If you read my last blog post, you probably realized that I seem to be rather accident-prone. It’s true; since I started here at Dana-Farber, my coworkers have seen me experience car crashes, concussions, and many other injuries. Most recently? Broken bones.
After spending most of my life skiing, last February I had the bright idea that snowboarding would be much more fun, and as a reward I got the chance to improve upon my growing friendship with my local ER doctor after breaking both my wrist and my elbow on a particularly entertaining fall during my 3rd lesson at Wachusett.
I was unable to use my right hand for a month, which gave me an appreciation for a lot the things I take for granted about having two hands. What follows is a list of ten less obvious actions that you may not initially realize you need two hands for, but after beginning the action you may then stare at your non-functional hand for a second or two and think, “Huh. I can’t do this, can I?”
- Putting toothpaste on your toothbrush
- Tying trash bags
- Chopping vegetables (you remember that app fruit ninja? Doesn’t work in real life, trust me)
- Applying deodorant to your uninjured armpit
- Tying your socks together after doing laundry
- Getting the unnecessarily tight, hard, plastic, bite-proof, effing hospital wristband off your uninjured wrist (let me know if you figure that one out)
- Buttoning your shirt
- Tying your shoes
- Zipping up your jacket (Boston winter with an unzipped jacket is no fun!)
- Unscrewing the child-resistant caps on the painkillers they prescribed you
These were all entertaining challenges for me to encounter and overcome, and I learned a lot of lessons along the way:
First of all, it’s okay to accept help. I do not like feeling helpless, and although my roommates, friends, and coworkers were all offering to help me with anything I needed, I mostly refused help because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it on my own, and I didn’t want to be a burden to others. This resulted in a lot of unnecessary frustration – and one time an entire bottle’s worth of pills on my floor (see #10 above). People are willing to help. In fact, I’ve found that accepting help from someone who is offering is beneficial; it doesn’t make it seem like you’re a burden, and it actually improves your relationship with that person. It’s okay to accept a helping hand every once in a while (get it?).
I also learned that there are always a multitude of ways to solve a problem. I was forced to come up with creative solutions to menial tasks that I had been doing the same way for all of my life, and it helped me realize that just because some things are done a certain way doesn’t mean that’s the only way to do them; it might not even be the best way. Being creative can be beneficial and can give you a new perspective on the task at hand (ok, I’ll stop now).
Finally, I learned to slow down a little and approach obstacles with patience and planning. At first it was annoying to not be able to do these seemingly easy tasks. I didn’t plan for them to take longer than normal, so when I realized, for example, that tying my shoes was going to take a lot longer, I would try to rush to make up for the lost time. This rarely saved me time and usually ended up creating more problems. Once I took a deep breath, accepted that I was not going to be able to do certain things the way I had thought I was, and planned how to solve my problems given the new obstacle, I saw much more success and experienced less stress along the way by implementing my new handy solutions (I couldn’t help myself).
Although I wouldn’t voluntarily break my arm again, and it was quite frustrating at times, I definitely learned some valuable lessons by living life one-handed for a month.
Dimitri, this is so funny I was sitting here laughing out loud. I loved the way you kept making those corny jokes about hands, then apologizing for it. I identified with everything on your list, because I broke my right wrist a few years ago (I remember whining a lot though—you were much more stoic about it!). People don’t think about that stuff until they can’t do it. I still have a stand to hold a hair dryer and an ambidextrous mouse, in case you ever need them.
Dimitri, well written and entertaining. It was fun to read, and you can laugh in retrospect. I am sure it was challenging for you at the time.
Great post – totally captures the learning I experienced from a recent broken elbow. It’s funny that sometimes accidents can cause us to be more intentional than ever!
Thanks everyone!