I recently saw a post looking for people who were neither side dominant, but rather had the ability to see the world from both sides of their brain, so to speak. I found it intriguing as I had at one point written a post about which hemisphere of my brain I thought maybe more dominant.

I am left-handed…or am I right? See, typically people refer to hand dominance based on the hand that is used for writing. Yet how would you answer if you were able to use either or both yet just preferred to use one? Does the same apply to your brain?

Science has often said that brain dominance is in the opposite hemisphere of the dominant hand. Right-hand uses left brain, and left-hand uses right brain but maybe that isn’t always the case. I would like to think that maybe I live in the corpus callosum, the space in the middle that joins the two hemispheres.

I am creative and artistic, but somehow see the logic and reasoning in everything. I can build rapport and be the friendliest person with anyone, yet be business focused and goal-oriented. I am what I need to be because I can embody the traits that are required for success. But maybe that isn’t a hand thing or even a brain thing. Perhaps I am malleable and form to the situation, rise to the occasion and meet the expectations that are set by those around me.

Some points to think about:

Do you do more than you realize with your non-dominant hand?

As a society, are we letting mind dominance dictate what we do or are capable of because of restrictive thinking?

How can you shape yourself to fit a role that may push you just a little outside your comfort zone?

 

Everyone knows the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

As children, we pass along the notion as if we have everything figured out. You hear the typical answers- doctor, astronaut, vet, teacher. Some of us have high expectations, others are passionate about their dream and go chase it down as if it is just a sprint in life, and others haven’t the faintest idea.

When I was in my younger years, I thought I knew what life had in store for me. Having spent much of my early life in and out of doctor’s offices and hospitals, being poked and prodded, I was confident that I was going to do something in the medical field. First I dreamt of becoming a doctor, then a phlebotomist, and eventually gained courage to aspire to be a surgeon. I loved being young, and thought I would even specialize in an area of medicine related to kids.

After spending years- late middle school and all of high school- pushing myself to absorb knowledge in the field of medicine, and attaining my certification to work as a nursing assistant, and trying my hand in a radiology department, I graduated a year early and headed off to college with every intent to pursue a degree in science or pre-med.

Hello Ripon College. I loaded myself with my required courses and topped it off with classes to head me in the right direction to be a doctor. And this is where my “life plan” backfired…it didn’t take long to realize that I began hating my science classes and found myself spending more and more time focused on the required Studio Art/ Drawing class I was taking. I began to wonder what my plan was, and talked with my advisor about switching majors. It boiled down to: not choosing a major and giving myself time to figure out what I was happiest doing. Then one day, while working as a caregiver at a nursing home, I was performing cares on a patient with bed sores…all I remember is everything going black. When I came to, I knew this wasn’t where I was supposed to be in life.

Fast Forward…

Since then: I left Ripon, studied at cosmetology school, got married, had two kids, and graduated from Rasmussen College. And I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.

Dream Job: If I could do anything in the world and get paid any amount of money I wanted I would choose to be a full-time stay-at-home mom and get paid a hefty salary, but we don’t live in Fantasy Land.

Ideal Situation: A job that I am passionate about, that I am excited to go to everyday. Something that allows me to help others or meet the needs of others-directly or indirectly. I know that work will take me away from home, but just because I’m not home for my kids 24/7 does not mean that what I’m doing (would be doing) isn’t for them. Employment for me can be a win-win. They will learn so much in the time they spend away from me; skills that they may otherwise learn much later in life or from someone else regardless. I obviously wouldn’t want to have a job that keeps me away from them all hours of the day or for days on end, but a little time away from me won’t hurt them.

So, back to that question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I think it’s fair to assume that some people know what they want or have attained their childhood dream. For me, I don’t have a specific idea or set job title I’m looking for. I want to do something that challenges me and makes me happy. Even if it’s something I’ve never done before. I can learn new things very quickly and once they are learned, I will master them and have those skills for a lifetime. And as for being “grown up”- just because I am an adult, who’s to say I have to decide? I could work one job for the next 20 or 30 years and then decide at that point I want to be a(n)    insert outrageous job here    and then go do it.

I would like to be working on freelance work in the limited free time that I have available, the problem is: sometimes it isn’t very easy.

Anyone can say that hunting for jobs is hard, and takes a lot of time and effort. I’m not afraid of the effort and I am willing to put any, and all, time I have available into finding a job, or jobs. My problem is much like the problem I had when I began pursuing my degree from Rasmussen College. I went into thinking, “I will be a graphic designer”. Low and behold, I came to realize a “graphic designer” is more than just that.

As a “graphic designer” I can be: an editor, a photographer, a writer, an interior designer, a product designer, an illustrator, an animator, and numerous other things. I slowly added more and more options to my list of “Things I Can Be When I ‘Grow Up'”. Well, isn’t that interesting, because if you ask me, I would say I am “grown up” and I still don’t know what I am going to do or be when I get there (here).

On the other side of the fence, I have more options. My only limitation is my imagination. I understand that I may not fit every job, or be the right person to fit the skills or needs of a company or a design. Maybe you are looking for someone to create an album cover for a heavy metal band, and perhaps that isn’t for me, or hand draw 100 different butterflies to be painted and hung from a 10-year-olds ceiling. There is one thing I know for sure: there is at least one job out there for me, and if I’m lucky and work hard enough and stay diligent and strong I can find it. If I’m even luckier, maybe it will find me.

As for me and my “job”, I will always be happy and never really feel like I am “working”. There are a million things I can do, and I will not confine my abilities within any boundaries. As a “graphic designer”, I am malleable and moldable; I can change to fit the needs of many or just one but one thing will always remain the same-I do my work like me: it is unique and no one else can make it exactly the same.

For now, I will do anything because have learned to do (most) everything.

Many times it can be one or the other, and at times neither, but sometimes it’s both. So often I hear differing opinions about many things, and in this case, it’s mind over matter. Or is it really?

People have opinions about everything, and science sometimes proves one theory and disproves another. Regardless, everyone has something to say. So, is it right-handed or left-handed? Do you use more of the left side of your brain or the right? Or could it be both?

When it comes to my art (anything I create) I often wonder if I should think artistically or mathematically. In nature, we can find beauty everywhere-is it accidental or intentional? And this is where the conundrum began. So often beauty and art are perfectly imperfect and an object can be so lovely despite its flaws but then there are things where they are so perfect, that is what makes them beautiful.

Looking through a camera lens, I throw around many thoughts-“just keep shooting and see what you get”, “should I use the method of thirds?”, “I wonder if this will look better in color or black and white?”, “maybe a different perspective could be more interesting”, or even “will people look at this the same way I am?”. Thoughts like these happen more often than just when I’m holding a camera though, and today I began to wonder if it had something to do with hand and brain dominance.

Could the fact that I am left-handed pose a threat to my work? Could it make it better? Does it even matter? Looking into it further I noted some names that could be recognized in a crowd: Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Pablo Picasso. These men were all left-handed. But like I said, does this matter?

I often second-guess if it should be one way or the other. Right or left? Math or art? Black or white? I find that my best works are often the ones I don’t think about. The less I think, the better results-or so it seems. Many times it’s one or the other, and even both.

But sometimes…it’s NEITHER.