Out of Focus

I can see clearly now the... old contacts are gone. After two and a half years with the same prescription, I finally have the contacts I need. For the last year, I have been living my life in a slightly blurred world, getting worse and worse as time passed. The last month, obviously, was the worst. While focused on something up close, lifting my head to see something in the distance was near impossible. I was struggling to recognize faces. Street signs were a nightmare. This wasn't healthy.

But alas, a week ago I got examined, and yesterday was my first day with a new set of lenses. 80% stronger than my previous pair. Think about that.

So now I can see. But what does that mean?

It means that the forgotten details of life are all of a sudden back in the picture, which means more than you think. Let's take my drive home. A week ago, my drive was focused on the big things, the main things, the things that directly impacted my trip: street lights, moving vehicles, stopped vehicles, break lights, etc. With a strong boost in my vision, seeing closer to a hawk than my previous self, I am able to glance between license plates, store signs, building materials. The point is not that my drive is filled with more distractions because I can finally see and read them. The point is the attention to detail.

The same way that searching for the little details in your life can be the inspiration for writing, or thinking, or doing, the little details that you can see also spawn a new spool of thought. Some writers only write about what they know. Some what they see. Some can imagine both and produce writing that makes you believe they know it, and have seen it. But for the average, run-of-the-mill kid that wants to get the most out of his surroundings, picking up on the little stuff is important. This became difficult with blurry vision.

This jump has not been huge for me. I'm more just happy that I get to relax my eyes from the squint position when I'm watching TV. But even if we're not taking notes on the definition we're seeing, we are once again giving the ability to see the details, and can begin to appreciate them.