QWERTY to Dvorak: A Short Story

It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t hard. It happened before I knew it was happening. I was just trying to learn Dvorak for fun, but I went too far into the woods and I lost direction. All of a sudden I was in a limbo. I wasn’t proficient in Dvorak, and I wasn’t proficient in QWERTY anymore. Typing became a challenge and it forced me to really think before writing text down. In this limbo, I was faced with a question: do I keep walking through the woods, hoping for greener pastures on the other side? Or do I turn around and try to find my way back?

I chose to keep going. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard. Mostly frustrating at the slow pace. But a week passed and I was faltering less. Another week passed and my WPM grew to 50. Slowly, I retrained my fingers to know the Dvorak landscape, and to glide across it with ease.

A month later and I am still coming out of the woods. I can see the greener pastures, and there is definitely no turning back now. Reflecting on this journey has taught me a very important lesson about relearning: It takes time, patience, and persistence. It won’t be easy, but it won’t be hard.