Free adulting workshops and talks
You know you’ve truly reached adulthood when you start to see friends updating their LinkedIn pages more often or posting IG stories of their BTO lease agreement.
As much as we’d love to cling on to our youth sometimes, entering adulthood is inevitable. Schools don’t teach us everything to know on navigating the real world, so if you don’t want to stay “Young, Dumb & Broke” forever, here are 10 free adulting workshops and talks held online to help you along your journey.
1. Find out how to save for your first home in Singapore
Owning a house is a rite of passage for many Singaporeans but with complicated terms like “CPF housing grants” being thrown around, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Learning how to apply for your own BTO is easy enough, but figuring out how to afford it requires a little more financial finesse.
With HDB homes costing up to a million dollars, saving up can seem stressful. Sign up for the Adulting 101: Buying Your First HDB Home talk that will help introduce you to the different housing loans and grants available.
Led by Joseph Tan, a certified in-house trainer, this talk will help you get one step closer to popping the almighty Singaporean question: “BTO ai mai?”.
Date: 6th April 2021
Time: 7PM-8.30PM
Register for the Adulting 101: Buying Your First HDB Home talk.
2. Better manage your finances with your partner
Part and parcel of adulthood is learning how to properly budget and manage your finances, especially with all the big-ticket purchases needed to kickstart your family life.
Whether it’s repaying your loans or investing in stocks, the numbers and values can turn out to be quite the headache – but it doesn’t have to be. The Adulting 101: Financial Planning for Couples talk teaches you all you need to know about managing your finances together with bae for the long-run.
Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many of us were met with a whole slew of financial challenges too. If you’re finding it difficult to get back on your two feet, there’s also a Financial Resilience During COVID-19 talk to give you all the aid and resources you need.
Financial Resilience During COVID-19
Date: 8th April 2021
Time: 12.30PM-1.30PM
Register for the Financial Resilience During COVID-19 talk.
Adulting 101: Financial Planning for Couples
Date: 15th April 2021
Time: 7PM-8.30PM
Register for the Adulting 101: Financial Planning for Couples talk.
3. Become a better team leader by understanding your colleagues
After scoring a job, developing your career is probably the next step on your mind. If you want to impress your bosses with your teamwork and people skills, taking the Personality Diversity Awareness & Leadership talk will help you understand yourself better, as well as the individuals you’re working with.
If you often find yourself working on group projects, attending the Are You Tapping into Your Team Advantage? talk can also be extremely beneficial for your career. Led by Peter Cauwelier, a qualified team coach, you’ll learn everything you need to know about maximising your potential as a cooperative team player.
Personality Diversity Awareness & Leadership
Date: 15th April 2021
Time: 12.30PM-1.30PM
Register for the Personality Diversity Awareness & Leadership talk.
Are You Tapping into Your Team Advantage?
Date: 22nd April 2021
Time: 12.30PM-1.30PM
Register for the Are You Tapping into Your Team Advantage? talk.
4. Level up your interview skills to land your dream job
When it comes to job and university applications, being called up for an interview can be one of the best and the worst feelings in the world. Although you’re one step closer to clinching a job or successful placement, it also means that you’ll have to convince a group of intimidating strangers that you’re fit for the position – not the best case scenario for introverts like myself.
Thankfully, the Teens Takeover – Interview Skills workshop shares interview tips so you can better prepare an arsenal of appropriate answers – essential for those looking to get a headstart on university or job applications.
Date: 21st April 2021
Time: 3PM-4PM
Register for the Teens Takeover | Interview Skills workshop.
5. Keep your health in check with nutrition tips
One perk of being an adult is having the freedom to eat junk food for every meal without your parents’ incessant nagging. While this may sound like a dream come true, it won’t be beneficial for your health in the long run.
To help you better understand your dietary needs, the Exercise and Nutrition talk covers everything you need to know about pre- and post-workout diets. With topics spanning optimal digestion to the necessary vitamins our bodies need, everything you learn here will help you lead a healthier lifestyle.
Date: 7th April 2021
Time: 7PM-8PM
Register for the Exercise and Nutrition talk.
6. Debunk fitness myths for better #gains
Let’s get real: adulting is hard. With your new responsibilities and busy schedules, it’s hard to find pockets of time during the week to workout and maintain your fitness.
This means that when we do hit the gym, it’s important to ensure that we’re exercising the right way so we don’t waste precious time and energy. On top of that, exercising is also an excellent way to relieve stress from work or school projects.
The Strong Muscles for Better Health talk debunks popular exercise myths so you know exactly how to train your body and keep it in tip-top condition.
Date: 14th April 2021
Time: 7PM-8PM
Register for the Strong Muscles for Better Health talk.
7. Learn to be a pro with nursery rhymes for your kid
Welcoming a child into the world is one of the most daunting experiences. For first-time parents who have no idea what they are doing, it’s only natural to prepare by getting first-hand advice from those that have been there, done that.
Most experienced parents know that songs and rhymes are great ways to aid your child’s development, but it can be hard to find good ones to use.
The Baby Songs and Rhymes workshop will teach you useful songs, action rhymes, and finger plays so you can interact and forge deeper bonds with your child as they grow up. This workshop will be held online and is suitable for parents with babies up to 12 months old.
Date: 22nd April 2021
Time: 4PM-4.20PM
Register for the Baby Songs and Rhymes workshop.
8. Understand more about cultures overseas
While the leisure travel ban is still in place, the next best thing that we can do to experience foreign cultures is by seeking it out ourselves, such as through the Communities: Travel & Culture Explorers workshop.
Creating a safe and inclusive space for people from all over the world, the workshop lets you hear about the global experiences of the guest speaker – an IT professional who has lived in four different countries – and from the other attendees. If you’ve had any prior experience living overseas, you can also share your stories and what you’ve learnt with the rest of the group in this co-learning environment.
Date: 28th April 2021
Time: 7.30PM-9PM
Register for the Communities: Travel & Culture Explorers workshop.
Free adulting workshops and talks in Singapore
When it comes to conquering life’s biggest milestones, hearing about shared experiences to guide you along and give you advice can make adulting feel less isolating. Workshops and talks are a great way to get you on the right track, and it’s even better when they’re completely free.
If you’re seeking out informative workshops and talks to join, the National Library Board holds a wide array of options both virtually and in-person every month, with topics ranging from adulting to sustainability.
All the above listings are available for booking, with more workshops like MakeIT in 3D and talks like Histories: Where has Singapore Gone to look forward to in upcoming months. To register for these workshops, all you have to do is sign up on the GoLibrary website with your valid myLibrary ID.
It’s normal to be faced with a quarter-life crisis once you realise that there are a lot more responsibilities to uptake than you expected. But as you slowly get familiar to your new routines and commitments – along with the help of advice from your peers – you might come to realise that maybe adulthood isn’t so bad after all.
Check out more NLB GoLibrary programmes here
This post was brought to you by the National Library Board.