I feel a bit unbalanced today. You may not know this about me, but I am completely ambidextrous. In fact, I normally write with my left hand but play tennis or squash or throw with my right hand.
I play a lot of squash. I probably play a minimum of 4 and sometimes up to 6 times a week. Lately, however, I have begun to experience some pain in my elbow and my shoulder. I decided to take it easy and rest the arm, opting to not play this week. I got talked into giving it a try this morning, though. I easily won my first game and then the shoulder started to ache, kind of sharply. So I did the smart thing and resigned the match. That should have ended it.
Except that my partner suggested that I switch hands and play lefty. I have never tried that before but, sure, why not. We hit some balls so I could get used to it and then we went for it. I lost three games very quickly: 9-0; 9-0; 9-1. So we played three more and I lost all of them, too but by a much better score: 9-5; 9-6; 9-6. Yes, I took respectable losses against an experienced player by using my weak hand for the first time ever.
Cool. I was so pleased when we walked off the court.
But then it got weird. I went to get a cup of coffee to take into the locker room and I ended up using my left hand as my dominant hand. I have continued, off and on, to confuse which hand is dominant. I have felt slightly off balance, too, like I used my body in a familiar task but in an unfamiliar way. All very odd.
I highly recommend this experience, if you think you have the ability to switch it up a little.
Change your perspective. Use your other hand (good luck serving, though).
Posted by Random Penseur at May 9, 2008 01:05 PM | TrackBackI do it all the time, very useful. :-P Plus it makes me feel smart and able, to use both hands fairly well.
Posted by: Hannah at May 9, 2008 02:47 PMJoe is a big softball player. For the longest time he was hitting right handed, but would practice left handed sometimes. In one game, he wasn't doing so well. He stepped up to the plate and proceeded to get into position left handed. I thought the coach was going to lose his mind. He was yelling for Joe not to do it, but Joe moved forward. Joe scored a home run which essentially won the game. :)
Josh, my younger son, is ambidextrous. He throws right handed, but eats left handed. He alternates which hand he uses in drawing, but mostly uses his right hand, but will pick up a bat (or light saber, actually) with his left hand. It will be interesting to see what he does with that in the future.
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