A Day Without Glasses

I’ve only been wearing my reading glasses regularly since March. I had +0.75 in both eyes when I got tested 18 months or so ago. Not much, but enough to bother me. I’m turning 44 this summer. It’s early. But it is what it is.

My glasses snapped in half yesterday. They’re cheap glasses I got at the pharmacy, but over the last weeks I had grown to depend on them. Just like with hearing aids, the brain quickly learns to refuse to make extra useless efforts. It learns that it doesn’t have to spend so much energy compensating.

I noticed that, each time I’d try to look at my phone without glasses, I could see it was fuzzy, and I could feel my brow furrowing and my eyes straining.

I’m on the train back from a whole day of work (at the computer, not fun otherwise) without my glasses. And I can feel how much more tired my eyes are. I had a headache. Maybe it was the two short nights I had (I’m reading a captivating book), or the stormy weather, but I kind of suspect the lack of glasses is also to be blamed.

I’m going to buy some new ones tomorrow, come hell or high water.

Originally published at Climb to the Stars.