30 Day Photo Challenge : Day 2

I have a love/hate relationship with my eyes. They're my favorite feature on my face. However, I was born with nystagmus, which basically means my eyes shake uncontrollably back and forth. I don't notice it unless I'm really tired or sick or trying to see a lit sign far away. But other people notice. And it's really hard for me to make eye contact with people I don't know. Freaky eyes on top of shyness is a hard combo.

To add icing on the cake, I'm a designer and photographer. I NEED my eyes to live. I've never had perfect eyesight. The nystagmus makes me nearsighted. But this past year I've been noticing a decline in how much I can see. I stopped being able to read menu boards at restaurants. I had to lean towards my computer screen to type an e-mail or blog post. I started squinting to read smaller things that were far away. So I decided to do something good for my health and my career and go see the optometrist.

She said that although my nystagmus makes me nearsighted, I do have an astigmatism that is making other things harder to see. She put me in a light prescription and yesterday was my first day ever with glasses. I was upset at the eye place. I didn't want glasses. I didn't want to pick any out. Someday I might be able to wear contacts, but I need to wear these for a while to get used to the prescription.

So instead of being upset that I now have glasses, I tried to see the positive of the situation. As I'm writing this post my back is comfortably supported by my chair. I'm not leaning in. I'm so very thankful that we live in a country where I am able to get the medical attention my eyes require. I'm also very thankful that even though I don't have vision insurance, there was a discount program I qualified for and I'm in a financially comfortable position that I could pay for these and still have heat and food. And lastly, I'm thankful that my nystagmus is not as severe as to prevent me from things like driving or doing what I love.

I got kind of deep on that one and we're only on day 2. Yeesh. Have you had a crummy situation that had a silver lining?

This post is part of a 30-day challenge. You can read about how it started in this post.


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