#Microblog Monday 416: Becoming Ambidextrous
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I was reading a blog post, and the person mentioned that they were working to become ambidextrous. Just because.
It never occurred to me that this was something to attempt, at least not without clear reason, such as not being able to use your dominant hand or because it naturally occurred. But 1% of the world is ambidextrous. That number seems a little high. That would be 78 million people. More than the entire population of the United Kingdom. Without a dominant hand.
I’m not sure why I’m still thinking about this person’s comment this far after the fact, except to wonder if we should all be attempting to write neatly with our non-dominant hand.
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6 comments
My husband’s great-aunt taught herself to write with her left hand, just in case. She also learned to navigate around her house with her eyes closed – just in case.
She broke her right arm. She also developed macular degeneration and became blind. So I guess both skills came in handy…
Long back I read that if one is able to use their non-dominant hand for a few tasks here and there, it keeps the brain active and agile. So there are days I use my non dominant hand to try simple tasks in the spirit of giving my brain some exercise. I am not sure if it works or not but it’s fun! 🙂
I remember when I was in Grade 1 or 2, the teacher asked the students who were left-handed to try writing with the right… and those of us who were right-handed to try writing with our left. This was the late 1960s, when it was still common to try to force lefties to use their right hands, and in retrospect, I think that was rather enlightened of her to encourage us to put ourselves in each others’ places.
But to be able to use either hand, and do it well — that’s pretty cool. 🙂
Hmmm, I did try for a while to write with my left hand, just in case, but I haven’t done it in a while. It felt like channeling a much younger me with poor fine motor skills. I do practice writing upside down, though, for school stuff. They seem related because it reverses things and makes you really think about what you’re writing, and slows you wayyyyy down. That’s cool that 1% are ambidextrous — that’s a lot more than I would have thought! I wonder if it’s inherent or learned or they count both?
My husband is semi-ambidextrous (is that be a thing?), though I don’t think he can write with his left hand, even though he was probably meant to be left-handed. He does other things – like eat with knife and fork in reverse. He always confuses waiters, because the first thing he does when he sits own at a restaurant is swap the knife and fork around.
I’ve recently had to try to write with my left (and I am very right dominant normally) because I’ve had a pinched nerve and a very sore right arm that got worse when I wrote. It was really hard, and I was only doing it with crosswords! (Thank goodness for typing.) I also once had my right hand in a cast, and taught myself to do some things left-handed. I need to keep at it, as I find it very difficult to swap.
I used to do that a lot – try to be ambidextrous. I still do it occasionally. I think it’s my cousin who write with his right hand but eats with his left. That’s really odd. I enjoy being able to use both hands, but wish I could do so more equally.