There is no doubt we live in a world made for right-handed people. But being left-handed is not something you can really change. After 19 years, you learn how to deal with the frustration and make it work. For those of us who are left handed we face struggles every single day.
1. Your hand becomes art after writing.
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This is a cruel irony. Most left-handed people are creative and writers, but when we write the old fashion way, with a pencil / pen and paper, we end up with art work on the side of our hand. There's no point in trying to wash it off, it'll just get worse before it gets better. Enjoy your clean hands rightys.
2. Good luck finding a desk.
Going with the writing theme, we have the problem of finding a desk. If you can't find the desk in the first 10 seconds of walking in the room, looks like you're using a "righty" desk. And if you do somehow locate that desk meant for you, it's always in the corner away from everyone else, so you still wind up at a "righty" desk to avoid the awkwardness of sitting by yourself.
3. Using scissors is impossible.
"Hey can you cut this?" is still something I ask people to do regularly. No, I am not five-years-old, I am just left-handed. People always comment that left-handed scissors are an option, and those would be awesome except no teacher ever had a pair. Instead, I have mastered the fold and rip technique to look as smooth as a cut from a scissor.
4. Have fun finding sports equipment.
Everyone loves a left-handed athlete, it throws off the competition because they aren't used to dealing with one. However, for some sports, finding equipment is the worst and the pickings are slim. When looking for a softball glove, there is an entire wall dedicated to gloves for all positions, colors and brands, and then there's two rows of gloves for us left-handed people. Awesome.
5. Bumping elbows with the person sitting next to you.
To the people I sat next to in grade school, I'd like to take this time to formally apologize for bumping your elbow every 10 seconds during class. Trust me it was annoying for both of us. I wasn't doing it on purpose, this was poor planning on the teacher's part. Know there was nothing that could be done and I did my best to not bump elbows with you.
6. Everyone assumes you can draw or are artistic.
I am artistic in the sense that I can hold a pen, but that's about where it stops. It is true that left-handed people tend to be more creative, but that creativity manifest itself in different ways. When people learn I am left-handed, they assume I can draw and ask me to draw them something. If you do, you're going to get something like the cat above. I hope you like it, his name is Gavin.
7. Mugs face the wrong way.
Mugs can be a fun way to express yourself. For us left-handed people, the graphic on mug winds up facing us instead of everyone else. And we're just expected to enjoy our morning coffee without people knowing our mug says something witty like, "I'm sorry for what I said before I had my coffee."
Fear not, leftys. Despite these daily struggles, we go on to live some pretty amazing lives. We are creative and more likely to be geniuses. And if you're really struggling, there's always The Left Hand Store to make your life easier.
