Which leg goes in your pants first?

When putting on a pair of pants, I always stick my left leg in first. Always.

Now, I had never thought about this until the other day when someone told me that people put their pants on the same way every time they dress -- either left leg first, or right leg first.

He said, “Next time you get dressed, try putting your opposite leg in first. It’s nearly impossible.”

I started to unbuckle my belt.

“No,” he said, a worried look spreading across his face. “Try it tomorrow morning.”

Oh, right.

That night I could barely sleep. Not one to shy away from a challenge, I kept visualizing what would happen the next morning when I attempted to put my pants on right leg first.

I know what you’re thinking -- why wait until morning?

Well, it wasn’t easy, but I wanted to test his theory under optimum conditions. This meant conducting the test first thing in the morning -- which, I have come to realize, is the time of day when I typically put on my pants.

Though sleep-deprived, the next morning I remembered my task. Standing in our walk-in closet, pants in my hand, I told myself: Right leg first, right leg first.

But the signal from my brain took a wrong turn, and next thing I knew I had my left foot in the air, poised for insertion.

“Wow!” I exclaimed.

“What is it?” inquired my wife from the bathroom.

“I tried to put my right leg in my pants first, but I almost ended up putting in my left leg first.”

“Really? I’ll call and alert the news media.”

Her sarcasm failed to register. I was concentrating on my pants with the single-mindedness of a Zen master.

See the pants…Feel the pants…Be the pants.

I lifted my right foot, held my pants open. Slowly, I forced my foot into the opening, then down into the right pant leg.

Believe me, it wasn’t easy. In fact, it actually felt like what I imagine an out-of-body experience to feel like. Still, a moment later my right foot popped out of the right pant leg and hit the floor. Success!

Brimming with confidence, I proceeded to insert my left leg into my pants and immediately toppled over, hitting the ground with a solid THUMP!

“What was that?” called my wife.

“I’m okay. I just fell down putting on my pants.”

“If you need help, all you have to do is ask.”

This time the sarcasm registered, but I chose to ignore it. I was trying to figure out what made this task so difficult.

Was it a right brain, left brain sort of thing? Are right-handed people predisposed to dressing left-leg first, and southpaws predisposed to doing the opposite?

Now, I’m not a psychiatrist, and I don’t play one on television, but I think it might have more to do with habit than anything else.

After all, human beings are creatures of habit. For instance, I tend to leave the toilet seat up after visiting the commode. Do I do it to intentionally anger my wife? No, at least not most of the time. It’s just habit.

In fact, I believe many of our habits serve a beneficial purpose. They provide us comfort, and even a little bit of sanity, during difficult or troubled times.

Certainly, this was the case following the events of 9-11.

Of course, I don’t mean to imply that all habits are positive or beneficial. Take gambling, for instance. Or smoking. Or leaving the toilet seat up.

Now, many of you may think that the way in which you put on your pants -- right leg or left leg first -- has little effect in the grand scheme of things.

Before you close your mind to the alternative, I want to make you this simple challenge: Tomorrow, when you put your pants on, try sticking the opposite leg in first.

Copyright 2003 Marc L. Prey
All rights reserved.