Oh God. Never have I had so many emotions over something as banal as a keyboard. But, after some research and a moment of madness, I decided to invest in a split ergonomic keyboard.
This is the ZSA Moonlander, a stupid expensive mechanical keyboard that is super duper customizable, and also split and ergonomic (via being split and having "columnar" keys).
Ever since my last pregnancy, I had been noticing some twinges - and occasional spikes - of pain around my wrists, thumb tendons, finger tendons. I started looking into ergonomics. It was especially painful when I picked my kids up after a long, sedentary day of, ahem, Tech Labor.
So I started looking into keyboards and noodling around mechanicalkeyboards.com. And I was very influenced by this Switch & Click video about trying a split keyboard for 30 days. Switching to a split keyboard, especially a very customizable one where I could experiment - in the future - with other layouts (Dvorak, Coleman, stenography!), and take my time off in between jobs to re-learn to type... well, it all seemed very rational. So I summoned my inner Picard and bravely declared MAKE IT SO and ordered it.
And since then, dear reader, it has been, oh, such an emotional rollercoaster. I've had it for 4 days and have wanted to throw it out the window maybe 100 times. Multiple times a day I need to remind myself to "keep the faith" and "no, a keyboard cannot literally make you stupid". Because, oh dear reader, having my hands suddenly turn into two stupid meat paws has made me feel like my thoughts are now locked in my brain. (FWIW, I'm typing this on my laptop's standard keyboard - so things are flowing! I wanted to give myself a break - and keep my old layout muscle memory going too.) And having my thoughts locked in my brain makes those thoughts wither and die. And that makes me stupid.
But no! I vowed that I would persevere through this learning curve because all learning curves which lead to objectively better tools/thinking/life (like Vim! Anki! Linux!) are worth surmounting. I must keep the faith. I must!!!
I'm also trying to de-mystify the process and make myself less afraid of being locked in stupid meat paw brain forever by reminding myself that when I recently learned to crochet, I struggled oh so very mightily. After years and years of knitting, using my hands in this different, weird, crochet way was very challenging. And after several false starts, I finally surmounted that learning curve and am now happily making amigurumi. (And crochet is 100% more rational than knitting - change my mind!)
Look at the creations now flowing from my hands! JUST LOOK.
Goals
- My pre-split typing speed was ~100 WPM. My goal is to get to ~75 WPM on the split after 3 weeks. I think I'm on track.
- I want to keep my non-split typing speed at minimum 90 WPM.
- I want my coding typing speed to be "reasonable" - maybe 50 WPM? The more the better. I didn't realize what a hit coding WPM would take...
- I want to, obviously, not have any new or additional pain in my hands and wrists (or shoulders).
- KEEP THE FAITH. TRUST THE PROCESS.
That's it, man. I'm going to do the "deliberate" practice on Oryx, 30 min a day (10min 3x), and generally pray.