One Year Along

So, if you can believe it, I've been using my left hand almost exclusively for one year as of today. In celebration, I'm taking a right handed holiday. I know it may sound like celebrating a year of being on a diet by eating a huge slice of chocolate cake, but there is a good reason behind it.

That's because it shows me just how far I have left to go. There is an almost palpable sense of relief in being able to do things just a little more dexterously than usual. With all the skill I've developed on my "off" side, I still have difficulty acquiring new tasks or quickly executing familiar ones.

I've also started to realize how firmly I've established the habits of the last year. I keep picking up my pen with my left hand, and find I have to remind myself to use the right. Once I do, I can write just as readily as before, but the action of writing with the left has become ingrained. I would say that writing is the left handed task that I have acquired most successfully. That's no wonder, since it's the one I've focused on the most, and gotten the most practice with.

However, the vacation ends tomorrow, as does the unconscious coddling. There are certain tasks that I have wussed out on over the course of the year. Cooking, brushing my teeth or hair, carrying things--although I would use my left most of the time, I would find myself switching back to the right when I was in hurry or needed a little "burst" of dexterity. I was doing myself a disservice, because it is in those situations where it is most important to get that training.

And so, starting tomorrow, no more excuses. Either I do it lefty, or I do it over. The only reasons I'll accept to switch back are (a) in a matter of life-or-death, or (b) for cultural reasons (e.g., on a trip to the Middle East).

At the end of the year, I'll see where I'm at. If I can honestly say that my dexterity is pretty much equal, then I've accomplished the first stage of my plan. The next task would be rewiring my habits to make use of whichever hand was most conveniently located for a given task. The final step is doing two things at once, but that's looking far ahead. For right now, I've got a year of frustration ahead of me.