ET Stands for Extraterrestrial and What Else?
Having an Essential Tremor (ET)is another of life’s challenges.
Being physically challenged is to be expected as the years go on, and as we all realize, the other alternative is worse. So, this message is, “How do I approach these confrontations with adaptive skills that increase rather than diminish my existence”? It’s not easy. It’s an old cliche but still valid, “Old Age Is Not For Sissies.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, an “Essential tremor is a nervous system (neurological) disorder that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking. It can affect almost any part of your body, but the trembling occurs most often in your hands — especially when you do simple tasks, such as drinking from a glass or tying shoelaces”.
The first time I noticed the problem was at the beginning of a required pen and pencil test (you know, writing essay answers to questions on a yellow legal pad) that I had to take to become a Certified Life Coach. I was so nervous that as I started to write, my hand involuntarily began to tremble fiercely. To make it stop, I had to clamp my left hand on top of my quaking right hand. That worked, my hand stopped convulsing, and I went on to complete this two-hour test without further incident. I chalked it up to anxiety. Yes, I passed! My trembling happened in 2005.
As the years went on, I would encounter a similar situation and not always related to my emotional state. I tried to assist with serving the soup course at a friend’s Passover Seder meal. On my way to the table, my right hand and arm began their usual dance pattern, and the soup went flying. Everyone, except for the spilled-on guests, thought it was amusing. I was barred from serving soup.
Believe it or not, I began to find these incidents funny.
It is a bizarre event when no matter how hard one tries and fails to control the movement of one’s hand, it has to be viewed with a sense of humor.
There seems to be no way to predict when these episodes will occur. After the event is over, I analyzed its components to determine if there is any pattern to their onset. If I can find patterns, I can avoid them.
But, they remain bizarre.
So, OK, my hands shake. Not fatal — and sometimes goofy. And, yes, my left hand is also involved but way less than my right.
My ET has now become more obvious and annoying because my handwriting is affected. It is almost impossible for me to create a curvy line without it coming out wobbly. So, no more cursive writing; printing will have to do. It’s a weird feeling to lose this skill after having it since kindergarten. Ironically, my penmanship grades (yes, we got grades for penmanship) in elementary school never were higher than mediocre. So you could say I couldn’t write legibly even when I could write.
I know what I’ll do. I’ll create a new font that has no curvy lines.
Like my name, LYNN, it will be all straight lines and angles. That will make my life much less demanding. Even though my straight lines might turn out with little wiggles in them, and my slants might erupt into wild unruly lines, this attempt at control is my way to adapt.
I had to write a message on a greeting card recently but didn’t want to embarrass myself by writing it out. So I typed it on my computer, selected a pretty typeface, and a fetching color for the printing. Then I printed what I had written, cut the paper to fit the card's size, and taped it on. It looked way better than if I had handwritten it. This is another adaptive technique.
My only problem now is writing my signature. Maybe I’ll have a stamp created so that I can sign checks.