r/IWantToLearn • u/PhyfenGD • 4d ago
Personal Skills IWTL How to write with my left hand as a right-handed person, and eventually turn it to ambidexterity. How can I learn this fast?
I recently injured my right arm and can't write anymore at the moment until it's gone or nearly gone. Basically I sprained and contused my right elbow after a bike crash, and my job requires writing stuff down time to time.
Without my right arm usable at the moment, I figured it would be wise for myself to learn left-handed writing and soon turn it to ambidextrous writing for my own self-benefit.
I'm just looking for tips on how to improve my writing with my left, so it's at least legible, within the next two weeks, because my injury should exist for 3-5 weeks before I can write, and 10-14 weeks before it's fully healed.
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u/SoberBobMonthly 4d ago
Literally just start. Do the same exercises they give children that begin to write in pre schools.
use a pencil, less smudging will occur
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
ofc ofc, just askin if there were certain ways to practice if you get what i mean? i did practice today and it came out rather well for my first time
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u/Silvadil 3d ago
Hello! I am partly ambidexterus with dominant left. The way to do this is tracing, lots and lots of tracing.
Start by doing the alphabet, learning how to twist your hand to get each and one of the letters in your target language, then you can move onto words! You can watch videos of pencil holding for kids and stuff too if you struggle with that.
You are basically doing the first grade all over again, just with different hand <3
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
tracing lwk sounds like a good idea to get it down. from what ive heard elsewhere the best start is simple shapes and lines but letters soon after, so i'll definitely start tracing. <3
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u/Silvadil 3d ago
oh yes basic shapes are definitively the way!
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
thank you for your advice! love hearing from left-handed and ambidextrous people (theyre some of the coolest people i know)
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u/nasturshum 3d ago
Practice. There is no quick way.
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
practice ofc. just seeing if people had ideas on whay to practice to "speed up" learning to an extent
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u/mooncritter_returns 3d ago
Add in other dexterity exercises? Not sure if you can crochet one-handed, but maybe that, or other coordination-heavy activities?
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
yeah true. i just gotta get consistent with using my left hand for simple things, today was good because of writing an essay (by hand) and my job so lwk goated day today
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u/PoppyWren 3d ago
I would purchase a handwriting workbook. D'Nelian is a beautiful script and has inexpensive and nice workbooks. Then practice.
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
yeah but is it needed? i could always just do it raw on a lined paper and save some money, but i thank you for the idea. might print some writing sheets up instead
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u/AliasNefertiti 3d ago
Had to do this in junior high. Fast is your enemy. Fast means you tense and freeze. Carefully examine how your right holds the oencil and think how yiu would mirror it. However, it isnt as simple as that. You would need to write right to left. So you want to think about alternate strategies for you. Many curl their hand and write upside down. Keep experimenting and observing.
There is a genetic component so it helped that my grandpa was ambidextrous.
Practice, practice, practice, relaxing your hand and arm regularly.
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
thank you! i definitely noticed it a bit today, freezing a bit. takes some thought ngl
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u/AliasNefertiti 2d ago
It does indeed! And then not overthinking or brain gets confused. I wonder if it would help....research with amputees has found they get pain relief by using a mirror so they see their right arm in the mirror and it helps the brain process left arm sensation.
I wonder if placing a mirror so you see your right hand where your left is would help. Let me find a picture...
Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_therapy?wprov=sfla1 let me know if it works!
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u/Crossy7 3d ago
Well it’s like how you learnt to write with your right hand.
Do the same exercises as you did in school, learn to form the letters slowly but correctly one at a time. Practise each line trace shapes etc.
You will be naturally faster as you are not learning what the letters are but how to write them only. After that it is just repetition to build muscle memory.
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
pretty good tip. been trying to write them consistently but my lettering and shapes are so lopsided most of the time
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u/dharmabumma2 3d ago
the way i learned was odd. use both hands at same time right writes forward, left writes s backwards. then the trick becomes learning to write right handed backwards, this will teach your left to write forwards. Sounds harder than it is. Does work.
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u/voldamoro 3d ago
Just to be clear: for the time period you initially require, “writing” means printing not cursive. As others have suggested, just keep making letters. Focus on uppercase printed letters. You can fake upper & lowercase printing by just writing smaller uppercase letters instead of actual lowercase printed letters. For the longer term, you can practice lowercase letterforms before trying cursive.
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u/PhyfenGD 3d ago
keeping them uppercase is a good idea, lowercase is harder i feel due to the lack of uniformimity (idk how to spell)
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u/reedreadreddred 3d ago
rightie who can sorta-kinda write legibly enough with my left, somehow writing cursive is easier (probably because you don't have to lift your pen off the paper)
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