Eyesight: Removing the First Hurdle

For over 20 years, I wore glasses from the moment I woke until the time I went to bed. I am nearsighted. I depend on my glasses to see far things clearly. I shouldn’t use it when working on things that are near, but I kept it on. It never occurred to me take them off. After reading Dr. Bates book, I decided to use my glasses only when it’s necessary to see distance things clearly.

First Try

I took off my glasses. It was unpleasant. Everything was blurry; I couldn’t see near and I couldn’t see far. Only things eight inches or closer were clear. It felt so uncomfortable to see everything in depths of blurriness. After struggling for five minutes, I had to put them back on.

Second Try

Saturday morning, I tried again. I removed my glasses. Again, it felt uncomfortable. My eyes strained to see clearly. Everything was blurry and in doubles. I went to the garden and my eyes watered and strained from the bright light and blurriness. It took all my will power to keep my glasses off.

After an hour, my eyes adjusted to the blurriness, and it felt less uncomfortable. I am so used to the glasses that something doesn’t seem right without them on like my eyes were naked. What felt distressing was that I saw doubles without my glasses on. Why was I seeing doubles? I didn’t know, but I persevered and fought off the urge to put on my glasses.

Continuing

Day after day, I took off my glasses when I didn’t need to see something far away clearly. Slowly over many weeks, I felt comfortable seeing without my glasses. Slowly, the double image merged to one, although there was still a gap along the edge sometimes. It takes discipline, effort, and time to break the habit of wearing my glasses all the time. To break the dependence in my glasses and improve my eyesight, it’s worth any effort.

Challenge

Fighting the urge to wear my glasses all the time was challenging. We depend on our eyes and not being able to see clearly can be frustrating and unnerving. For all of us who wear glasses and want to improve our eyesight, this is the first and biggest hurdle we must fight to overcome.