Living the Lefty Life: Smudges, Scissors, and Secret Skills

Can you crack the left-handed riddle?

Did you know that only about 10% of the world’s population is left-handed? That is what the statistics say, but I seem to know a lot of lefties. Maybe we naturally gravitate toward each other.

Life as a left-hander is an adventure—especially when you grow up in a time and place where being left-handed is considered... well, a problem.

I was raised in Czechoslovakia, where left-handedness was strongly discouraged at both school and home. Unbelievable, right? My teachers forced me to write with my right hand, which felt as unnatural as trying to eat soup with a fork. But they were persistent, and eventually, I became a functional right-handed writer. But I still consider myself a full left-hander. I have to do everything with my left hand—it’s just how I’m wired!

Here is the twist: despite my ‘training,’ my left hand still makes its presence known in peculiar ways. For instance, I always hold scissors “wrong.” If you have ever seen me cut something, you might think I am inventing a new form of abstract art. But it just feels right to me (even if it is technically wrong). My husband always comments on how I hold the scissors, but it really makes no difference to me.

Then there is my straight-line dilemma. I can’t, for the life of me, draw a straight horizontal line with my left hand. It wobbles, wavers, and takes on a mind of its own. The only solution? I switch to my right hand and pretend I planned it that way all along.

But my real party trick is mirror writing. If you hand me a pen and ask me to write something with my left hand, it comes out perfectly mirrored, just like Leonardo da Vinci's work. Why do I have this bizarre skill? I have no idea, but it does come in handy for leaving mysterious, cryptic messages. I even left one for you to solve, so let me know how that goes. And if all else fails, just grab a mirror to read it again.

Life as a left-hander is full of surprises, but I wouldn’t want to change it. After all, some of the most creative minds in history were left-handed—Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Jimi Hendrix, Albert Einstein, and even Barack Obama. Not bad company to keep!

So, if you are a fellow leftie, raise a glass to the wonderfully unique world of left-handed life!