Ask HN: Have you picked up any new skill from scratch in your 40s or later?

And a big, very hard one: learning to live (and be a better person) happily and with (a new kind of) balance with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome -- big enforced lifestyle changes there. (Very hopefully I will learn all the lessons I should--if not it would be a major lost opportunity.) My doctor (world-class specialist) says they see a lot of suicides in the field (though to be clear, that is not a plan, threat, nor persistent thought of mine). Life is challenging and good, and I am grateful for very many things.

Edits: My learning style seems generally like sheer persistence, with specifics depending on the subject, often finding the basic/intro materials and working them into my daily/weekly routine somewhere, maybe a few relaxing intro videos or articles on a subject while resting.

Also Esperanto, and improving my limited Russian, with some Soviet movies with English subtitles, and reading the side-by-side text of the Book of Mormon in Russ. & English (it has the Russ. accents marked, to reduce the need to look up words--there is no rule for emphasis like there is in Spanish or Esperanto); the AnkiDroid app helps a lot. I learned to ride a unicycle after 40, not to a high level, but it was still a thrill--every time I could just get on and go down the street was a rush. A talented nephew ignored my "experienced" advice and learned unicycling much faster and better than I, on a 26-inch wheel even. (As you'd guess, there are some people on youtube with amazing skills, like "mountain unicycling" or freewheeling (no pedals) fast downhill.)

For education: If someone is seeking economical, high-quality, online university education (from start to Master's), BYU Pathway Worldwide and/or Western Governors University are impressive options, even if one needs to, for example, learn English and/or study skills in an inexpensive intro program. I and others have commented more about them in prior discussions, w/ more info in wikipedia.

And there are so many more things to learn in the future. I'd love to have some good musical improvisation & sightreading skills; wow.

I'd like to share with you a couple things. I still love Salsa even though I stopped actively going to Salsa clubs a few years ago (like many things in life, activities will fade in interest/fade back in). As a note, most of the social dancing advice applies to a world without covid dangers.

1) Keep on going. You can take a break though.

One of my favorite articles from "The Unlikely Salsero" (archived copy) https://web.archive.org/web/20080316160328/http://www.unlike...

2) Footwork is everything. One of the mistakes beginners make is that when they do their basic step, they take "too big" of steps. This is acceptable when you are a beginner. However, when you start doing more complicated footwork/leading that is required by patterns, larger than needed steps can easily break the precise on-beat timing needed. Please try to focus on small steps.

3) Leading properly requires signaling. Something like a simple squeeze of the hand if you want your follower to stop. Also, prepping the follower for their turn by doing a very, very slight wind up.

4) Listen to Salsa music more if you are not already. The key feature of Salsa music is that breaks happen on the 8/12/16 bar of the normal song. If you can anticipate the breaks by counting in your head silently while dancing, this will make the difference in your lead from above-average to performance. I recommend Gilbert Santa Rosa. They are more laid back then the frenetic Salsa bands.

5) If you are just starting out, asking a follower to dance is one of the most intimidating things you can do. You will get rejected. Don't take it personally. When you get better, you still will be rejected. In a group class at a club, take note of the followers in the class (you usually rotate) who seem enthusiastic. Ask them to dance if you see them still around.