Whether you are a child or an adult, life skills are beneficial for everyone. Every person who wants to excel in their career and enhance their quality of life should learn these skills. It is different from bookish knowledge.
These are practical skills that are useful in day-to-day life. The right time to start is from the school age. It should be imparted to students along with their education. This way, not only will the student excel at academic levels, but there will also be remarkable growth at personal levels.
Life skills represent “reflective skills” that include analyzing and problem-solving skills, and “personal skills” that include interpersonal and self-awareness skills.
What skills come under life skills?
Life skills cover several areas that impact the quality of life of a person. There is a close association between life quality and the acquisition of life skills. When a person becomes skillful in all these areas, his independent functioning, life quality, and social competence also increase.
According to the World Health Organization, life skills are classified into the following areas:
- Thinking Skills
- Self-awareness
- Problem solving
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking, and
- Decision making
These skills are very important for a person to understand problems and identify solutions for them either with the assistance of others. Once you arrive at the solution, you must take the necessary action to address them effectively.
A person learns to develop critical thinking abilities. He thinks unusually and differently about the issues, comes up with new solutions or ideas, and couples them with the ability to evaluate information judiciously and comprehend its significance.
Social Skills:
- Interpersonal relationships
- Effective Communication, and
- Empathy
In this section, a person learns skills to work with other people. He learns how to communicate effectively with others, either verbally, in writing, or both. It makes a person more aware of himself. He starts to become emphatic and see life from other’s points of view to deal with them in a better way.
Emotional Skills:
These are the skills that help in dealing with stress. By learning these skills, you will feel in charge of your emotions. It helps to learn how to practice self-control. These skills teach them how to stand up for themselves and others and remain calm even when faced with criticism or provocation. Life skills teach people to take setbacks positively and take them as an opportunity to learn from them and not get disappointed.
How do life skills prove to be advantageous to a person?
These skills help a person live a fulfilling life. It makes a person feel confident and motivated. By learning these skills, you feel more positive and happy and radiate the same all around you. These skills can be acquired either by direct experience or through teaching and assisting them in dealing with challenging situations in life.
Life skills are important for the overall well-being of the person. It teaches a person how to manage and live a better quality of life. An individual learns to live life to the fullest by conquering his inhibitions and fears and realizing their ambitions. He becomes better at making decisions in life.
When they learn these skills, students become more self-assured, effective communicators, and independent thinkers. Not just do they become good listeners and speakers, but they also develop a positive outlook.
Life skills teach you how to overcome the shortcomings that obstruct you from achieving your goals. It could be the fear of talking to strangers, going to a new place, performing any activity for the first time, or anything else. By learning these skills, you start to accept yourself and live life with happiness.
