Varnacular

Ambidexterity Training Day 1

I’m beginning ambidexterity training today. I have joint pain in my right thumb, which I’m guessing is from overuse and perhaps a touch of arthritis. Since my day is spent drawing for my job, drawing for the comic,  using the mouse, and playing video games, and I don’t want to give up any of those (and really can’t give up the job stuff) it seems like a good idea to train myself to use my left hand. That way I can avoid overusing my right and have the option to switch when the right one is sore. 

I know this won’t be easy, and I’m highly skeptical I’ll ever be able to draw adequately with my left hand. But at the very least I can try, and in the meantime I can use my left hand for other tasks, thus giving my right hand a break for everything BUT drawing. 

And playing most video games. I really don’t see how I can avoid using my right hand when playing computer or xbox non-kinect games. I’ll simply have to cut down on those, at least until the thumb pain subsides, or look into how one-handed people do it.

One thing I will permanently cut down on: aimless internet surfing with the right-handed mouse. It’s a pointless task and needlessly puts more strain on my right hand. I could try using a left-handed mouse, but I’d rather just cut down to get the added benefit of saving time.

I got off to a good start this morning. Any time I feel my dominate hand going for something I switch and use my left hand. It feels funny, but it’s usually not too hard. I put my clothes on left limb first. I ate my morning oatmeal with my left hand. I did common kitchen and shower tasks left-handed. The hardest thing was brushing my teeth. I got through it, but I feel like I didn’t do a great job of getting my teeth clean. Normally I’d be typing this with both hands, but I’m letting my left hand do all the work so the right can rest. 

I haven’t attempted to use the Cintiq pen with my left hand yet. Work is uncommonly slow right now, so I may try it when I get a task I can take my time with.

I’m dreading my left-handed attempt to write the alphabet, but I better get in the habit of doing it everyday and not letting myself get too discouraged by the results. I’ll post my chicken scratch here for posterity.