Eye Test.

Went to have my Glasses upgraded recently. Technically I went for my annual eye test, but I could already see (Pardon the pun! Actually couldn’t see that well, was the problem.) that I needed some stronger help. Actually the doctor had a good news, bad news scenario for me. The bad news being that the left eye definitely needed boosting while the good news was that the right eye had barely changed at all. Now to you, that may have been good news, but as I have known for over 45 years now, that my right eye was considerably weaker than my left eye and still is it, was of no real cheer.

When I was around 8 or 9, there was an eye test conducted at our school and I failed. Thus had to have further tests done at The Royal Children’s Hospital. There they discovered that I had a lazy eye and that it was then too late to do anything about it, except to live with it. So I did and never needed to get glasses till I was in my early 40’s and then mainly for the small print although there was also a minor problem with long-range vision too and so I got a pair of multifocal lenses.

When I was in my mid-20’s I also had my eyes checked again because I thought I had a problem with the vision in my right eye, but the specialist then said that although the vision in my right eye was weaker than my left there were many, many people who would be happy to have the sort of vision I had in my right eye, in both theirs compared to what they had then.

The weakness never really caused me any noticeable problems even now but I guess I really became aware of the weakness in my right eye a couple of months after my 18^th Birthday when I went for my driver’s licence.

In those days, you made an appointment at your local Police Station, rocked up on the day, answered some questions. If you got that right, you did an eye test and if you got that right, you did a practical test on the road with the Policeman beside you, (actually Mum was beside me and the Policeman in the Backseat!) And if you got that right, you drove home with your own provisional Licence.

Well when I came to the eye test, I covered my left eye first and struggled with the eye chart quite noticeably. However when the left eye was uncovered and allowed to regain composure and the right eye covered, I breezed through the rest of the test much to the Policeman’s amazement and obvious relief.

The lesson I learnt from that was, that every time from then on in, when I had to take an eye test, was to do the weak one first, and then dazzle everyone with an amazing finish, showing that despite any initial misgivings they might have had, there really was no real problems. In other words I learned to live with and minimize my weakness, by using it to display my strength in the other eye.

What about you? Are you minimizing your weakness and maximising your strengths or the other way around? Never let you your weakness be your handicap, but use it/them to highlight your other strengths. Yes your weaknesses in one area may change your life or limit certain options available to you but learn to live with them, by minimizing them and then using them to maximize your other talents. Others have, as have I, and so can you. Have a great day, despite your weaknesses: Walter