A Jack of All Trades

I think I first realized I was the kind of person who collects skills somewhere around the age of eighteen or nineteen. Not because I was trying to become that kind of person, but because I started noticing how many different things I seemed to know how to do compared to the people around me. It wasn’t something I had planned. It was just the result of years of picking things up along the way.

Being a jack of all trades can feel like two different things at the same time. On one hand, it makes you adaptable. I can usually step into a new situation and feel fairly confident that if I don’t already know how to do something, I can probably figure it out. On the other hand, being interested in many things means you’re rarely completely rooted in just one area. I’ve never really belonged to only one category of people or one type of hobby. My life has always been a little more spread out than that.

A lot of it probably goes back to how I grew up. My dad (step-dad) was in the military, which meant he was gone a lot. When things needed to get done around the house, my mom and I usually figured them out ourselves. My older brother wasn’t much help, so it was mostly the two of us learning as we went. If something broke, we fixed it. If something needed to be built or repaired, we learned how to do it. That kind of environment teaches you pretty quickly that most problems are solvable if you’re willing to try.

Over time that mindset just stuck with me. If something needs fixing, I try to fix it. If something interests me, I learn about it. If a project shows up in front of me, I figure out how to tackle it. Curiosity plays a big role in that, but independence does too. I’ve always been the type of person who doesn’t like depending on others if I can help it. If someone offers help, I won’t turn it down, but I’m also perfectly comfortable figuring things out on my own.

Because of that, I’ve ended up with a pretty wide range of skills. Some of them are practical things like installing flooring, repairing drywall, doing basic plumbing or electrical work, maintaining lawns, or handling small engine repairs. Others live more in the creative world, like drawing, painting, watercolor, knitting, crocheting, sewing, and different kinds of crafting. I’ve also spent a lot of time learning about plants and gardening, from propagation and soil mixing to pest management and greenhouse care.

Then there are the outdoor skills that came from spending time in nature. Camping, bushcraft, fire starting, foraging, hiking, and backpacking are all things I’ve picked up along the way. Some skills came from hobbies, some from necessity, and some just from curiosity.

There’s also a technical side to the list. Over the years I’ve learned things like graphic design, photography, video editing, website building, and a little bit of coding (more html, but now learning some basic python). None of it came from trying to master technology specifically. It was usually just a matter of needing something done and deciding to learn how to do it myself, that or just boredom and wanting to learn something new.

Most of the time I teach myself. Sometimes that means researching first, sometimes it means experimenting, and sometimes it means just starting the project and figuring things out as I go. I’ve never been afraid of trial and error.

When I was younger, I sometimes wondered if I should focus more on mastering one thing. Society tends to reward specialists, people who pick one lane and stay in it for the rest of their lives. But the older I get, the more comfortable I’ve become with the fact that my brain just doesn’t work that way. I like learning new things. I like understanding how things work. I like the feeling of looking at something unfamiliar and slowly figuring it out.

Being a jack of all trades makes you useful in a lot of situations. It means you can help people, solve problems, and jump into projects without feeling completely lost. At the same time, it can be a little draining too. When people know you’re capable, they often expect you to be the one who steps in and handles things.

Still, I wouldn’t trade it. There’s something deeply satisfying about knowing that if a problem shows up in front of you, there’s a good chance you can solve it. Maybe not perfectly, but well enough. That kind of confidence doesn’t come from mastering one thing. It comes from learning many things over time.

And in a way, that might be the real skill underneath all the others: the ability to figure things out.