Anxiety comes with a multitude of costs. It can cost time, relationships, dreams, jobs, and even money.
In March I got myself a new pair of glasses. I bought them online to avoid going into a store. When they arrived, I didn’t love them as much as I thought I would, but I did love the ability to change the look. Unfortunately, they kept falling off. So I sucked up my courage and went to the optical center at Walmart to get them adjusted. They fit better, but I felt like my vision just wasn’t right. I reached out to customer service and was told “Well, it matches the prescription you sent.” Which felt like a great big “too bad, so sad” brush off. I thought maybe I just needed to get used to them.
The following week I wore them quite a bit while we were in Milwaukee. I was wearing them when I face planted and they got scratched up. I quickly got online and added the insurance to my plan, but figured I’d wait until I was back home to actually try to get a replacement. I’ve been back for a month and still haven’t done it.
I found myself going back to my contacts rather than wearing the glasses. When I did wear them, they started slipping down my nose again. I tried to adjust them myself, but didn’t have much success. And I’ve noticed that I can only see when I’m looking straight ahead. If I move my eyes to look down, it’s blurry. I can’t even look at my phone with them on unless I hold it farther away and in just the right spot. I’m feeling major buyer’s remorse. But at this point, I’m well past the 30 day return policy and even if I use the insurance to replace them, I would think I’d still have the same problem.
When I got the prescription I had one for distance only and another for transitions. I don’t have trouble seeing close up, so I didn’t want to pay the extra for transitions. I accidentally submitted the transition prescription at first and tried to replace it, but got an email asking if I wanted them to only do distance. I confirmed that I did, but now I’ve been wondering if somehow the prescription is only on top and the bottom has no correction or something. But I’m scared to reach out to them because I’d already been dismissed once.
So with this one thing, this one issue, anxiety has cost me time (putting off contacting anyone), comfort (I’m beginning to wonder if the glasses are the reason I fell), and money (these glasses were not cheap). Had it not been for anxiety, I wouldn’t have settled for ordering online, or I could have been more assertive about feeling that they were not quite right. At the very least I could have gone to my eye doctor and had them check the glasses for accuracy. Or I could have just sent them back for a refund. But no. I did none of those things and they all point back to anxiety.
No matter how much I try to tell myself that it would all be easier if I’d just do what I know I should do, I find myself back in the anxiety loop again and again. Which I should probably should keep in mind when I try to convince my kids to do the scary things they’re anxious about.
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