Research has shown that using your non-dominant hand will grow your brain cells and enhance your creativity as well. Glad to know this, because I am going to test it very soon.
I need surgery on my right shoulder, and my right hand is my dominant hand. I was warned that I will not be able to use my right hand at all for two weeks and that my right arm will be in a sling for several weeks.
Since I was injured more than six months ago, I have been using my left arm as much as I could, simply because my right arm hurts so much. However, in recent months I have begun to practice using my left hand more intentionally to perform those daily tasks that, until now, I have always taken for granted: dressing, brushing my teeth, preparing food, pouring liquids, giving my cat his medicine, collect my vitamins, collect cat litter, bathe, carry things, etc.
I still have to practice writing and eating with my left hand, but since my surgery is less than a week away, I better get down to business.
Research on the Web and wise friends and family have provided excellent suggestions to help me cope with this unfortunate but necessary pause between the right hand and arm. For example, a toothpick and an electric toothbrush make cleaning your teeth a lot easier.
I know slip-on shoes and button-down shirts are a must, as is a recliner, since I won’t be able to sleep in a bed (or in and out of bed) for a month or two.
I love doing Sudoku and I just learned that I can do it with my left hand on an iPad, since I can enter the numbers with one of my fingers. Sudoku is one of the ways I relax and I am so glad I don’t have to give it up.
Over the past six months, I have learned to make adaptations. I have mainly used my left arm to carry heavy things, although my adult children and friends have taken care of most of my great needs.
My son empties my car and brings groceries and three 40-pound bags of kitty litter home at a time. He has taken over filling all six bird feeders, taking out the trash, and mowing the lawn.
My daughter pushes and fills the shopping cart and slices whole watermelons for me. I’m very lucky that they both live relatively close to me.
Kind friends and colleagues have brought me my training materials and helped me set up the training rooms: moving tables and chairs, placing kites on the walls, filling the candy bowls and placing them on the tables, distributing the game board table and materials for participants, etc. I could never have been able to continue running training programs this past half year without your wonderful support.
How did I hurt my shoulder? I carried four very heavy pieces of luggage through an airport on my way to Jordan and Dubai and apparently broke a tendon. I also have a torn rotator cuff and impingement (essentially scraping bone on bone).
During the course of traveling on different planes and having to climb steep stairs to board them, I further aggravated and inflamed my arm and shoulder. I quickly learned to ask people around me to help me climb stairs or store luggage on top of my seat. I literally had no other choice.
My surgeon wanted to schedule my surgery much earlier, but had training commitments that I needed to meet. Even now, I am deeply (!) Tempted to put off surgery even longer because I worry that I won’t be able to do my job. However, there will never be a perfect time, so I will have to handle it now.
When I ask myself what I am supposed to learn from this situation, there are a number of answers that come to mind. Here they are, in no particular order:
1. It is often okay and sometimes it is mandatory to ask others for help. I am very lucky to have friends and family to help me get through this.
2. It will be a good neuroplasticity experiment to see if using my non-dominant hand will make me smarter and increase my creativity. Those would be wonderful and welcome side effects!
3. Acting as strong as a bull has gotten me into this situation. When traveling for work in the future, I will box and mail materials in advance and make sure to use a porter for all luggage.
4. As much as I hate to acknowledge this fact of life, I am older and need to be more realistic about my physical abilities and more diligent to adequately accommodate my physical limitations.
5. Resisting the gravitational pull of my desk for a full two weeks will be a test of my self-discipline. Creating materials and items has been a daily habit for decades.
6. When I don’t listen to my body, it eventually does something so dramatic that I have to pay attention. I need to finally learn and remember this lesson.
7. I have always prided myself on my independence. Now I need to recognize and accept that there is no shame when I have to depend on others.
8. Knowing that I will be on the sidelines for a while has prompted me to improve at setting limits and managing expectations, for myself and my clients.
9. If my pain is not taken seriously by medical professionals in the future, I will not hesitate to request an MRI! An early diagnosis would have saved me six months of agony.
10. There is a season for everything, and this is my time to rest and heal. I plan to come back smarter and stronger!
