About 15 years ago I started wearing disposable contact lenses. When I did that, the eye doctor told me that there was in fact a front and back to the lens, but that the only way to tell which was which was to put it in my eye and then see how it felt. If it set comfortably on my eye, it was in right. If it slipped around a bit, it was backwards.
For the next 13 years, every single day, I would pop the right lens in, take a minute, feel if it felt right, flip it if needed, and then do the same with the left. Much to my irritation, I couldn’t always tell the difference between a natural irritation (which would eventually go away) and a backwards lens. End result was I could go a couple of hours with an uncomfortable eye before I realized that the lens was in backwards.
Flash forward to a few months ago. I was getting a routine check-up at one of those Mall-based eye centers. The doctor is checking out my eyes and asked me if the contacts feel ok. I don’t normally make small talk, so I simply said ‘yes, they are fine’ (which they were).
Then, on impulse, I said, ‘yeah, once I figure out if it’s in backwards or not.’
The doctor looked at me and said, ‘oh, you mean you can’t tell by looking at it?’
I paused for a second, and responded, ‘what? You can do that?’
‘Yes. Hold it on your finger and look closely at it. If the edges flare out it’s backwards. If they curve in, like a bowl, it’s right.’
‘Hmm, No one ever told me that before…’
Sure enough, that day I tried his method and it worked. And you know what? It has worked everyday since then! Since that appointment, I have never put a contact in my eye backwards. It’s a small victory, but every morning when I look closely at my contacts to make sure they are right I get a warm fuzzy feeling as I remember what a pain it was before and how amazing it is to not have the discomfort anymore.
So what’s the point? Why am I sharing my story of ocular discomfort with you? Well, there are two HUGE points that I took away from this and that I want you to take away.
Don’t Accept Blindly
I had a slightly irritating problem. It wasn’t a big enough problem that I felt I had to go out and address it. As a result, I just blindly accepted the words of someone from 13 years ago! Even if they were correct at the time, 13 years is a long time, and things change.
Be very wary of getting into a pattern of accepting something negative, even if (or maybe especially if) it’s a small thing. Make sure you periodically re-examine the situation to see if it really has to exist.
And don’t be afraid to get a second opinion!
Ask
If I hadn’t broken my traditional pattern of just answering the doctor’s questions and offered up an additional comment, I would still be struggling with the contact problem. The simple act of offering a little more information and bringing up my issue led to a simple solution to my problem.
How many times do we as people resign ourselves to accepting something and then choose to never bring it up. You don’t want to be a complainer, but if you accept your problems and keep them bottled up, you may be bypassing simple solutions everyday!
That eye appointment turned out to be quite a day for me. Not only did I get rid of a minor irritation that had been plaguing me for years, but I also learned a valuable lesson about how to look at life.