Screwing or Unscrewing?
I am undoubtedly, the handyman around my house. From changing a light bulb to hanging a picture frame, to watering the plants that I planted, my watchword is, "If I don't do it, it's not going to be done, so I may as well do it and do it now."
The problem is, though, some of these activities really challenge me, because I can never tell which direction to screw or unscrew something. Case in point: a few days ago, my garden hose got crossed-threaded or cross-screwed, somehow, and so the water was spraying in all directions, not from the section that I held in my hand, but from the mouth of the spigot.
Now, there are a few possible explanations for this state of affairs, one of them being the fact that as the hose is moved from one point to another, some amount of misalignment can take place. Another explanation could be that the hardness of the water causes encrustation that forces misalignment between the head of the hose and the mouth of the faucet. A more plausible explanation could be that it was cross-threaded from the get go.
Whatever the reason, I got the bright idea to unscrew the hose and replace it correctly. That was easier thought than done. I screwed, and screwed, and screwed, but the hose held on more firmly than ever. Then it occurred to me that I was tightening, rather and loosening it. So, I started screwing in the opposite direction. The hose was no nearer to coming loose, but I was getting wetter and wetter. I did this back and forth screwing for quite a while, without getting a favorable result.
Totally confused, I finally gave up. So that is just one of the ways in which my directional challenge manifests itself. As someone who likes to take things apart, to try to fix them, so many times, I find that I can't put items back together, simply because I am twisting them in the wrong direction! So many times, I have to do a kind of shadow rehearsal with my hands, before attempting to screw shut, or unscrew even a bottle.
In the grand scheme of things, my battles with screws, hoses, and stubborn jar lids may seem small—but they’re real, and they add a certain unpredictability to my everyday life. I’ve learned to laugh at these moments (eventually), and to approach each new task with equal parts determination and humility. Maybe I’ll never master the innate sense of twist-direction that others seem to possess so effortlessly—but I’ll keep trying. After all, someone’s got to do it… even if it takes a few extra turns in the wrong direction to get it right.
I tell you, life can present some unique challenges to the directionally challenged. Do you experience any of these challenges? If you do, I'd love to hear about them. And the rest of the world definitely needs to know about our experiences.
I've actually written about many of my and others' experiences with deciphering directions in a book I titled: Center Brained: Why you can't tell left from right, east from west or north from south. In this book I delve in to possible causes of this condition, and I make what I believe are salient suggestions to deal with our handicap.. This book is already available on Amazon and other platforms, in e-book, paper back formats. The audio copy is available on Audible as well.
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