Difficulty telling left from right when copying others

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Does anybody else have this that they can tell left from right and that when for example in gym class the teacher says "raise your left foot!" you have no problem with that, but when he raises his left foot himself and you look at him and try to copy him you raise your right foot instead of the left? This happens to me constantly and I'm always surprised at how everybody else seems to do it automatically right without thinking a lot about it.

I constantly get left and right mixed up. Although with me, if you told me to raise my left hand, chances are that I'll raise my right hand instead. It really sucks when I'm riding in the car with someone and trying to give directions. I'll say "turn right" and point to the left.

Don't know if this is related, but I also have problems with remembering which side of the faucet is hot and which is cold. Also with which side to push on doors at restaurants and such.

yes, but only if i have to multi task

I've had the same problems my whole life. Being left-handed made it easier to justify to others (and myself). People seem to accept my alternate dominance theory (my left is your right) better than I'm an adult and can't tell left from right if I'm doing it for someone else.

I always get right and left mixed up unless I'm in the car or writing. I have to pick up a pencil or something to figure it out sometimes. I also noticed that I always put my watch on my right wrist, so as long as I'm wearing my watch I can figure it out.

sort of O/T, but still about right/left: something weird I noticed is that most right-handed people seem to wear their watches on their left wrist and left-handed people have their watches on their right wrist. But I'm right-handed and wear it on my right wrist. Just something strange I noticed instead of paying attention during Algebra one day, so I started watching people in other classes to see how they wear their watches too.

And even when I'm driving I occasionally get confused. I think I freaked my friend out once, because he was in the car with me giving me directions to his house, and when he said "Turn left" I pointed that way, and said "that way?" I wonder why people don't like riding in my car with me...

I have the same problem too.

i mix East and West when giving directions and confuse gender in general conversation

left and right is easy though... just put you hands in front of you with your fingers pointing up, palms facing away, and the thumbs pointing to eachother...

the left one always makes an 'L' shape

from that you can deduce that the other one is the right one.

easy

That looks like a good idea for people who mix up left and right indeed, I haven't heard of that one! I guess there are other ways too, such as remembering where one wears ones watch or for example I had a very tiny mole on the right hand as a kid and that's how I eventually learnt to tell it apart, so that today I have no trouble at all anymore telling left from right.

It's just that when someone is opposite from me and raises his left hand but from my perspective right hand, I'll also raise my right hand instead of my left as I don't think about how "his right is my left". Other people seem to get this right without thinking about it, but if I don't consciously pay attention to it the chance is high I'll get it wrong (or better said right only by chance). I wonder if that's related in any way to not being able to tell right and left apart, as after all I'm having no difficulty with that.

u may be dyslexic.

I don't think I really have this problem, but I do have to think about it when I'm working out East and West. Because East usually comes before West I automatically assume it's on the left. I haven't had a gym class for ages though so I can't really remember about confusing left and right when copying people.

i guess the main thing is to focus only on the command and not the example.

I used to have that problem.

I learnt how to tell left from right quite late. At first I had to hold each hand in front of me and pretend to write with each one. If it felt right, then I would know that was my right hand. Sometimes I would get confused and both hands would feel right. Now I can tell left from right, but I have trouble with west and east. For example, if I were to draw a compass on paper, I might switch the sides west and east are on. I don't know if this has to do with telling left from right but I always turn on the wrong burner on the stove. I tend to turn on the back burner instead of the front burner and vice-versa. I also forget which tap is the cold and which is the hot, even with the sink in my own bathroom which I've used for years.

my dad explained left and right to me when i was real lil. it was 1 of my first memories i think. he said "this is left and that is right" *turns around* "now that is left and this is right".
i rem understanding north/south and east/west before that, cuz i rem comparing them as the 1 that changes and 1 that dont.

Even with the ring I always wear on my left hand, I STILL have trouble with left and right...It is horrible during arobics and yoga classes...I always find myself going the wrong way from everyone else...it is awful..

when under stress, like navigating a driver, I have 'difficulty', I know which way I am meant to be directing, but will blurt out the wrong one to the driver and then realise I said the wrong one.
For some reason they don't appreciate 'that way'

I'm not sure about making the 'L' shape with your left hand, do it now, and then rotate it 90[sup]o[/sup] clockwise. It makes a lowercase r and I have managed to make this many times.