Imagine for a moment, that you were born with only one arm. Everyone has seen or walked past a person who happened to be missing an arm or a leg. The problem is, not everyone realizes how lucky they are to have both of their arms. To prove this, I went an entire day without using my left arm.

It’s insane how difficult it can be to do basic things when you are only using one arm. Typing, zippers, opening lockers and bottles, all of these are extremely difficult when you can only use one arm. In seventh grade, I broke my arm while snowboarding. During the weeks that I had my full-arm cast, I learned how to open water bottles with one arm. First, I took the nail of my thumb and disconnected the cap from the ring that keeps it on the bottle. This made it easier to twist the cap off while holding the bottle steady in your lap. This neat little trick is the only reason I had anything to drink the day of my experiment. Luckily, I learned a few tricks from my one-armed days. People living with one arm learn little tricks and do things differently than most people. They find ways to adapt to a life missing a valuable body part.

Multitasking is nearly impossible. Throughout the entire day, I had to set down whatever I was holding just to open something. I couldn’t do more than one thing at a time. I admit I dropped a lot of things on the ground. (see picture) I felt like I was being really slow and it took me awhile to get to some of my classes. Everything I did took more time than I was used to taking. My mind is fast-paced, so being slow was quite irritating for me. I felt like I was in the way.

Sometimes, when things were hard for me, people would offer to help. I didn’t like to ask others for help because I didn’t want to be dependent on them. I wonder if this is how people missing an arm or leg feel. I felt kind of useless, but I know that if I had kept up my experiment for longer, I would have adapted to using one arm. I wouldn’t be helpless any more. People with only one arm are stronger and more brave than any of us can imagine. They learn to compensate for their missing arm and live life to the extent that we do. If they train and practice, they can do anything they set their mind to.

The majority of people have no idea what it’s like to lose an arm. They take the fact that they have two arms for granted. Before my experiment, I had no idea how hard it was to have one arm. Now I know that people with one arm are extraordinary. They learn to do things that everyone else does, but they do it with half the amount of arms that we do. More people should try to use one arm for a day and see how hard it is. They can grow to appreciate those missing an arm and realize how lucky they are. The world would be a lot better if everyone learned to appreciate what they had.