Is there something you're really good at, but never tell new friends etc. because...

[SaladandGravy]

... it sounds so highly unlikely you think people won't believe you?

I have one talent that sounds impossible (I may share later!!) but my great-grandma was about 4 feet nothing tall, not very agile but she could juggle with just about anything you could throw at her that she could physically hold (Diddy little hands too!). We used to just shout "oi Grandma" and throw 3 things at her. it was so funny, and she loved it too.

And my ex could turn a digestive biscuit 360° back to front and widthwaya without it breaking.

(Csn you tell I'm. bored?)

@Feather12

I can sleep on planes (even the cheap seats!). I rarely see the end of a runway and I need to be woken when we land. People don’t like hearing that, especially if they can’t.

As far as I’m concerned you win the thread Feather. I would love to be able to do this.

TheBigDilemma please share what does it take!

@DeirdreRashid

Headstands. Not sure if that’s a proper skill or what, but I’m 36 and not in any way sporty/athletic (anymore) and my kids were gobsmacked when I showed them a few months ago

I could do this too. Stand on my head (without support) for as long as I wanted (or until people got bored watching!). My claim to fame was standing on my head in a pub with a pint of beer balanced on my bum.

I’m considerably older than you and had to give it up some years ago as my neck wouldn’t take it any more.

Singing. I have the voice of an opera singer. A classic soprano. It was amazing when I was young but is aging along with me. I'm a teacher and sing with my kids but don't use my real voice. Colleagues know I can sing but not many people know its capabilities and volume.

I am a walking, talking Shazam. I can identify the singer and song title of any song in most genres from the 70’s to present day. I hear it once, hear the singer/song title and it’s in me.

I’m also able remember pretty much anything I hear but if I write it down I’ll always remember it. Even without the written notes to hand. Really handy when studying.

I can visualise.

Abstract data, relationships, networks, procedures, organisational structures, finance, narratives: I can generate an image in my head and walk around it, then tweak or reconstruct when I get more data.

So I can tell when something doesn't fit. I can also predict stress points and possible outcomes. So I have a reputation for being a bit of a seer, but it's nothing psychic; it's just that I've already plotted all the viable potential outcomes so I can see something coming a mile off.

My grand insight after doing this for nearly all my life is this: if something is a hideous mess and has been for a long time, it is generally because all the easy, a bit tricky, bloody awkward and unpleasant solutions have been tried, and the only possible solutions left are so unpalatable that no one wants to go there.

Until they have to because circumstances force it, and usually it involves a lot of pain and suffering.

‘ I'm good at linking together seemingly unrelated knowledge/ information. Also great at extrapolating the various outcomes of a scenario, including the highly improbable ones, which causes me a great deal of anxiety as I can spot all the things that could possibly go wrong that other people are seemingly oblivious to.

I always think there must be some better way for me to apply some of the gifts of my neurodiversity.’

My neurodiverse DH is very much the same.

really good at weighing things in my hand and never being more than a few grams off or looking at things at guessing weight (not a great boast though)

Most fascinated by the multilingual thing though @ThatsNotMyGolem and then @Ruthietuthie (15??). I realised I have 5 languages studied/natural - English, Irish, French, German and Italian but bar the first 2 not fluent by any means in the latter. I can understand a 5 but 15 must be dialect driven.

@Rainbowshit

I have a first class degree in rocket science.

That is something I would show off about! I can read and absorb things very quickly. I can read a novel in roughly an hour if I have quiet. I can recall and answer questions about said novel years later. I read probably 5 books a week. That's with a family, a job, and studying. Can't tell my left from right though!

Every now and then, certainly not all the time...
But, every now and then I can guess correctly in a heads or tales game, around 15 consecutive times.

I don't tell anyone mine coz it's wierd.
I can see really well, like quite far. It's wierds me out a bit.
Like focusing on signs and detail quite far away.

I can pick up a packed suitcase and guess the weight pretty accurately 🤷🏼‍♀️

@TheWayTheLightFalls

I’m a bit of a Cassandra - I can look at a situation and predict pretty actually what will happen and how. I’m not quite sure how it works but I think I just have a very good grasp of people’s motivations and behaviours and can quickly apply them. I tend to just keep my mouth shut but write things down so that I know I’m not going crazy.

ok, Cassandra, will Russia invade Ukraine?

[quote whythefuckdoibother]@ShirleyPhallus 🤣🤣 I just spat my tea out [/quote]
Well that will improve your BJ technique.

I can pick the one thing from a menu the restaurant/cafe has run out of.

Every single time.

@Kite22

Surely most people don't tell people they are really good at something, not because they think people won't believe, them, but because it would come across as really crass / cocky / boastful / socially inept.

This. People don't tell people as its showing off and rarely relevant to the conversation/activity whatever.

I have never made it through the scanning at an airport without being pulled aside by security for additional checks. Every single time.

I can blow up balloons, even the little tough ones .........

How are people in general ever going to know how fascinating and interesting so many others are (especially) women if all of you fabulously intriguing people don't find a way to talk about it in real life?

I would be so thrilled to be in the presence of so many of the skills here. And it might be helpful in some areas where there's sometimes a palpable sense of desperation if other people knew that people living around them had good, powerful jobs.

I am 79 now, and I am quite good at making things out of wood., as in bird houses and bird tables, and wooden flower troughs etc. . Also have made coffee tables and wooden bedside cabinets etc. I can do wood carving also.. I don't need to tell people about this, as have made lots of stuff for people, as gifts over the years.

I got my love of woodwork , because when i was about 5 years old in the war years, my grandparents lived with us, and my grandad was ace at woodwork, and I used to go in his shed and watch him working, and he let me do some work on his projects, using all his special tools,including his saws and his vice and all sorts,. The first proper thing I made, was a largish jewellry box for my Mum, when i was 5, complete with two metal hinges on it. I painted it in green lacqued paint. My Mum kept it, until she died 14 years ago,and I have it now..

I'm fat, 50 and an FA qualified football coach.

I also hate football.

I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone that irl.

My talent is my job. I specialise in a very niche area that only a few people in the world can do. I am close to the top of my field, work with the UN and international agencies. I specialise in conflict zones and regularly spend time in them.

On the other hand I am a middle aged mum to two teens with an abusive EXH and a weight problem, living In a very ordinary semi in a low-key Northern town.

I don’t tell people about my job, I just say I’m a management consultant, which tends to kill any questions. The kids don’t really know, either.

I don’t tell people about my job, I just say I’m a management consultant, which tends to kill any questions. The kids don’t really know, either.

I understand the need for confidentiality but why don't your children even vaguely know? You sound like you have so many amazing skills to share with them.

This is a fascinating thread! I have quite a few things that I'm very good at but I would never mention them.

Actually yes. I was virtually fluent in French by the age I was 16 but due to schooling etc didn’t take it further than O level standard. My turning point came when a French schoolgirl came to neighbours:friends on an exchange and the mother didn’t want much to do with her as she refused to speak English. So Aude spent time with me a lot, day trips into London, nearest city shopping, walking the dog etc but refused to speak English! My French improved vastly in a month of course… .

My nana actually (DM’s mum) was 5fgvor just under and told us she was a champion swimmer at school - showed us certificates. She did swim but not much with us not really done due to her hair (blow dry and set). I often wonder which pool it was but she wrote memoirs of meeting boys at 12/13 at the swimming baths amongst other things approx 1920s.