Hello,
It has been quite a while since I last posted here, I hope everyone has had a pleasant 2025 so far.
To recap, I have been learning Gregg DJS in French for a few years now, and recently felt like finally making the switch to Anniversary (i.e., Senecal). What worries me however is that my hands shake more and more. I have always had hand tremor for as long as I can remember, it was diagnosed as hereditary and idiopathic (it’s not Parkinson or anything), and I am now 40. Clearly it has worsened these past few years.
I was especially discouraged a few days ago when I casually jotted down some shorthand at work, and could barely read myself back. Because of the shaking, my M’s looked like L’s, even my N’s are not quite straight, all my curves (L, R, V, F, B, P) start with an accidental little hook that would be mistaken for an O/U in Anniversary (if I remember correctly), and my A-circles look more and more like triangles!
I have reached a point where I really wonder if it is worth putting in the effort to keep practicing shorthand, let alone learn Anniversary, if things are bound to get worse. Even my longhand isn’t as legible as it used to be. I’m currently on a college course as a mature student and have been granted the use of a laptop for typing up the final exams (which all the other students have to take using the traditional pen and paper method). It’s hard to tell if all this is due to a lack of penmanship practice (and writing practice in the case of longhand), or to my tremor, or to a combination of both.
Would you know anyone who has been in the same situation? I’d be curious to know how they dealt with it. Learning shorthand has been fun and exciting overall, but it is a bit depressing to think I may have done all this to no avail and I’m only 40.
Thanks!