Four eyes

I started wearing glasses when I was 12. I was nearsighted and I vividly remember my astonishment at how clear the pavement was after putting on my new glasses. But I didn’t always wear them. That’s partly because my vision wasn’t horrible (I ended up about -2, purely nearsighted, with no astigmatism—compare that to my brother who I think was -12 plus had a horrible astigmatism). So I would wear them to see the chalkboard in school but often forgot them otherwise until I got older.

And I realized when I got older that when I was in a tense or uncomfortable situation, I’d take my glasses off. The instant blur created a sense of having a barrier which always eased my discomfort. It didn’t bother me that I couldn’t exactly see everyone; I’d just look toward them and be able to maintain eye contact without feeling uncomfortable.

After I had Lasik surgery, my nearsightedness was gone, but I chose not to correct for the eventual need for reading glasses. I figured I would just wear them (and I do). But now when things get tense or I’m tired of making eye contact, I just look through my reading glasses instead of over them. Everything is blurry, just the way I’m used to.

So far this works because my prescription is very mild. I need them but I don’t (yet) look like Mr. Magoo. Plus my frames look more like trendy frames, not reading glasses. We’ll see what happens when fashion changes or my eyes get worse.

What weird coping strategies do you have?