We all have that one ordinary thing we do that everyone else also does, but we’ve mastered it better than anyone else in all of humanity. That is your Secret Mundane Superpower. You may even have multiple super powers. And I want to hear about them. I want to hear you revel in your greatness!
I will tell you about my Secret Mundane Superpowers, only on the condition that you respond with yours in either your own blog post about it, or in the comments below. If you read past this paragraph, you have engaged in a legally binding contract to reveal your mundane superhero identity. Although it may seem like writing silly bullshit is one of my Secret Mundane Superpowers, it is not.
I’ve been blessed with three Secret Mundane Superpowers. The first is my mastery of the microwave oven. If you hand me a plate of any size with any amount of any food, I can immediately choose the exact amount of time that it needs to be cooked to come out at the perfect eating temp. It’s not like I just shout out “5 minutes” or any other even number. The numbers just pop into my head; sometimes it’s 1:47 and other times it’s 18:23.
My second mundane super power is cartwheels. I don’t know why, but at some point in my life I decided that I would continue to do cartwheels long past the age when the rest of humanity gives up that childish foible. Now that I’m way on the wrong side of 50, I’ll occasionally do a cartwheel to say “F you universe, you can’t stop me.” In fact, you can see many of those cartwheels in random places on my TikTok. And by the way Simone Biles, I don’t care how many medals you have, I will challenge you to a cartwheel contest any day. Hit me up. You know where to find me.
My third Secret Mundane Superpower is telling time. Not looking at a watch telling time, but telling time in the times and places when you lose time. If we’re on vacation sitting on a beach drinking margaritas all day and neither of us has a watch or our phones. At any random moment if you shout out “Phil, what time is it?” I will respond with the time within four minutes of accuracy. I will also tell you to stop shouting. I’m sitting right next to you.
I believe that all of us do have wings, albeit mundane ones sometime, but you are not just ordinary. What you consider a mundane talent might be a herculean feat for someone else. We are all capable of greatness in ways large and small. You too are a superhero.
OK, you’re up. In the comments below or on your own blog tell us about your Secret Mundane Superpower.
~Thanks for reading, Phil
I haven’t done a cartwheel since I was teenager and the mere thought of doing one now makes me cringe. But kudos fur being able to tell time, I’m lost without my watch.
If I had to name my superpower it would be gift giving. I pride myself on giving the best presents and research my recipients thoroughly to assure a giant smile, and sometimes tears.
👍
Wow! That is a genuinely great superpower!
You share a superpower with Louis Catorze! A few summers ago, when we let him out to gad about at The Front, we went through a phase of telling him what time we wanted him back, and he would always return within a couple of minutes of his curfew. Sometimes he was dead on time, but he was never late.
Even when we gave irregular times such as , “We want you back at 10:47pm”, and even when we said, “We want you back before this TV programme finishes” not knowing ourselves how long it would be, he would be back on time.
Scared the shit out of us, to be honest. And he’s still here, living in our house.
That is a talented cat, but what’s your Secret Mundane Superpower ?
I don’t know if this sort of thing counts, but I am excellent at putting together flat-pack furniture items, even ones that make most other people cry.
That definitely is a superpower!
The best part is that nobody would think it of me, because I’m a bit useless in every day life.
Lol, give yourself some credit. I’m sure no one thinks you’re useless.
My secret mundane superpower is being able to listen to any hockey game — without any visuals— and know exactly what is going on. Credit to my dad, who was a lifelong hockey fan.
I can also be actively listening to multiple conversations going on at once. I mean literally knowing what each conversation is about. Credit to my very large and talkative Italian family.
Thank you Lisa! Nice to see you here!
I’ll occasionally do a cartwheel for the exact same reason, but mine aren’t good enough these days to call a superpower. My mundane superpower is that I can spell anything – in English, that is. Although I’m not fluent in any other language, I have a good grasp of the spelling rules for Spanish and French and am a pretty good speller in those, too. Unfortunately, this talent is not appreciated much any more. Even my texts are subject to the automatic spell-checker in my brain.
My husband and daughter both have the time-telling ability. My husband calls it the chrono gene. I was not blessed with that one.
I think your language skills are awesome! They are so much more useful than cartwheels!