Brain: which side are you on?

I took a Facebook quiz.

There, I’ve said it. I know, I know, data collecting and all that. Don’t judge me, I was hungry. That’s my excuse.

If you’re interested, the quiz that tempted me was: are you right or left brained?

I’m a proud right sider, of course, artistic and emotional. Or so I thought.

The first quiz I took couldn’t decide what I was. So I took it again, double dose of data collection, same result. Definition of insanity right there.

Down the rabbit hole I go, searching for more quizzes.

A couple more suggest that I’m 60% right brained. That means that 40% of my brain is analytical, rational, objective and can do maths.

My husband chokes on his coffee. I don’t blame him. Numbers are not my thing, which is an understatement of glorious proportions.

But does this result mean the left side of my brain is not the empty wasteland I thought it was? Can I train my left side to understand the 24-hour clock without having to count on my fingers?

After exhaustive research – five minutes on Google – I found the following recommendations for improving the left side of my grey matter.

1: Write. Tick

2: Master new skills. If that includes DIY, that’s a big fat TICK.

3: Crunch some numbers. Hmm. Would that be crunching numbers like 1 + 1 = 2, or complex string theory?

The one thing I would like to improve is my memory. This resides firmly in the left brain. My husband can recall days, dates, years and the whole of the Fulham football team from 1978 onwards. It annoys me endlessly.

I can remember rubbish things like the name of the Farrow and Ball paint I used in my Peckham flat a million years ago. (Bone, if you’re interested.) But if I had to put a date or even a year to an event, I would be out by a fair margin.

If like me you struggle to put a name to a face you’ve met a couple of times or have to ask ‘how many years have we been married?’ at least twice a year, then be proud right-brained people, it’s not a failing, it’s a loveable quirk.

If you’re reading this thinking, ‘Ha, I can remember everything, I am the mighty all knowing’ then answer me this: what did you have for lunch eight days ago?

Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash