When you’re asked to sign for a package or the customer’s copy of a dinner receipt, how do you pen your signature? Writing your name on various documents becomes almost tedious in adulthood, so you might hastily scribble your initials down if you’ve got somewhere to be, or maybe you take the time to dot your i's and cross your t's. Like a fingerprint, your handwriting is your own, and though you might not think twice about it, your handwriting says a lot about your personality, and even where you are in life.
Take the Duchess of Sussex, for example. Meghan Markle is expecting her first child with Prince Harry by spring 2019, and along with Markle’s new baby bump, some people have noticed a slight change in the Duchess' signature, of all things. According to Cosmopolitan, some handwriting experts are associating the differences in her penmanship with the little baby on board.
Personally, I’d never considered the possibility that something as second-nature as the way you write your name on a piece of paper would develop to reflect the ways you have changed over the years, but according to certified questioned document examiner, Brenda Petty, that’s exactly what happens.
According to Petty, your handwriting coincides with the unique experiences that you as an individual go through in life — but there’s a difference, she says, between your cursive and your print. When you write in print, Petty explains, this means your conscious mind has control over your writing. Cursive, on the other hand, she tells Elite Daily, is recognized as “brain writing,” in which the brain, or unconscious mind, does its own thing based on the storing and processing of information going on in that moment.
So if there's truth to the old saying "I think, therefore I am," and if your handwriting represents what you think and where you are in life, then I guess it all adds up, huh?
Here's what your penmanship could say about your personality according to Petty.
If your mind is on autopilot these days, same, girl. Between class assignments, office work, catching up with your bestie, and making time to just do you, it's no wonder your mind finds it almost impossible to settle down and live in the moment, let alone take your sweet time writing out a clean signature.
If your handwriting is a little messier than you'd like it to be, or you purposely write sloppily because you honestly couldn't care less what the clerk behind the counter thinks about the way your letters overlap, Petty says this type of script can reveal an inability to slow down.
"Messy handwriting can indicate many things," she tells Elite Daily. From your intelligence to your writing skills, careless cursive or print might also suggest that you're struggling with your mental health in some way, or that something is bothering you on a very emotional level. Of course, you should never self-diagnose based on your handwriting alone, but the next time you're going through some things, maybe try to pay attention to what you're putting down on paper.
"This is why it is very important to consider many facets of the handwriting and not just the messiness," Petty explains. "Messy handwriting can be very interesting because of all the aspects it can present."
Personally, I've always admired bubbly handwriting because it always looks happy. Obviously I'm well aware that ink doesn't have feelings (or maybe it does, who am I to say?), but whenever I open a card and see that the person who wrote it penned their message in this kind of animated writing, I can't help but find it sort of uplifting. Maybe it's a writer's thing.
Petty's analysis, she tells Elite Daily, is that bubbly handwriting "usually represents 'living in the moment' and not giving as much thought to the future." So it doesn't necessarily mean you're happier than someone who thoughtlessly jots their name down on the dotted line, but it could mean you're generally more free-spirited, according to Petty.
If you're the type of person who will legitimately take a pause to carefully craft a neat, sophisticated signature that just flows on the paper, I admire your patience. I'm a writer, and I still don't make it a point to be that neat with my written words.
"Careful, neat handwriting usually represents someone who likes order," Petty tells Elite Daily. It might be a sign that you're a perfectionist who appreciates routine, she adds, or someone who likes knowing all the facts before making decisions, who follows the rules, and is consistent, she explains.
Sorry not sorry, folks, but when I'm in a massive hurry, or just feeling downright lazy, if you ask for my signature, the most you'll get out of me is a big fat "J.G." For me, jotting down my initials is just a timesaver at best, but some people, like my husband, for example, will only write their initials on any given piece of paper. Why? Good question.
"Using initials for a signature can also represent different things," Petty says. Sure, initialing in place of a full blown signature could mean you just wanted to sign the document quickly, but Petty says just placing a few letters on a page could mean you're someone who doesn't like to identify everything about yourself, meaning you're a private person. It can also represent a person who is "individualizing their signature to make it more unique," she adds.
