systems programming and functional programming while working multiple minimum wage jobs

Public speaking, in particular MC-ing events.

I grew up in a very blue-collar / rural / "redneck" kind of environment and started wrenching on cars with my dad in his shop working on race cars from just about the time I was born. Now I'm no professional auto mechanic, but I have a modest amount of knowledge / skill / aptitude / whatever for working on cars and other mechanical things.

I did two years of welding in high-school. It's not a skill I use very often, but I'm glad I have at least the basics down. It could come in handy one day.

I started dabbling in hobby electronics as a small child and while I'm not professional electronics technician or anything, I can solder reasonably well and know my way around a multimeter / oscilloscope / etc. and can do some electronics repair and construction.

And in my years as a volunteer firefighter, I got my Firefighter Instructor certification and taught some certification classes, which has been valuable in terms of learning content delivery and being comfortable in front of large groups. Being a firefighter was also just generally valuable in terms of learning to be more confident / self-assured and having a stoic approach to high stress situations.

Reflective listening. The ability to hear people deeply is a powerful way to connect with people in a world largely absent of authentic personal connection.

Empathy.

It took some time, but once I applied it to work I was able to view my coworkers from a much more loving lens. Even when we don't get along, I always try to imagine that they might be going through something or have gone through something that's eliciting certain behaviors. It's a little creepy, but I do try to consider that they have a family, or are alone, or had a certain life, stuff like that. Might not even be entirely true, but this is how I chose to view things to keep the lantern burning at a modest brightness (not too bright, not too dim).

Writing. As in paid to do it, with briefs, deadlines and editors. From this comment I probably look like a crap writer! I do need to focus alot to write well.

I don't use AI except for checking for basic mistakes. I may start using AI for research but I refuse to use it for generating a word of content.

I am thinking of writing a book. I have a rough idea of my rate 100 words per hour (including edits, research) so a 50k word book would take 500 hours or about a year of consistent grind. I'd probably blog the book content allowing for a win even if I abort early.

I’m trying to imaging learning a skill and not being glad about it. So, all of them?

Most recently I’m learning fiberglass repair and gel coat (including color matching, which is really difficult for me). Before that, I built a wooden boat. Before that, sailing (which I’m still learning and intend to master at some point).

Fundamentally, learning not to be afraid to try something and learning the patience to be slow and make mistakes.