By Ashtyn Britt
abritt@lc.edu

I think it can be safely said that nobody really sits to think about whether or not they can see. For me, I thought for a long time that I had nearly, if not perfect, vision and had no severe issues being able to see that I was aware of. However, the last couple of years changed that. When my friends would point out a sign on the other side of the Wal-Mart Supercenter, I genuinely thought it looked as blurry to her as it had to me. When she asked me about it, and I confirmed I would have to get closer, she had gently teased that all of these years reading and using my phone were finally taking their toll. I had assumed it was a fluke, after all, I thought I could see perfectly fine.

It was about a month and a half ago I realized that the situation might be worse than I thought. While out to dinner with a friend, who I will call Jamie, we had somehow gotten on the topic of glasses. She had me try hers on to understand exactly the state of her vision, and I had been shocked to see a group of wine glasses a few yards from us looked hyper focused and like they were in high definition. I told her this and she blankly stared at me a moment, telling me they are supposed to look like they are in high definition. Concerned, she made me promise to go get a vision test and seriously consider getting glasses. So, I did exactly that.

Sure enough, I was in desperate need of new glasses. A few weeks later, I officially owned my first pair. You would not  believe how beautiful the world instantly became when I could actually see it, and had been amazed at the fact that I had been so used to my eyesight I had not realized I needed glasses in the first place. Everyone, please, go get yearly eye exams and take your health seriously. You could literally be blind, or rather have astigmatism, and not even know it.