Throughout life we must make transitions. Adapt to changing circumstances.
Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s depressing.
It might be about something you can no longer physically do. Or something you KNOW you shouldn’t do anymore, like lifting super heavy things or trying to sprint from a standing start after the age of 50.
If you live long enough, you have many examples of stuff you no longer do. Or, if you continue to take on a certain activity, you’re smart about it, and approach it in a slower fashion.
Recently, over a period of several months, while working on my desktop computer, I couldn’t understand why I was squinting and turning my head to read words. The screen seemed somehow blurry. Not bad, just a little off.
It didn’t occur to me quickly that perhaps my eyes were going through a new adjustment of older age. When I first needed reading glasses in my mid-40’s, I remember the nirvana moment when I figured it out.
At the time, Nuprin (with tennis great Jimmy Connors endorsing it with the phrase, “Nupe it with Nuprin”) was the ibuprofen drug of choice. We had a tiny bottle in our bedside table. Rarely using it, I remember pulling it out one night to look at how much to dose yourself.
I couldn’t read it. I moved the small cannister closer and found the print got blurrier. I squinted. That helped a bit. I shifted the container around. Finally, I moved it farther away from my face, holding it at arms’ length and was able to read it. WHOA.
Time for those reading glasses. I suddenly understood why my dad had those readers for the morning newspaper.
I started with 125’s and moved onto 150’s after 10 years or so. Fully understanding at some point there would likely be further deterioration and the need for greater magnification. But, the thought of having to get stronger lenses hadn’t occurred to me recently. You get used to your routine and everything’s okay.
I continued squinting at the desktop screen, moving my chair farther away. Then, it became apparent that reading the screen on my smart phone was getting more and more difficult. It dawned on my thick head that it was time for another change and to accommodate eyes that weren’t quite what they used to be.
Heading to Costco to pick up a 3-pack of 175-glasses, I felt slightly saddened at this new development. “Dammit, I have to put on glasses just to read the computer screen?” I guess so.
Certainly, I could have continued down my merry path of squinting and shifting my chair, getting irritated, perhaps developing headaches. The smarter move was acknowledgement and moving on to the next step of life.
Sometimes we make small changes smoothly. Sometimes we fight them for years. Sometimes we stick to our old ways and make our lives more complicated and harder.
Print is clearer now. Work proceeds more quickly and easily. Reading anything online or on the phone is effortless with the glasses. Sometimes you wonder why you don’t change more quickly.
Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s depressing.
It might be about something you can no longer physically do. Or something you KNOW you shouldn’t do anymore, like lifting super heavy things or trying to sprint from a standing start after the age of 50.
If you live long enough, you have many examples of stuff you no longer do. Or, if you continue to take on a certain activity, you’re smart about it, and approach it in a slower fashion.
Recently, over a period of several months, while working on my desktop computer, I couldn’t understand why I was squinting and turning my head to read words. The screen seemed somehow blurry. Not bad, just a little off.
It didn’t occur to me quickly that perhaps my eyes were going through a new adjustment of older age. When I first needed reading glasses in my mid-40’s, I remember the nirvana moment when I figured it out.
At the time, Nuprin (with tennis great Jimmy Connors endorsing it with the phrase, “Nupe it with Nuprin”) was the ibuprofen drug of choice. We had a tiny bottle in our bedside table. Rarely using it, I remember pulling it out one night to look at how much to dose yourself.
I couldn’t read it. I moved the small cannister closer and found the print got blurrier. I squinted. That helped a bit. I shifted the container around. Finally, I moved it farther away from my face, holding it at arms’ length and was able to read it. WHOA.
Time for those reading glasses. I suddenly understood why my dad had those readers for the morning newspaper.
I started with 125’s and moved onto 150’s after 10 years or so. Fully understanding at some point there would likely be further deterioration and the need for greater magnification. But, the thought of having to get stronger lenses hadn’t occurred to me recently. You get used to your routine and everything’s okay.
I continued squinting at the desktop screen, moving my chair farther away. Then, it became apparent that reading the screen on my smart phone was getting more and more difficult. It dawned on my thick head that it was time for another change and to accommodate eyes that weren’t quite what they used to be.
Heading to Costco to pick up a 3-pack of 175-glasses, I felt slightly saddened at this new development. “Dammit, I have to put on glasses just to read the computer screen?” I guess so.
Certainly, I could have continued down my merry path of squinting and shifting my chair, getting irritated, perhaps developing headaches. The smarter move was acknowledgement and moving on to the next step of life.
Sometimes we make small changes smoothly. Sometimes we fight them for years. Sometimes we stick to our old ways and make our lives more complicated and harder.
Print is clearer now. Work proceeds more quickly and easily. Reading anything online or on the phone is effortless with the glasses. Sometimes you wonder why you don’t change more quickly.