Things at which I am rubbish…

Inspired by the lovely Kari…

Managing my time. I didn’t really pursue much in the way of personal interests (even reading) until the stars all aligned once I was in my fifties – ‘cos as a full-time working single mother, who has any spare time? That’s when I had the “is this it?” moment, and threw myself into living life. I tried all manner of things and discovered a few that I loved. While few, they are still too many – but I am loathe to give any up, so I juggle…. badly.

Art. I am the only member of my family who has zero talent in this area. A couple have high levels of talent, while the rest are – at the least – competent draughtsmen/women or copyists. I am only an appreciator, but one with absolutely fabulous taste darling! 😀

I have absolutely zero sense of direction. Seriously, the number of times I’ve set off on foot with a map on my phone only to observe the dot going in the opposite direction to the right one. I’ve tried the double-bluff method to pick the opposite to the direction I believe is the right one, but it’s still the wrong way. I pity the poor person behind me who gets a shock when I suddenly stop walking purposefully in one direction, only to turn round and stride purposefully back the way I came 😀

Letting other people do stuff. I believe if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well, but also admit to perfectionist tendencies being at play. I am learning the concept of good enough, but if I’m to be really honest, the one I’m finding easiest to work with is acknowledging that I can’t do everything, and reminding myself there’s lots of my own stuff I’d much rather be getting on with. 😉

I have a terrible sense of balance. Even when young and fit, I was a disaster. A friend and neighbour was determined he would teach me to waterski – and he gave it a really good go. But, frankly, he could see the way it was going. I won’t attempt to snow ski either, no matter how many times friends have tried to persuade me about the fun of holidays in the mountains. I’m better at ensuring I live a balanced life than in not nearly falling over 🙂

Housework. With the letting go of my perfectionist tendencies have come the dropping of standards. I have an iron (in a cupboard somewhere) but no ironing board, and my neighbour’s tip top housekeeping puts me to shame. I blitz clean and always intend to keep on top of it, but there’s just so many other things I’d much rather do, and I’ve found myself more able to live with dust than without fresh flowers.

To counter this, I will brag (and there’s nothing humble about it) that I parallel park like a pro, and drive in central of London without fear or intimidation, as a couple of things I’m very much not rubbish at 😉

What are you bad at? Conversely, what would you like to brag about (humble or otherwise)? 😀

© Debs Carey, 2024

39 thoughts on “Things at which I am rubbish…”

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  3. I’m with you on drawing. I absolutely suck at art and crafts–with the single exception of rainbow loom. I have a solid sense of direction, except for being messed up the first few years I lived in Los Angeles; every so often I’d forget that the ocean was now TO THE WEST, instead of the east, and head the wrong way. I have excellent balance (very helpful for dancing and skiing). After driving in London, Los Angeles, Boston, and Italy, I think I could drive anywhere (but my passengers have to listen to an insane amount of swearing). I’m a recovering perfectionist in everything including housework. Things I am rubbish at: math that isn’t basic, being patient, and setting healthy boundaries so I don’t blow up at people.

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  5. I love this post! For many reasons, starting with your saying you were inspired by Kari. I love her site and was just thinking the other day that I want to give her a shout out on my site.
    Art – appreciators of art count too!!
    Balance – sorry you struggle with that. It made me think about how I never could do a cartwheel. Hours of my cousin teaching me and I was even a cheerleader but had to come with reasons not to do them. I was good at splits though! Not anymore I’m sure.
    Housework – I so get that! I hate cleaning although I like a really clean place. I’ve often said that I’ll know I’ve made it when I can afford to hire someone to clean my place.
    Congrats on your parallel parking skills. I’m actually really good with directions but my driving skills are lacking.
    Thanks for the fun post!

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  6. Ah yes, asking for help is another one for me too Tater – still very few people I would ask. And I forgot singing. I used to sing well (was in the church choir of a music-focused school), but those days are past.

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  7. I’m not sure I should’ve written this one as I suspect I may end up with more candidates for my rubbish pile from the comments! I am way better at flexibility of the mind than the body, but that may well be because my limitations with the former are really rubbish!

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  8. Autumn, so many more candidates for my being rubbish at pile! 😀 I have a good eye for design, for colour and shape, I just cannot draw for toffee. I once ended up driving around Soho in central London and finally realised I was going around in squares. The main reason I moved from an ordinary cell phone to a smart phone was to get the map feature and while it has helped, it usually takes a couple of bites of the cherry for me to get it right! Agree with you on maths, so bad at that! I am remarkably patient, until I’m not. I’d say I have a very long fuse, but when I blow, it’s a big one. And yes to swearing in the car.

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  10. Donna, welcome and lovely to see another appreciator of Kari. Your lovely (and useful) posts of Italy could get me thinking of life there all over again. It is something I’d love to do… one day.

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  11. Sorry about the duplicate one-word comments; WordPress and I hate each other. 

    I was just going to say how much I like the word “rubbish” for things we are bad at. 🙂 Something to toss out. I am bad at taking care of financial things, which is why I now have tax filing hanging over my head. Ours are due April 15, and in the US they are so complicated, for no good reason. Well, no good reason for most of us. It works for the likes of Trump, I suppose. So, yeah:  rubbish. Rubbish is in there somewhere.

