This article is part of a long term vision improvement experiment. To get the full value of what I am learning, be sure to check out the introductory article which also has links to all of my updates.
Over two years after I started writing about it, my articles on natural vision improvement are by far the most popular things on this site. At the time I was trying to write informative articles on just about any topic, which included some personal blogging. Since then this site has evolved into a platform for my apps business, but I’ve kept many of the original articles available. The vision improvement articles are too popular to take down. Of course, I don’t make a dime from this. It’s just information.
Why is this topic so popular with people? I mean, there’s not that much to say about it. At first I was hoping to have an update every week or so but I gave up that idea pretty quickly.
Part of it is that people hate to wear glasses. They hate the feeling. They hate the burden. But I think it goes deeper.
People feel cheated. People feel misled by the guardians of health. I certainly feel misled. When I was a teenager, I fought against optometrists for years. I didn’t believe in wearing glasses. When my high school checked everybody’s vision, I made sure I was home that day (I was “sick” — sick of school!). When my mom’s optometrist sent a card asking for an appointment for me and my brother, I threw the card away.
A few years later, though, I decided to stop fighting it. I thought that maybe it was best to just accept the reality that I needed glasses. I was really into accepting reality back then. I thought it was positive, to accept what is. And you can see what happened. Years of worsening vision and floaters.
All progress depends on the unreasonable man, and I’ve returned to being unreasonable like I used to be. I understand that reality is what it is, but I believe it can be changed in many cases, and I should do what ever I can to change it.
There is a difference between accepting reality and acknowledging it. We need to acknowledge reality. We need to make peace with the facts of existence. Acceptance, however, implies that we stop there and embrace the way things are, and let them be.
I have no doubt that optometrists want me to be healthy and have a good life. The problem is, their definition of health is not necessarily my definition. This is why I must refuse to accept their view of reality.
There was a time when it was considered sophisticated or elite to wear glasses. There are people who see glamor instead of dependence. There are people who value a life of reading books and doing accounting over being alive, being outside, and playing. These people, with the best of intentions, wanted to fix everyone else, and used their own values as the measuring stick.
You have to be careful about the values that a medical treatment implicitly forces on you. I once had some pain in my feet. I saw a podiatrist who said that my feet were too flexible. It would cost $16,000 to have pins inserted in them, and this might or might not solve the problem (20% chance it would). And I would have to wear special orthotics for the rest of my life anyway.
I ignored his advice and started walking barefoot. The pain disappeared within days and has never returned.
How could the podiatrist recommend such a radical intervention? Was he just out to get my money? I don’t think so. I think that in his value system, everybody needs to be a certain way, and everybody needs to wear shoes. He was trying to do his best to offer me his vision of health, which includes, by implication, a life where wearing shoes is normal, because society says so.
I cured my own problem because I have different values. I believe that shoes are unnatural and probably the cause of many foot problems. I don’t believe that I need to adapt my feet so they are comfortable in shoes, so I can fit in and make society happy. My feet are much happier without shoes. I saved $16,000, irreversible surgery on my feet, and tremendous pain. More importantly, I identified and fulfilled my own vision of myself.
I think optometrists operate in the same way. They just see wearing glasses as a normal part of life. They don’t see dependence, they see utility. “Here, wear these. Solves your problem, doesn’t it? Glad I could help. Now go home and never take them off.” That reality is acceptable to many people, but not to me.
Modern medicine doesn’t have all the answers, and what they consider to be a healthy way of life — wearing glasses and special orthotics, taking pills every day — is not necessarily what you personally would consider a healthy way of life.
I’m thankful for all the people who come here and post their own stories. I’m glad to know the topic is so popular, and that people are taking charge of their own health. I want to encourage that as much as possible. Hopefully, I’ll continue to have progress to write about.
