Partly losing my vision was a reminder to never take anything for granted

By Nina Steele 

At around 8.30am yesterday, I sat at my desk, ready for another day’s work. The morning was going as planned. I had been suffering from a mild migraine for two consecutive days, but nothing for me to worry about. At least that was my understanding of the situation. It is only when I turned on the computer that I realised that something wasn’t quite right.

Like most people, my eyesight has deteriorated with the passing of time, and I now need reading glasses. Nothing unusual there, I hear you say. Only on this particular morning, my vision became blurred, to the extent that I could barely see. I kept moving around to test my eyes, and as I did so, realised that things were getting worse, not better.

I could not read anything on the computer, nor the time on my watch. At that point, instead of extreme fear, I resigned myself to the fact that I could be going blind. I started thinking of all those elderly people I have been in contact with through my work, and their stories about losing their eyesight.

As someone who strongly believes that everything happens for a reason, I started asking myself why this was happening. What was the message in it for me? What did I do to cause this to happen? At the same time, I kept thinking of the unpredictability of life, and why every moment is precious.

After about 30 minutes, my eyesight gradually started to return. However, I now had to deal with a very sharp and debilitating headache, which made me wonder whether I was about to have a stroke. At that point, I decided to seek medical advice. The advice was that I should go straight to the nearest eye hospital for a check-up.

After an hour or so during which both my eyes were treated with very strong eye drops, followed by a thorough check, it was concluded that the loss of vision was likely caused by stress.

The Universe will always force us into changing our ways. And for most people to listen, the event has to be as dramatic as possible. In my case, I have been working relentlessly for the past year or so. It has been so intense that I have been sleeping less and less. I normally need about 5 hours sleep a night, however, I have been sleeping even less recently. Naturally, all that will now change, after yesterday’s incident.

Yesterday has reinforced my belief that every moment is precious, for none of us know what the future holds. I remember the sad story of an old man who had planned to travel the world with his wife once they both retired, only for her to start suffering from dementia soon after. She deteriorated very rapidly and had to be moved into a care home, where she later died. The man never recovered from his loss.

Making the most of now is key, because tomorrow may never come.