I Came Around Late, But Early Enough to Save the Situation

Photo by David Travis

Originally Posted On: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/i-came-around-late-but-early-enough-to-save-the-situation/

After two score years and four, I now realise that my sight needs better care if truly I still require its services.

Can you sincerely look yourself straight in the eye (you need a mirror to do that) and say ‘I really care for myself’? Well, not many of us can do it. We work so assiduously, but so self-forgetfully, that though we remember other issues, we don’t remember one of the most useful assets we’ve got as a human being. That is the eye.

But passage of time has surely reminded me, though the hard way.

Definitely, ageing processes take different shades and dimensions in different individuals. Some go bald, and white-headed before their fiftieth birthday, while some resort to artificial dentition long before they reach their ‘diamond age’. For some, it is the skin. It becomes wrinkled, scaly and saggy when their seniors can still vie for body lotion adverts roles on TV and win.

Well, for me, at two score years and four, it is my sight that bears the tell-tale signs like an overhead billboard.

But in all fairness to myself, I really do pay good attention to my health and overall wellness. For instance, I grew up and still live in a part of the world where herbal concoctions that hardly have any professional prescriptive dosages are prevalent, yet I never patronise them – not since I was 25. And I determinedly observe adequate night rests and engage in recreational activities, including ‘walk to live’ trekking. Save over-the-counter drugs, I only use drugs prescribe by a medical personnel. And my diet is modestly balanced.

However, by some default, I never remembered my eyes. All I know was that I have got a very good sight which I prided myself on. I forgot all about maintenance. At least my bones, joints and muscles benefitted from my engagement in physical exercises. My eyes suffered from my addiction to the screens.

Unknown to my, while I get stuck to the screens working, my eyes were weeping and sobbing incoherently. Whereas I enjoyed the movies on the TV and the social media on my smartphones, my eyes sore over them.

Yes, all these technologies are doing lots of damage to our eyes. But, in my self-inflicted stupor, I knew not all this then.

Well, the first sign of the derelict state of my eyes surfaced about six months ago. I was in a class with learners between ages 13 and 15. The pre-reading talk part of the lesson was wonderful and we were all looking forward to a highly productive class. But that would never happen. I wanted to read for the class but could not. Initially I though the letters were too tiny, but when the children came to my recue and read the passage so fluently, I came to terms with the realities: the sight that I so much pride myself on is degenerating. This reality spoiled my mood and the class!

My next line of action was to get help. So I hit the internet. Reading through people’s view and opinion about vision benefits, I have come to realise that vision benefits are a bad deal that are in most cases mere bureaucracy. So I relentlessly read literatures on the eye and it maintenance and now I have got an action plan in place.

1) I must visit an ophthalmologist at least quarterly, or even more frequently. If necessary, I’ll get eyeglasses and use them according to the specialist’s prescription.

2) Every appointment at the doctor’s must go on my Google Calendar, with a reminder set, so that all possibilities of forgetting are ruled out.

3) I must reduce my contact with the screens.