Personally, I've had terrible eyesight for as long as I can remember. The day I realized I couldn't see the board in first grade solidified years of embarrassing wire-rimmed glasses, contact lenses, and all of the daily struggles that come along with severe nearsightedness. Today, my glasses are so thick that they've been compared to coke bottles, my vision is much worse than any of my grandparents', and my optometrist always greets me with the question, "Still can't see anything, huh?"
Whether near and farsighted, here are 10 problems you'll definitely relate to if your eyes have failed you too.
1. Feeling vulnerable and disoriented without glasses or contacts
Everyone with unfortunate eyesight has thought one of these three things:
If there's a fire in my house tonight, what if I can't find my glasses? I'm a goner for sure.
If I were ever stranded on a desert island, my contacts would definitely dry up. I'd be the weakest link.
If I lived in a time period before glasses or contacts were invented, my life would have been awful. I'm so blessed.
2. Losing your glasses and becoming completely helpless
Heaven forbid you lose your glasses in your bed somewhere. The world is just a series of blurry blobs, so how are you even supposed to find them? Riddle me that.
Usually, you end up looking a little something like this searching for your glasses in the morning.
3. The all-too-familiar stabbing contact lens
One single smudge or speck of dirt can cause a pain that only be described as being stabbed in the eye. Even having slightly dry eyes in the morning can cause a whole new series of issues. And, trust me, you do not even know the definition of pain until you put in a contact lens inside out.
Never be surprised if your friend with contacts is taking a while to get ready, they may have had to put them in several times. Take it easy on them, because this is probably what their morning looked like:
4. Running out of contact lenses
If they run out unexpectedly before you could order more, looks like you're wearing your glasses for 3-5 business days.
5. Occasional squinting
Even with contact lenses and glasses, you'll still find yourself squinting to see things that are extremely far away. You also frequently ask, "Can you read that, or is it just me who can't?"
6. Dropping a contact lens
If you're lucky enough to find it, it'll be somewhere you didn't think physics would allow it to end up. Stuck to the mirror, on the faucet, it could even be stuck to you and you'd never notice.
7. Grossing your friends out
Not everyone is as used to fingers in their eyes as we are.
8. Trying to adjust irritating lenses
Most of the time, you're out and about when your lenses suddenly turn against you. You can't take them out, so blinking excessively must be solution, right?
9. Trying to lie down with glasses on
It just doesn't work.
10. People testing out how blind you are
There's no telling how many people ask to try on your glasses, and they never fail to say something along the lines of, "Wow, you really are blind." And while you're standing there in all of your vulnerable blindness, they'll ask, "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Please refer to the chart below, thank you.
Yes, there are a lot of struggles that come along with horrible vision, but take time to appreciate how lucky we are to have access to glasses and contacts. We're so blessed to be able to see at all, a blessing that not everyone has.
In the meantime, keep dreaming of that LASIK surgery. Maybe we'll get there one day!