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  14. I share having a terrible sense of direction with you, Debs. I share that trait with my sisters, and I’m sorry to say I have passed it on to at least one of my daughters, so I’m going to blame it on genetics. As for something I can brag about, I have been told I have a calming energy and am very diplomatic, which makes me a good peacemaker and problem solver.

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  16. I’m bad at parallel parking. Last week I found the last (small) parking space on the street. It was right in front of a lovely little French restaurant. I was skeptical. But my sister, who is good at this skill, sat beside me and guided me: “Turn, now, quickly, no, you can make it, keep going.” And, amazingly, we did make it.

    I’m very confident of my directional skills, especially on a clear day. I live in Western Washington USA with recognizable mountains all around: Mt. Baker to the north, Mt. Rainier to the south, the Cascade Mt. range to the east, and the Olympic Mt. range to the west just across the Salish Sea. Move me to a place with no directional landmarks, though, and I’ll have to rely on Google maps.

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  17. WP is a bizarre beast sometimes Rita. There’s a couple of blogs where my comments always end up in spam no matter what I or the blog owner do to the settings.

    Glad you enjoyed my use of rubbish. Yes, they’re things I’m bad at and while I do what I can to mitigate them if they’re doing me harm, I don’t get hung up on them. You’ve hit on another thing which I’m bad at – financial management. Himself is really good and I’ve been learning, but it’s a lot of years worth of bad habits to undo! Sorry to hear about your absurd tax filing requirements, my sister is currently complaining bitterly about them too.

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  18. Janet, mental arithmetic is such an amazing skill – but I’ve never had it and will go to my deathbed struggling with it. Glad you’re with me on the household chores – too much other good stuff to do to worry about dust!

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  19. I’d not thought of the correlation between those too James, but I can see what you mean. I played classical guitar when a teenager (at the same time as I was in the school choir), but never considered myself musical – at least, not naturally so.

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  20. Oh I never considered it being genetic Christie! Fortunately, although my daughter can drive, she hasn’t driven in years. Fortunately she lives in the centre of London so doesn’t really need to, and her husband drives on their occasional forays outside of the city.

    Those are very brag worthy qualities to have indeed. ❤

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  21. Ha ha Janis, I like what you did there 😀 I’m quite the pro at that too, sadly. We’ll just keep on buffing up our superpower while we work on the procrastination behind the scenes…

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  22. Nicki, I do put it down to being taught how to do so properly. I did have problems when I switched from a front wheel drive to a rear wheel drive, until I realised what was going on. I also prefer (or am better at) going into a space on my right hand side than my left hand. I think it’s due to nervousness at kerbing my tyres. My old VW was far more robust on that front that my current Honda.

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  25. I’m bad at having patience. I want what I want and I want it NOW.

    Also, art. Despite taking many art classes – throughout middle and high school, and even during the summer, just for fun. I cannot draw things to save my life.

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  26. I love that you did this!

    I’m terrible at all of these things. Some (housework) has gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. Others (art) I’ve never been good at. 🤣

    If I ever visit London (it’s on my bucket list), I will gladly let you drive. 😘

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  27. I’m bad at washing windows, ironing shirts, patiently waiting for seeds to sprout then grow, and reading just one book at a time. Meaning my view is smudge-y, I am wrinkled, my husband has to stop me from giving up on plants too quickly, and there is book clutter everywhere I look in this house.  

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  28. Hi Donna, I’ve not lived there, but it is somewhere Himself & I would love to live. While we’ve not taken any serious steps towards achieving that, once he retires, we may well do just that.

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  29. Oh I recognise that feeling Mark. While there is stuff I will work on and be patient with, there’s lots that I have none with.

    The art thing has been a real heartbreaker for me in the past. I’ve largely come to terms with it and now enjoy fiddling around with colour, design and photography instead.

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  30. One horror which happened after my second cataract operation is that I can now actually see all the dust I’ve been happily ignoring 😀

    And I’d happily do so Kari x

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  31. Absolutely to the book clutter Ally, although I subscribe to the view that books are the perfect decorative accessory, as I am sure they are in your home too. My windows are currently being cleaned by a very funky pair of window cleaners – the older of whom is an old style rocker who calls me darlin’ when I make him coffee 😉 Himself cares not about plants, so I have given up on them much to my mother’s disappointment.

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  35. I wasn’t allowed to dust for two weeks, but the time is now up… and there’s so much to do! Think of me Kari as I drown in dusting! 😉

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  36. Little – ahem – darlings 😀 I’ve also realised I may’ve begun to adopt certain swear words as adjectives following the practice of my Irish friend… it’s a slippery slope as I don’t even realise I’m doing it anymore.

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  37. I prefer to do things myself too – it’s just more satisfying to know you did it yourself, just the way you wanted it, but yes, we have to be able to draw on the help of others at times…..depending on what it is. 😊

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  38. Cherryl, when it’s a choice made on my part, I’m reasonably OK with it. Where I have issues is when I end up doing stuff which other people (colleagues or family members) could easily do – and oftentimes are even meant to – if they just made the effort, or approached it with a better mindset.

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