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submitted 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) by adhd_traco@piefed.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

Hey,

I'm annoyed that when I am in certain super cluttered mental states, that I can't read my handwriting after.

My handwriting generally isn't great, but I used to do shorthand for journalism, so I know how to write readable. But it requires some strain, especially in these states, where the focus is lost on what I actually want to write. So either I write clearly then, but won't be able to free-flow, because I strain on the writing, or it's unreadable after.

Usually I'm just scrambling to find a paper and pen, since getting to my offline laptops and booting them up is too much. But I'll also be getting a mini-laptop now for this purpose.

Still, though, I feel like there should be something that can be done.

Thanks for your help :)

E: I'm talking about a situation of being myself with stuff that needs to be let out, not doing professional work or similar.

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[-] adhd_traco@piefed.social 9 points 22 hours ago

It's a central part of my life already and for a long time, I'm also in therapy. So, don't worry about that :)

[-] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago

That's good to hear, work has me dealing with tons of people who do not have that handled lol.

In that case I'd suggest 3 things. Firstly, try different writing utensils. Nothing improved my handwriting so quickly like switching to 0.7mm roller ball pens. They provide a thick wet line that hides my naturally scratchy movement and allow for a smoother motion that I need to write cleanly.

Sencond, penmanship exercises. My son and I did them together to help his writing and it did a lot for me even if it was intended for second graders.

Third, learn a new writing style. We don't really think about it, but the method taught in schools is an industrialized process that won't quite fit every single student. The start points, tilt, angle of pen, character spacing, all of that can apply differently based on hand size, wrist angle, pen grip, etc. Instead, take characters you have a particular problem with and try writing them different ways until you find one that you like then just practice that to overwrite your indoctrination. I personally do my "a" with the top hook, my "E" has a ")" shape to its back, "jgq" all have invented hooks, "mnr" lose the solid bar, and any capital with a bar other than E gets the curves as triangles first with a down stroke added for the bar, so "D" looks like "|>" if the shapes were more proportional and overlapped.

[-] adhd_traco@piefed.social 4 points 21 hours ago

Thank you! This is the kind of advice I was initially hoping for :)

[-] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

Anything to help! You can get free school oriented handwriting printouts from the k12 resources page online, then just ignore the suggested arrows.

this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
23 points (100.0% liked)

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