path you’ve been walking. That fastball usually looks different for every generation, but sometimes? Sometimes, that very same fastball affects multiple generations and a pause and course correction is required.

That forced pause came for multiple generations on the afternoon of September 10, 2025 when political violence resulted in the assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus. However you feel about what Charlie Kirk said, rational and intelligent people can agree that no one deserves to be murdered for their opinion. Freedom of Speech is essential for a successful, functional republic to survive and thrive. The inability to disagree with opposing viewpoints is a sign of emotional immaturity and a lack of understanding history.

Since the 10^th, I have had numerous conversations with friends of all ages. There is longing for knowledge that was once commonplace. There are life skills that are no longer talked about, let alone taught. There is a need to return to social skills that have been lost as screen time increased.

Cooking has become a lost skill. The rise of food delivery services, the documenting every meal out on social media, the lack of home-economics being taught in schools, and a family structure that is focused outward not inward are among the contributing factors. As cooking skill declines, the population becomes more reliant on highly processed, pre-packaged food. How can you change your life and improve your health when you lack the skills to control the food you consume?

Sewing is another lost skill. The prevalence of fast fashion is a modern phenomenon that contributes to ever burgeoning landfills, inability to sew on a button, reattach a split zipper, are but a few examples. Am I the best seamstress on the planet? I am not, but I do own a sewing machine, and I know how to use it. I can sew on buttons, fix a zipper, etc. These are basic skills and the ability to repair your garments is not only good for the environment, but also excellent for your wallet.

Then there are the things that have been removed from the childhood experience, leading to fragile “adults”. Once upon a time, children learned life lessons on the playground and carried those lessons forward into adulthood. Unfortunately, we now live in the results of social experimentation where consequences from childhood were removed, and every child was “the best” at everything. The removal of failure as a life lesson from childhood is on full exhibit if you step outside your front door or log onto social media.

I have barely scratched the surface of this missing life lessons and skills. There is a desperate need for a revival of these lost lessons and skills. Life is meant to be a shared, in person experience. We are not meant to spend our lives isolated behind screens, randomly making purchases from our favorite online retailer. Humans are social creatures, we learn and thrive when we physically interact with others. Yes, I understand the irony here.

Going forward, I will share life lessons and skills from my own experiences. Hopefully, you find them helpful and share them with others.