Tuesday, July 17, 2012

It's not about how you look...

A couple of weeks ago I went to my eye doctor for my annual check up.  It just happened that I had been having some trouble with allergy symptoms in my eyes for several weeks.  After the exam, my eye doctor told me that I needed to not wear contacts for a week and then return for a follow up exam.

This might not be a big deal for most people, but...um...I don't wear my glasses in public.  I just don't.  It might be because I started wearing glasses in middle school.  Middle school.  The absolute worse time for an adolescent girl to start wearing glasses.  I distinctly remember two boys sitting behind me on the bus ranking the girls in our class by our looks.  I slipped out of the top five because, according to one of my pimply-faced classmates, I got glasses.  I was devastated.  Ah, glasses.

With age and perspective, I know that there are several things wrong with tying your esteem to the opinions of others.  And, there are so many more things wrong with young women being ranked like cattle in a show ring.  That is a whole other essay.

Back at the eye doctor...

So, I did what any thirty-something with a glasses-wearing complex would do...I negotiated.

I asked if I could use the July 4th holiday as a reprieve for my eyes.  Then, if I could wear contacts on Thursday and Friday at work only and then use the weekend for the second wave of reprieve.  This schedule, in combination with some medicine, got the approval from my doctor.

The weekend was a great time for me to reflect on my glasses-wearing complex.  I thought a lot about vanity and vision and negotiated how to exercise and cook with glasses. (I forgot about all of the fogging up.)  Ultimately, I got really, really thankful for my healthy eyes and the fact that I can see.  And, I got a little more ok with my glasses.  Maybe I will even wear them in public...maybe...after I update my frames to something a little more hip.  Whatever hip is.  I'll have to ask someone cooler than me.

While scanning Pinterest, I found the great graphic above.  Loved it.  So perfect for my life in this time.

1 comment:

Home on the Range Exchange said...

I hear ya, I had to go one MONTH with out contact.