learn to write with my left hand

I wrote out a packing slip at work today and one of our clients saw it and said, “Who wrote that?? The letters are so perfect! It looks like it was typed!!” And it was all my left-handed writing!!

I feel that once again I’ve made sort of a jump forward in progress and the left hand feels more natural now. The numbers are shaping up now too.

Not sure when I will call this done. I guess I would not feel it’s complete until I can write basically at the same speed with both hands, and never make mistakes with the left. Although I usually prefer printing because of the uniformity, I should probably be able to write perfectly in cursive as well.

I think this goal will actually take a few more years!

I’m still working on this one, obviously. It takes so much more time than you can imagine. And sometimes I simply lack the time or focus needed to do things LH. It makes you wonder if it is that exhausting when little children are learning to write.

I am amazed at how much more comfortable my hand feels. The pen doesn’t feel so alien in my grip, I’m much more relaxed. I still “jump” my left arm along the page with each word, haven’t figured out how to lightly drag it across as I write.

“O’s” and other rounded letters look greatly improved. “E’s” are challenging, especially when they occur in a row, but they are my favourite letter to do LH now.

I addressed an envelope the other day LH and showed it to my bf, who couldn’t guess. (His handwriting disqualifies him as a judge though lol).

I have gradually been using it at work more frequently (it’s still so time consuming, which is a real deterrent), and people still comment on how neat my writing is. They always say that about my RH, so it’s nice that they can’t really tell the difference. In the beginning with my LH, they certainly would have!!

.... wrote some fax covers yesterday left-handed. It was slow going, but they looked divine! ;)

Another thing that sort of helps round out letters in the right places is applying less pressure to the paper.

Got frustrated journalling left-handed last night and had to finish with my right hand. It’s so damn slow!!

Went basically the whole week without practicing, I was extremely busy and even while journaling I did not have the time to invest in writing my entries with my left hand.

I did last night, however, and although it always starts of shaky, it definitely evens out. My strategy right now is slowing down, taking time to form each letter carefully.

My strategy in the past has been to just write with a flow and although the individual components look worse, it helps develop a natural feel for how you use your arm and hand muscles when writing.

(LOL I know I’m such a huge nerd!)

I am getting better. I see my handwriting going through stages that kids’ handwriting goes through. I’m learning how to move the pen using my fingers and not my whole arm. I’m starting to put a little style into some of my letters.

Interesting – wrote with my left hand for the first time in several years and immediately was writing as neatly as I had before. It is still difficult to control, the hand feels so heavy and clumsy, but it is much better than when I first started.

I copied 2 potato recipes I want to make from a cookbook I got from the library. It took my about an hour and a great deal of concentration! I can’t even comprehend writing in cursive at this point.

Although my writing is neat and gaining in consistency, it’s nowhere near what I would consider good enough or efficient enough. I’ve always loved working on my handwriting and so I think I’ll have quite high standards for when this is considered “done”!!

Getting back to this one now – grocery list was left-handed.

I have been working on this off and on for a few years because I always wondered what would happen if I injured my right hand. My usual method was to take an issue of Smithsonian magazine, get out my “left-handed journal” and copy down the little blurbs. I like not having to think of content to write, so I can just focus on the technique. I got pretty good, although the handwriting still looked a little childish. For some reason, even apart from the injury thing, this is an important goal for me. I think it would make me feel really proud to do this!