I mean, I don’t think I have anything that technically qualifies as a superpower. And neither do you, probably!
I do joke about something being my superpower, though, and I think I might have written about it here before: my internal compass.
For whatever reason, I have always had a pretty accurate internal compass, even when I was a small kid.
Because of this, I can almost always tell you what’s north, south, east, and west, no matter where I am.
I don’t come to these conclusions based on logic or reasoning; I don’t look at where the sun is. I just have this…feeling about it.
I can think back to childhood places I visited and I have feelings about which way a particular building faced. When I double-check these places as an adult, my childhood gut feel has always turned out to be correct.
Like, when I visualize the house my mom’s parents lived in when I was a kid, I always visualize it as facing south. Or my great-grandma’s house that I only entered a few times; I knew that one faced north.
I am mystified as to how I figure this out because it is such an unconscious process for me.
And even if I feel a little stumped about which way I’m facing, I don’t have a logical way of thinking through it.
I might think, “Hmm, I sort of feel like this is north but I’m not 100% positive. Let me try to imagine that it’s south. Nope, nope, that feels all wrong. It must be north.”
So even when I’m thinking through it, I still am just going with the feeling.
This is a fairly useful “superpower” because I do think it helps me to avoid getting lost. Still, a legit superpower like flying would be infinitely more useful.
That’s a fun (and useful) superpower that you have!
Mines is with babies. I’m pretty darn good at getting a baby to stop crying! I always enjoyed the challenge in church nursery if there was a baby that cried a lot at dropoff.
Me too, with the babies! I am challenged to get them to stop. Singing quietly in their ear while rocking them usually works. If not, introduction of a toy distracts. Last resort, standing and doing repetitive motion.
Definitely NOT the same as yours. 🙂 I get lost alllll the time. Once I’ve been somewhere, I can get there again, but cardinal directions and maps? Nope. This is a source of constant mystification for my husband, who has now learned after 18 years of marriage that he really just needs to pull over and read the map himself. 🙂
I joked with my sister-in-law when she was here with her family that my superpower is feeding people. Twenty people could come to my house at 4 p.m., and I would have dinner out for everyone in an hour.
Same here–my sense of direction is the opposite of my superpower. It’s more like my kryptonite! If I take the wrong way once, it sometimes gets burned into my brain, even if I’ve managed to figure out the right way. But I can follow a map like a champ!
I can recreate a dish I had at a restaurant without the recipe just from memory. I’m good at figuring out what’s in things.
I’m also good at persuasion. My husband always says I should have been a salesman. Ha! I can convince anyone to do something.
My worst skill is my internal compass. I never know what direction it is!
I am pretty accurate at knowing what time it is without looking at a clock or phone.
My husband also has a powerful internal compass, Kristen. He can look at a map of a place where he’s never been and then proceed to navigate like a boss. 🙂
Oh, and since I’ve done plenty of thinking about this, I wish I had a superpower of being able to understand all languages. How useful that would be!
Oh, and since I’ve done plenty of thinking about this, I wish I had a superpower of being able to understand all languages. How useful that would be!
Whoops. Didn’t mean to post twice.
I think mine is the ability to sense when other people have vulnerable parts of their lives, and to tread very lightly around those subjects. I’m not saying that I don’t talk about them if the other person brings up the topic, but I feel like I can build up, or even just be a listening ear, rather than tear down. This probably stems from the fact that I have so many sensitive areas of my own and that I deeply appreciate gentle words.
I have the same power!
I’ve been able to do it since I was little, and I’ve always “just sort of known”. I also find it very grounding. Partly when I’m in a new place, to be able to stand there and think “I’m facing North”.
I’m also able to do it with physical locations I know, but am not currently in. For instance, my local supermarket – the carpark faces south-west. My best friend’s back garden is North-facing. My sister’s driveway runs south-east.
I couldn’t tell you how or why it works, but I’m guessing it’s something to do with visual memory.
I always can tell what time of day it is, day or night, I think I’ve always been able to do this.
I may be a couple of minutes out either way, but never more than that.