As someone who has worn glasses and/or contact lenses since middle school, I have to tell you that I’ve never spent a lot of time wondering what life is like for everyone else. This is what I have to do in order to see, and they don’t – yay for the seers among us.
Some people, it turns out, are a bit more bitter about the whole thing, and they want those non-glasses wearing people to know exactly how lucky they are.
Here are 16 things you’ll never really get if you don’t need help to see.
16. A short list.
Naps. You ever try laying down on one side with your glasses on? Uncomfortable as can get.
The panic you feel when you either think you’ve lost your glasses, or when they fall on the floor, or they’re just floating freely in your purse or pocket without a case.
Fogging up of your lenses. Whether it’s due to humidity, wearing a mask, or just your breath, your lenses fogging up is annoying as hell. Can also be a safety hazard, depending on the conditions you find yourself in.
When your vision is so bad you need new glasses every two years, and insurance barely covers a new set of glasses.
Like, my glasses aren’t for cosmetic purposes. I need them to SEE. I’d argue that glasses are typically a medical necessity.
15. You cannot watch t.v. in bed.
how frustrating it is for us when we want to put our head on the pillow
or when the lenses fog or get dirty
or when the glasses slide on the nose
14. It’s the worst.
They will never experience having a really small spec on their lenses on the middle that’ll literally bother me all the time.
Scratches are the worst. You can buff off a smudge. Scratch? Better get new lenses made.
13. It’s definitely a thing.
Ever take the lid off boiling pasta? Or open the dishwasher? Or step outside on a hot humid day, or inside on a cold day?
You won blindness!
12. It’s so annoying.
When the arm gets a little loose and you spend all day catching them as they slide off your face.
11. Not a good time.
Going to the water park….sucks.
I can’t keep them on going down the waterslides, so I leave them in the locker, but then I can’t see anything else so I lose the people I go with.
I go on slides I wouldn’t normally go on, can’t read any signs, it makes me feel like I’m on crack in a David Lynch theme park.
10. You get used to it.
Conversely, not seeing how filthy your glasses are because you’re focusing through them rather than on them.
My mother would often complain that I needed to clean my glasses, when I legitimately didn’t notice anything.
9. You’re stuck without them.
I can’t read. I can’t walk. I can’t function. I still smoke just about. my dog ate three pairs in a row.
I was not a happy camper. I’m long & short sighted. It’s an expensive chew toy.
8. There’s an adjustment period.
Wearing glasses shifts your depth perception very slightly. If you wear the same pair for a long time you get used to it, but it’s very noticeable when you first start wearing glasses or get a new pair.
I always feel just a little ‘off’ when I’m going down stairs in a new pair of glasses.
7. Some nurse.
Mine broke once in high school and I literally couldn’t see anything and had to be picked up to get new ones. The school nurse seemed INDIGNANT. Like she thought I was faking it.
Uhh. Excuse me miss. Do you see these coke bottles? There’s no functioning without that.
6. It makes you panic, for sure.
How helpless you feel when you can’t find them.
5. Old habits die hard.
Not wearing my glasses but still trying to adjust them or push them up the bridge of my nose anyway.
4. A lot of work for nothing.
Eye makeup is always partially covered by the frames and lenses. Also mascara will inevitably end up on the lenses.
Your prescription may be two different kinds (one per eye) but you still will likely need to push your glasses so close to your eyes to see the tiny price tags and labels on products behind a store’s counter.
You have to get giant clunky safety glasses if they are need at work, or pay lots of money for specialty glasses that can then fit the small plastic covers on the sides. Debri will still get passed and the two sets of frames will squeeze your head.
The eye exam involves a machine that will blow air into your eye leaving you anxiously waiting for it to happen so you can be done. Also the image of the house with the red roof amongst a green field and a light blue sky.
3. Awkwardness abounds.
Very coolly adjusting my glasses only to find that they aren’t there.
ETA: my favorite part, immediately needing to tell someone what I stupidly just did.
2. Masks are a pain.
The steam! And losing or forgetting them. Wear a mask, boom you’re all steamed up now you cant see. Have a cup hot coffee or tea, boom now you cant see.
Wake up in the cant find your glasses? Good luck trying to see them.
Go out for the day and forget to bring them, well now your walking about with blurred vision all day, and trying to navigate things becomes difficult, especially when you are used to wearing glasses.
1. Thank you I have no idea.
Barber takes off your glasses, cuts your hair, and then asks you “How does it look?” without giving your glasses back.
I mean, yeah. All of this is super true.
What are some things you think people who don’t wear glasses don’t realize? Drop it on us in the comments!
