Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Madame Curie, President Obama and Marilyn Monroe are all household names and besides being people of importance and celebrities, they all have one thing in common: they are all lefties. Only about 10 percent of people in the world are gifted with being dominated by the right hemisphere of their brain. As a lefty myself, I know firsthand (pun intended) the many struggles that seem to be unique to us southpaws. These are things the majority of righties don’t quite understand. The best way to describe these situations and the every day life of a lefty as just simply awkward.

1. "What's on your hand?"

One of the most annoying things about being left handed is the ink stains. Every lefty has been experiencing this their entire lives. Whether it’s writing with pen, pencil, colored pencils, etc, you typically end up with the side of your pinky and hand smeared with black or silver, depending on your choice writing utensil. Writing on dry erase or chalk boards? Screw that.

2. School desks.

Nothing is as terrifying as walking into a sea of right handed writing desks and frantically searching for hope of at least one left handed desk that has been stuck somewhere in the back corner. If you’re out of luck, you get to be the person turned at an awkward angle in order to write in your notebook.

3. Notebooks and binders.

Along with having to be at said angle to write in your notebook, you also have to deal with the spiral getting in the way and making your handwriting look funny and you have to find creative ways of writing and taking up enough space so you can flip the page over as fast as possible. Three-ring binders are just a nightmare.

4. Bumping elbows at dinner.

This is inevitable. Most of the time, you end up in a going out with friends or eating at home and you’re stuck next to or in between righties. All is fine until the food comes out and you find yourself battling for elbow space (if you're like me, on both sides) with your neighbor(s), or tucking your elbow eat like a t-rex.

5. Right=left and left=right..?

Maybe this is something many lefties deal with, or maybe it’s just a me thing, but I struggle daily with the concept of left and right. If someone tells me to go right and I’m not really paying attention, my immediate reaction is to head the opposite direction. Please tell me it’s not just me.

6. That awkward moment when someone hands you a pen.

You realize you don’t have a pen and need one, just for a second, so you ask a friend or a nearby stranger to borrow theirs. Either they try to give it to your right hand, or set it in front of your right side and you awkwardly have to reach across and avoid eye contact as the person realizes what they have done.

7. Playing sports on a whim.

There is always that one time your friends get together and want to play a spontaneous game of baseball/softball, golf, hockey, or something that involves right handed equipment. Everyone gets all excited and ready to play and then they look at you and remember. Unless you carry a glove, sticks, or clubs on you at all times, you’re in trouble and your friends awkwardly try to think of a solution for you and you end up teaching yourself to play with either hand.

8. Objects made under the general assumption that everyone is right handed.

There are many small, everyday things right handers take for granted. Scissors, some coffee mugs, can openers, credit card swipers, the number pad on a computer, computer mice that are connected to public use computers, ballpoint pens, the list goes on and on.