I've lived with my sweaty palms all my life. Although mom says it wasn't like that since I was born, I cannot remember a time when my palms didn't perspire. Everyone who knows me knows this fact about me. It's part of who I am. It's part of what I'd say if someone asked me to reveal an interesting fact about myself. It disturbingly occurred to me recently that it's probably something other people would use to describe me too.
I can imagine a conversation between two people who know me to go like this:
Person A: Hey, how do you know Remya?
Person B: Remya? Which Remya? I know a Ramya.. I think..
A: Dude Remya ya, you know her from college..
B: Oh ya. "Sweaty palms" that's what we used to call her. Of course, I know her, love her (very, very wishful thinking and extremely inflated sense of self wherein I think everybody who knows me obviously loves me.)
But to be fair, I can't blame people if that's how they remember me or if that's the one thing they love or hate about me. I almost always make the presence of my sweaty palms felt, in every conversation be it with friends, acquaintances, strangers - everyone. Why do I do this? I have in my growing-up years had various reactions to my sweaty palms ranging from, "oh, you have sweaty palms", with a disgusted expression, to "yuck, why are your palms wet", to "hmm where have your hands been?", to "oh your palms sweat but that's alright, I don't mind", etc. Safe to say that with most of these reactions being negative, I naturally programmed myself to be this person who gives a disclaimer before shaking hands with anyone or not shaking hands at all. Actually nowadays I almost don't let anyone get anywhere close to my palms unless of course they (my palms) are having a dry day or a dry moment.
I have so far come across few people who have the same condition but I've always felt none of them have it as bad as me. I wrote my exams in school and college with a tissue under my palm, that moved like well-oiled machinery from one side of my answer sheet to the other, along with my pen in firm grip. People are misled to think I am stressed or nervous but that is not the case. While my palms can have an outbreak under stressful circumstances, they can also be moist for no real reason whatsoever. I'm almost never spotted without a tissue (I've made an Instagram hashtag - #notissuenoremya!), and people who are really close to me know that I can be very possessive and stingy with my tissue papers.
I cannot however deny how my sweaty palms have helped in some ice-breaking sessions, made me get weird looks and sometimes unwanted attention in yoga and dance classes, got people to think I am too snooty to shake hands as I'm germ-conscious, or come across as having a bad attitude when I've not shook hands at a job interview. I've laughed like crazy (in my head) all of these times.
Sweating is part and parcel of yoga but in my case sometimes my feet and palms slip off the mat. I now wear yoga socks. I chicken out of hand stands and hand balances citing my sweaty palms thereby providing great comic relief to everyone in class, especially my instructor. My most recent stint with dance has been salsa. I've always trained in non-partner dances so far and in hindsight, salsa was definitely a bad idea for someone with sweaty palms. My biggest nightmare was when I realised we had to switch partners every few minutes, and now the first thing I say to every new partner is "Sorry, I have sweaty palms."
As for men, I've used and continue to use my sweaty palms to both drive them away and to make them find me endearing by selling it like a super power, depending on what the situation demands. The worst experience to have in this area is when a guy I'm trying to drive away finds my sweaty palms or conversations about it hilarious and endearing. But my most recent sweaty palm adventure happened with a celebrity crush (Ranveer Singh), and not being able to shake hands with him earned me not one, but quite a few warm hugs and some funny banter. So yes, there are advantages too.
Nothing however, and NOTHING I tell you, beats the kind of suggestions and free medical advice I get by the most strangest of strangers and some very kindhearted well-wishers to cure or fix my condition. I was once told that all I needed to fix the issue was to get a nerve at the back of head, closer to the neck region snapped and switched with another nerve in the same region! And he wasn't even a doctor!
If I could change one thing about myself, I think it would be my sweaty palms. When I shared this thought with a close friend, she was so appalled and said that I would seize to be myself without my sweaty palms. "Aww" I thought to myself in that moment, looked at my palms and kissed them for their presence in my life. Thank you palms, for all the sweaty adventures and slippery love. It's us against the world.
I can imagine a conversation between two people who know me to go like this:
Person A: Hey, how do you know Remya?
Person B: Remya? Which Remya? I know a Ramya.. I think..
A: Dude Remya ya, you know her from college..
B: Oh ya. "Sweaty palms" that's what we used to call her. Of course, I know her, love her (very, very wishful thinking and extremely inflated sense of self wherein I think everybody who knows me obviously loves me.)
But to be fair, I can't blame people if that's how they remember me or if that's the one thing they love or hate about me. I almost always make the presence of my sweaty palms felt, in every conversation be it with friends, acquaintances, strangers - everyone. Why do I do this? I have in my growing-up years had various reactions to my sweaty palms ranging from, "oh, you have sweaty palms", with a disgusted expression, to "yuck, why are your palms wet", to "hmm where have your hands been?", to "oh your palms sweat but that's alright, I don't mind", etc. Safe to say that with most of these reactions being negative, I naturally programmed myself to be this person who gives a disclaimer before shaking hands with anyone or not shaking hands at all. Actually nowadays I almost don't let anyone get anywhere close to my palms unless of course they (my palms) are having a dry day or a dry moment.
I have so far come across few people who have the same condition but I've always felt none of them have it as bad as me. I wrote my exams in school and college with a tissue under my palm, that moved like well-oiled machinery from one side of my answer sheet to the other, along with my pen in firm grip. People are misled to think I am stressed or nervous but that is not the case. While my palms can have an outbreak under stressful circumstances, they can also be moist for no real reason whatsoever. I'm almost never spotted without a tissue (I've made an Instagram hashtag - #notissuenoremya!), and people who are really close to me know that I can be very possessive and stingy with my tissue papers.
I cannot however deny how my sweaty palms have helped in some ice-breaking sessions, made me get weird looks and sometimes unwanted attention in yoga and dance classes, got people to think I am too snooty to shake hands as I'm germ-conscious, or come across as having a bad attitude when I've not shook hands at a job interview. I've laughed like crazy (in my head) all of these times.
Sweating is part and parcel of yoga but in my case sometimes my feet and palms slip off the mat. I now wear yoga socks. I chicken out of hand stands and hand balances citing my sweaty palms thereby providing great comic relief to everyone in class, especially my instructor. My most recent stint with dance has been salsa. I've always trained in non-partner dances so far and in hindsight, salsa was definitely a bad idea for someone with sweaty palms. My biggest nightmare was when I realised we had to switch partners every few minutes, and now the first thing I say to every new partner is "Sorry, I have sweaty palms."
As for men, I've used and continue to use my sweaty palms to both drive them away and to make them find me endearing by selling it like a super power, depending on what the situation demands. The worst experience to have in this area is when a guy I'm trying to drive away finds my sweaty palms or conversations about it hilarious and endearing. But my most recent sweaty palm adventure happened with a celebrity crush (Ranveer Singh), and not being able to shake hands with him earned me not one, but quite a few warm hugs and some funny banter. So yes, there are advantages too.
Nothing however, and NOTHING I tell you, beats the kind of suggestions and free medical advice I get by the most strangest of strangers and some very kindhearted well-wishers to cure or fix my condition. I was once told that all I needed to fix the issue was to get a nerve at the back of head, closer to the neck region snapped and switched with another nerve in the same region! And he wasn't even a doctor!
If I could change one thing about myself, I think it would be my sweaty palms. When I shared this thought with a close friend, she was so appalled and said that I would seize to be myself without my sweaty palms. "Aww" I thought to myself in that moment, looked at my palms and kissed them for their presence in my life. Thank you palms, for all the sweaty adventures and slippery love. It's us against the world.
