I didn’t start wearing glasses until the stereotypical age of 40-something. I gradually bought stronger and stronger reading glasses. Then my far vision started to get blurry . Now I have progressed to progressive lenses. Adjusting to a new pair is a struggle! If you know, you know.

Recently, after much procrastinating, I went for an eye exam and then ordered a new pair of glasses. I bought them in a store, not online. They weren’t cheap. But I had to do it. The coating on my last pair was starting to peel off. I had bought another pair two years ago and returned them because I couldn’t adjust to them.

This time I was determined! I paid extra for premium lenses. When I went to pick them up I was so disappointed! I couldn’t see clearly at any distance and they had a strange chromatic effect that created a red and blue border around letters on a screen. Not helpful for someone who reads a lot on their phone!

But I took them home and tried half-heartedly to adjust . Too blurry! I just kept wearing my old pair. After a week I went back to the store and said “Something’s wrong with these!”. I wanted my money back. The girl said , “Give it time!”. I went home with the glasses.

A week later, I went back again, this time to the eye doctor’s office in Walmart. No one else was there. The receptionist and I chatted like friends . She’d just suffered through a day of a new-glasses headache and finally adjusted. She told to me keep trying and I said okay.

Well, good news! I didn’t try again right away. But one day I remembered to put them on first thing when I woke up. I wore them all day and now I can see with these glasses. It wasn’t perfect immediately. I did get a headache from the different lenses and a neck ache from the change in the field of vision from larger lenses. But it’s getting better. Hooray!

I was thinking how this can apply to other difficult adjustments to changes in life. It’s so easy to give up when the new thing doesn’t feel comfortable. We don’t think we can adjust. It can be painful. We look for a way out.

We seek confirmation that it’s impossible. But with encouragement and patience from someone who has been through it, we can get to the next level. Lean on others when necessary. And encourage your friends and family who are struggling. We need each other.