Being left-handed has it’s advantages; you’re a rare breed (10 percent of the world is left handed), people usually assume you’re creative, and our 44th President was left handed! What’s it really like being left-handed in a right-handed world?

Growing up left-handed is a bit harder than growing up right-handed, and here are the struggles that most lefties deal with: You’ve promised yourself that you won’t use or buy spiral notebooks no matter how much you like the style because in the end, it’s so hard to write with those darn rings in the way! Writing in a binder is just like writing in a spiral notebook: challenging and useless. Playing baseball or softball can be difficult because you have to either be one of the only lefties that plays with a right-handed glove, or you have to learn how to use a right-handed glove because you can’t find a left-handed glove in the box of supplies (or maybe your school doesn’t have many specially-made left-handed gloves).

Those aren’t the only problems that lefties face in life. Writing in pen usually ends up with smudged words all over the paper and ink all over your hand. Whenever you jot down notes for a class, you always end up coloring the side of your hand, which is totally annoying. Using right-handed scissors just ends up making your hand sore, and trying to get the scissors to cooperate with your hand is pointless. And whenever you try to write on a whiteboard, your hand just erases everything as you write it. The most annoying thing? Whenever someone notices that you’re left-handed and says, “You’re left handed?” Although it can be a bit flattering at first, it can become annoying real fast.

Although being left-handed may have its difficulties, it’s nice to know that the troubles are worth it in the end because lefties are unique. That’s why we celebrate International Lefthanders Day every year on August 13th! Take pride in your uniqueness, lefties!