The Struggles of Being Left-Handed

I was tagged by Miss Andi's @ellimacandrea article about July. She discussed the traits July babies mostly possess. Most of the traits were accurate to me and one fact that struck me the most was being Left-handed. Then I got inspired writing this article. Thanks Miss Andi, finally I now have a topic to write to. Haha

I guess it's safe to say that majority of the population are right-handed people so basically, that explains why the world is designed for right-handed people.

Lefties like me go through these little daily struggles that right-handed people wouldn't mind at all. According to my research, lefties only share 10% of the total population. That doesn't sound much but that's roughly 750 million people.

For the record, I didn't choose to be a lefty. I just realized I belong to the lefties nation when I started writing at 3 years old. It just came out naturally. Then again, I learned to embrace it but there are certain struggles that we face in some circumstances.

That being said, here are some of the things left-handed people are having a hard time to.

I tell you, the majority of these struggles were found in the school. That's extra baggage of concern to work on to.

Scissors

I didn't realize that being a lefty is a struggle until I entered primary school. I was 3 years old when I entered pre-school and since the learning style mostly applies to art activities, using the scissors gave me this impression of life being unfair.

Scissors are mostly designed for right-handed people so it is something a lefty would struggle to. I haven't seen a scissor made for lefties though, have you seen one? Then again, I learned to compromise and just ask for some help from the people around me when I need to get things done out of my ability as a lefty.

Left-handed Armchairs

One thing I usually take into consideration when entering a classroom is the availability of left-handed desks. It's rare for a classroom to have left-handed desks and now, we need to compromise again.

I started using the armchairs back when I was in 5th grade. It's really rare to see a left-handed armchair. If I get the chance to see one, someone owns it already. I'm not the type of person who confronts people for the things I want. If it's available for me, then good. Otherwise, it's still good for me. I can adjust. I'll just use the right-handed armchair.

Based on my experience, in every classroom I have attended with 50 armchairs in total, only 6% are left-handed armchairs. Chances are, you get one left-handed armchair for your own from winning a challenge first (petty fights or bullying) or just settle with a right-handed armchair.

From 5th grade up to 4th-year college, I have only used left-handed armchairs for 5-6 times only. Roughly. Just when I get lucky to spot an empty left-handed chair.

Spiral Notebooks

School had its major role in feeding me this impression of why I'm so unlucky to be a lefty.

Growing up, I prefer spiral notebooks to the usual notebooks you see in grade school. When I was in high school, I used to take the wires of the notebook to recycle the blank pages and compile all of them so I can make a brand new notebook without spending a dime.

Now what struggles us lefties is when we write on the right side of the page and our hands are above its spring. Aside from the inconvenience we're feeling, it also destructs our penmanship which is a major mood changer for me. I hate seeing my penmanship so ugly and untidy. If I commit a mistake while writing, I scratch the page off and start writing again. That's a very exhausting habit but I got used to it.

Inks

This is connected to the spiral notebook. Sometimes, I use pens with strong inks that don't get dry right away. What happens is that when I write, my hand goes over to the slow drying ink and it smears on my palm ruining the entire writing.

When I was in high school, I saw my classmate (my puppy love ex-boyfriend) who's also left-handed having the same struggle as me when it comes to smearing the inks on the palms. What he did was he tore a portion of his notebook and used it as a cover to his hand so that the ink won't mess up the handwriting.

And I did the same thing too, which was effective though. But one thing I learned about it, I avoided using slow-dry ink pens since then. It took me so long to realize that. So st*pid.

Using a computer mouse

I was in 3rd grade when I first encountered the computer. The computer mouse has always been placed on the right side.

Being a lefty, it has always been a struggle for me. As I said, I got the hang of it and uses it now with speed.

I remember when I got scolded by my computer teacher. I tried to switch the mouse and keyboard so it gets comfortable for me but she saw what I did and ordered me to switch it back because it was not the proper computer skills. Is there a computer skill anyway?

Keyboard Numpad

The numpad is placed on the right of the keyboard making it for the lefties to type a series of numbers. Until now, I still prefer to input numbers from the numbers placed above the QWERTY keys. That's where I'm most comfortable of.

There are still some of the lists that I'll be writing on to the next article.

To the lefties out there, totally relatable eh? Haha

Thanks for reading.

Keep safe everyone! ❤