How a mushroom trip led me to discover I’m actually left-handed

One day, out of nowhere, I discovered I could write with my left hand. Throughout my life, I had written with my right hand. There was a strange indicator that something was off. As a child, I would help my grandma with dishes; she would randomly ask if I was actually left-handed. At this point, I didn’t think much of it. When I became an adult, I would occasionally remember her bringing it up. She had dementia at the end of her life. I had taken that question to be a part of the disease. Years have passed, as has she, so I will never get to ask her about it. However, last May, I was high on mushrooms, leading me to, for some reason, try writing with my left hand. My handwriting was nicer than my right hand. I was 38 years old when this happened.

It only took a few days to fully get it down

After I realized I could do this, I began practicing sentences using every letter in the alphabet. My personal favorite is “Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vows”. There is also “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. I spent the next few days randomly writing these sentences. It felt like it was natural. For a couple of weeks, I tried drawing left-handed, which was also considerably better than anything I drew with my right hand. Daily practice made me even better. Other things started happening too; my coordination seemed to get better. My thoughts became clearer as well. Almost as if my brain can process things better.

There were some small indicators

Although to me this was out of the blue, a few people had noticed. Besides my grandma, a few friends had asked me if I was left-handed. There was a time I was taking a bong rip when someone noticed I was using the lighter with my left hand. I would often hand people stuff with my left hand, not noticing that I did. When people would ask, I would brush it off as if they were just stoned. One weird thing I did before was that I would always open a book from back to front. As a kid, I was teased for this. A good friend of mine (and my boss at the time), who has worked in education, informed me that this is a trait of lefties. When I first discovered this, my adult daughter started paying attention to everything I did. They noticed I tend to do everything left-handed, and they also tried writing left-handed and could not.

No one can explain it to me

I deeply appreciate this new gift I have. It has boosted my confidence in many ways; however, I am confused. How was this missed by my teacher,s especially with the fact that I read books backwards? My parents said I was always right-handed. The school I went to didn’t use corporal punishment, so it wasn’t beaten out of me. There were at least a couple of lefties I remember in my class, so it wasn’t discouraged. Doctors never mentioned anything. In elementary school through middle school, I was in special education classes that didn’t catch on. It would be strange for this to be hidden from me, so I don’t understand how no caregiver in my life knew. Little answers to be found online, a few Reddit posts, but nothing that tells me why. As blessed as I feel, I wish I had answers. The best answer I have gotten was that the mushrooms unlocked it. While I write this article, I hope it starts a conversation with others who may have had this rare discovery.