Getting/Wearing Glasses

I've had 20/15 vision most of my life.

I've never not been able to see or read something. It was very convenient, and something I was a little proud of. As a bookworm and person who feels strongly about seeing the truth—both philosophically and literally—losing perfect eyesight sounded like an actual nightmare.

Then, last fall, I got the news.

I now qualify for the world's tiniest prescription XD

First, I was indignant (and still am, a little). Nothing is blurry; nothing ever has been, so...?

The eye doctor explained that while my vision was still pretty much perfect, my eyes were working REALLY hard to give that to me. He asked questions like,

"Do you sometimes get headaches, especially toward the end of the day? Is driving at night a little harder?"

And I was like:

How dare he make accurate predictions that contradict my delusions of visual goddess-ery?

But, I do pretty much read for a living—and on a computer, at that—so I decided to go ahead and get the small prescription with a blue light blocker. Best to take great care of my eyes while I'm young, right?

Then came the fun part of picking out glasses, and listening to the sales guy flatter me into believing the nerdy frames I wanted were a "bold, fun choice."

Then came the week or so wait for them to come in. By this point I was actually a little excited. Glasses for when my eyes were tired or I felt like looking nerdy; no glasses for when I didn't feel like wearing them, because my eyesight was still actually fine. Best of both worlds.

I went to pick up the glasses. I put them on in front of the salespeople, secretly wondering if maybe my vision was worse than I realized and I was about to be catapulted into a crystal-clear world I'd never experienced before. The frames settled on my nose, and...

The world went blurry.

Cue disappointment and more indignation.

The salespeople were clearly also waiting for me to enter a crystal-clear world I'd never experienced before, and met me with equal—though more professional—disappointment and indignation.

"Sometimes it takes a while for your eyes to adjust," the lady said. "Wear them for 4–6 hours a day for a week or so and see if it gets better."

I left the eye doctor surprisingly bummed for a person who didn't actually want glasses.

After a week of wearing them, things were still blurry, so I went back. They said my eyes weren't making the adjustment, so they were going to cut this "correct" prescription in half and let my eyes get used to that, then work them up to the full thing.

I had mixed feelings about this. I wasn't sure if I even wanted my eyes to get used to glasses. If they did, wouldn't that mean that the world would look better and clearer with them, and therefore worse and blurrier any time I didn't feel like wearing my glasses? I asked the doctors and salespeople this question a lot, and no one seemed to want to give me a straight answer, probably because the answer was "Yes. That is true."

Finally, the doctor answered the question, saying that getting or not getting glasses probably wouldn't affect me drastically. It was probably a matter of adjusting my vision timeline by three to five years. Instead of really needing glasses at age 38, maybe I'd need them at 35.

I could live with that.

I got the halved prescription and allowed my eyes to adjust to them. I'm wearing my adorably nerdy glasses as I type this, and have as I've typed all my posts. I usually wear them when I read, when I'm going to be scrolling through my phone for a while, and when I work on the computer. I can still see fine without my glasses, but I'm more comfortable with them.

I guess I've come to terms with the fact that my body isn't going to be young forever. I know that sounds dramatic coming from a twenty-five-year-old, but you know it's true. I already can't function on five hours of sleep like I used to be able to. One day I won't be able to read without my glasses.

I'll just have to believe that when that day comes, I'll be able to adjust.

Or maybe Jesus will come back before then and spare me XD

~Stephanie