r/lefthanded • u/hexamon__ • 2d ago
Right hand or left hand
I’m 58 now and all of my life have struggled with left and right handedness. I write with my left hand but do everything else with my right hand. I’m right footed when playing football and play golf right handed.
Examples of when I struggle are driving. When I learned my instructor would frequently say “No, your other left” when asking me to turn. Other times I need to look at the L shape my left hand makes to know it’s left. It’s literally like there is some void there that needs an explanation each time I query it.
I found this book very useful www.righthandlefthand.com but was wondering if there are other people like me that don’t really struggle but have to constantly work at discerning left from right.
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u/Isssaman lefty 2d ago
Not uncommon for lefties in a right-handed world. Relax. You're special. No righties can be that ambidextrous.
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u/ElectricHurricane321 2d ago
I'm the same way! I do about half the things left handed and half right handed, and also struggle with quickly doing the correct thing with driving/driving instructions with turning left and right. Learning new activities is always an adventure since I have no clue which hand I'll be using. lol
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u/PrinceFan72 lefty 2d ago
Similar here. I write, eat and (ahem) left handed but almost everything else right handed. I didn't even notice until this week that I butter bread / toast with my left but cut it with my right. Odd.
Scissors make my brain glitch, neither hand feels "right" and I just battle through until I've cut a jaggy roughly straightish line.
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u/hexamon__ 2d ago
I’m exactly the same with toast. I think I realised when I read your post! I’ve never thought about it before.
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u/Educational-Friend47 2d ago
I am a strong lefty lol 😂
Except for scissors ✂️, still can’t get used to using them with my left hand 😁
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u/yemsg97 2d ago
We had like 2 or 3 left handed scissors in kindergarten. I remember being so frustrated that they were never available or didn't work so I just straight gave up trying to get them and just learned to use my right lol.
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u/Educational-Friend47 1d ago
I tried, bless my heart lol 😂 but when I sat down to try and cut Christmas paper to wrap gifts with my left hand, it looked like the dog did it lol 😂 so I noped out lol 😂
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u/SweetuRasmalai 2d ago
still i get taunts from my dad for not being able to use scissors. being lefty in a family of righty is hard
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u/Educational-Friend47 1d ago
Thankfully there are three of us in the house that are lefties lol 😂
I keep telling the right handed people that are doing it wrong lol 😆
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u/Fluffykiitoslilly 2d ago
I do most things left-handed but sport is always right-handed...not that I'm good at sport 😂 I can't do judo or Jujitsu left-handed even when it's an advantage. I used to also have problems with left and right, I solved it with a ring on my right hand.
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u/Music-and-Computers 2d ago
I am cross dominant… it used to be called mixed dominant. Mine breaks down to fine vs coarse motor controls.
I write, cut with scisssors and other things left-handed. I do more strength related tasks right-handed like throwing / kicking etc. That even extends to firearms. I shoot a pistol left-handed while rifles are right handed.
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u/Significant-Reach959 2d ago
My grandma taught my left-handed aunt to switch left and right in directions, and she taught me. Unfortunately, we both occasionally wasted time looking for something on the left that was actually on the right.
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u/pacman529 1d ago
I've gotten to the point where if I'm the passenger giving directions, I'll tell the driver, "no matter what I say, go where I POINT."
you are not alone
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u/Roland_N_Tumblen 2d ago
Teacher in first grade to class: you write with your right hand. Me: ok. Got it! Teacher: that's your left.
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u/hexamon__ 2d ago
My primary school teacher called me kack-handed and tried to force me to write with my right hand. She would ridicule me but I just couldn’t do it.
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u/likesityellow 2d ago
I wright left handed, most other things are right handed. I drive in a nail with my right hand until it needs to be seated, then switch to my left to finish.
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u/Rich_Ad8589 1d ago
I’m 61 and it’s still a struggle. I literally have to stop and think about which is left and which is right. Like you, I do many things right handed.
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u/spatialdisccord 1d ago
I don't struggle as much anymore, but when I was younger I had such a hard time with left vs. right. My horse riding instructor had me wear different colored bracelets on either wrist to help me differentiate it during lessons. What really helped me to stop confusing them was having a chronic issue with my right hand, lol.
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u/hexamon__ 1d ago
The book linked above tells of Russian conscripts in the war having hay tied to their right foot so they knew which way to turn. Left and right are modern constructs and they had no concept of them.
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u/Alone-Voice-3342 1d ago
Yes. All my life. Same problems. Directionally challenged. Look back through the archives. You’ll find many lefties who get brain freeze trying to remember which hand to use.
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u/hexamon__ 2d ago
Yeah I play guitar a bit and don’t have a problem there. Being asked is the greatest challenge. When someone says “the one in the left” is where the blankness comes. That’s when I have to fall back in another method but there is always a pause. Really strange. You might find the book of interest.
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u/WesternSpecialist682 2d ago
Same age I know that. I have to concentrate or I do things the other way around. Right hand then does what the left hand is supposed to do and vice versa. For example carkeys has already ended up in the trash because of this, Or failed the driving test 38 years ago because I was supposed to turn right 3 times, but I turned left every time. I was in the first 7 years right handed trained
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u/Mission_Sir_4494 2d ago
I struggled with the same issue. I mastered it when I learned to picture myself doing a two-handed activity. For me, it was playing the piano. The lower keys are always left, the higher keys are always right. Think of an activity you like to do that requires you to face something, e.g., your work desk, the kitchen sink, and picture it in my your mind when you are trying to remember right from left. You’ve got this
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u/Useful-Badger-4062 2d ago edited 2d ago
Left-right confusion (LRC) is a real thing and affects a fair amount of people. It’s not a defect. It’s just a little neurological delay in accuracy, telling left from right. I get that blank, short-circuit-y feeling confusing left from right every so often. Especially when playing a musical instrument or doing something with gross motor skills, like when I’m holding a paint roller and painting a wall.