The Lefty Project (Day One)

Welcome to my new blog. I’ve blogged a lot over the past few years, but mostly pertaining to my China trips/fundraisers/kids in Chenzhou. So this should be an interesting switch—writing about my upcoming project:

I have decided to be left-handed for the next 4 weeks (the next 28 days to be exact).

For those of you who are curious as to why I’ve decided to do something almost impossible for me… here’s my explanation:

I will be taking on this project for my Rhetoric and Research class. Thanks to Dr. Brown, my entire class is being challenged to give something up/do something different for the next 28 days. Whether that be writing a letter every day, drinking 64 oz of whatever every day, or giving up caffeine. We are all embarking on this crazy project together.

I just so happened to choose being left handed. Which should be really interesting for me, because my left hand can’t do anything. I remember I once told my friend, after attempting to curl my hair and use both of my hands, that “my left hand is useless, for anything that I try to do”.

And it really is.  My left hand is useless when it comes to writing, unscrewing jars, etc. And if you think I’m joking, here’s an example. Below I wrote my first and middle name in my right hand, and then with my left hand:

Yeah. It’s pretty bad.

I hope that by doing this project, I’ll be able to be ambidextrous. That’s my hope, but we’ll see if that actually happens at the end of the month. I’m not expecting too much. ;)

Now, to make sure that I don’t hinder myself or my grades, I’ve decided to lay down a few ground rules:

1.   I can use my right hand for tests. I have a few classes where I have to write essays and definitions out on tests, and I do not want my grades to fall because I can’t finish them. So for tests I do not have to use my left hand.

2.     I can use my right hand to apply makeup. You saw the picture above… can you imagine my left hand trying to put on makeup? I’d look like a clown ;).

So this means that I will be using my left hand for everything else: straightening my hair (or curling if I so choose), eating, and writing for non-test related purposes.

Those are the only rules I can think of for now… but those are subject to change throughout the month if I realize that they are hindering my grades or myself.

Tomorrow will be my first day officially trying this left-handed thing. I’ve been trying here and there throughout this week as a test run. And I’ll tell you it’s been rough. But I’m excited to see if I get better at using my left hand. That’s my ultimate goal.

So… tune in tomorrow to see how well I "hand"le this (haha sorry for the stupid pun).