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Weeks Two and Three - Baby Steps Continue

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The second and third weeks of this self-imposed experiment look very similar to Week One. I am becoming more bold with things I endeavor to do, but I still struggle with execution of some activities. I may even need to do a task with my right hand first and painstakingly observe and note the movement. Then I try to duplicate that movement with my left hand. Naturally, I wanted to immediately want to jump into some activities, but pragmatically, that was not advisable. Tuesday, August 14  8pm  This goal of becoming left-handed is giving a large opportunity to practice important knife skills. When I chop with my dominant right hand, I have formed bad habits and don’t always have proper technique. While holding the knife with my left, my form is much better and safer. I still lack finesse, but the lack of finesse is probably a very real reason why I’m safer with my cutting. Once I get through this year, I should start working on my right-hand skills. As week one and wee
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Week 1 - Baby Steps to Become Left-Handed

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In my first week of becoming left handed I’ve had some typical lefty struggles, like how the hell do I write so I don’t get ink all over my hand and smear what I just wrote? Other struggles are a little more unique to me. I don’t know if I’m doing an activity as a lefty, a righty, or some modified Sarah version. The modified Sarah version of many activates is due in large part to my pre-existing condition that causes small fibrous non-cancerous tumors to grow along nerve sheeths and throughout my body. In a “normal” person, when the synapses fire, they build connections. Like taking a walk in the woods, each time you travel the path, it becomes well-worn and walking is easier. With repetition of synapses firing, the task gets easier. For me, along some synapse lines, the small tumors act like boulders and an alternate path has to be made to achieve a goal. By the need to find new routes, I haven’t always done things the “normal way.”   After watching my success of finding ne
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THE RULES OF BECOMING LEFT HANDED

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Following my brain surgery on December 15, 2010, I ended up having a series of specialists to visit for annual checkups.    In March 2017 I made an extra visit to my neurologist after my second marathon- Chief Complaint: Neuropathy in my extremities that would come and go during runs and started creeping into my every-day life. I lamented that I was losing hand strength and opening jars was becoming more difficult. I pantomimed opening a jar.   My doctor  was surprised I “opened” it with my left hand even though I’m right-handed.    I told her I am moderately ambidextrous and do most gross motor with my left hand and more fine-motor with the right. She said she could not fathom even attempt to open a jar with her left hand. (I myself, couldn’t fathom doing it any other way.) Then she expounded… She said 70% of people who identify as ambidextrous are supposed to be left-handed.    Challenge accepted.  I decided to become left-handed. Left-hand writing style. When my fam
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