Our Own Mental Diary

Hello!

 Exam week is O-V-E-R! Well, at least for first semester it is. I'm coming to you today with something that has recently become very important to me: my eyesight.

 Today I tried contacts for the first time. Good news - I love them! I put them on and took them out correctly on my first try (pretty proud of that as I was kind of scared, haha). I've had glasses since age 7. I've gone through about 4 different pairs, and the ones I have now are the ones I am most happy with. Even though I love them, recently, my glasses have sort of become a shield.

 Every time they're on, I feel restricted, in a way. It feels as though they are blocking me from seeing the world (clearly) through my own two eyes - even though with out them that wouldn't be possible. I know they are what help me see better and I know that they can be very beneficial when I'm squinting, trying to see what the board says when I'm in the very back of the classroom, but the feeling I got when I put the contacts on was indescribable. I felt like everything was clear - not just the tangible things right in front of me.

 Now, there are probably a few different things that could be going on in your head: One, contacts are just like glasses, just physically on your eye, so aren't they a shield, too? Two, glasses don't seem like "shields" to everyone who wears them. Three, what the heck are you on about?

 I get that what I'm saying may sound a bit strange, but through wearing these tiny, plastic things, I have realized how amazing sight truly is. I walked outside, wearing my contacts, to take the trash out. I looked up and was actually in awe at how amazing the world looked. It was a feeling I had never gotten with my glasses. I had perfect vision, with out having to wear frames on my face - and I was so utterly happy.

 Some people wear glasses and love them just as much as I love contacts. That's awesome! Today I came to the conclusion that I love contacts because they give me a new perspective. It felt so good to open my eyes and be able to read the bulletin board across from me with out having to put on my glasses. Yes, I realize you probably still don't get what I'm saying.

 I've said this before, but my blog is an open and free space I go to to express my thoughts/what's going on in my head with out having to worry about judgement. So, I thought I'd put this out there because it's what I'm feeling and I was just really excited in those few moments I was outside, lol.

 That moment, when I walked outside and looked up to be met with a clear picture of trees and skies, I realized that when we look at anything, we've basically just written a diary entry. Everything around us has it's own beauty and it's so cool that even if we haven't taken a photo of the scene, it was still "written down." That fascinates and excites me.

 It's not just our eyesight. Anytime we hear, smell, touch, taste anything we've basically written in our mental diary about it. Some people might say, "You're just describing our memory system - encoding, storage, retrieval, blah, blah, blah.." But it's more than that. Our senses put together are like a diary that we can look back on whenever we want - I mean, how amazing is that?

 Thanks for sticking to the end of this weird, yet (hopefully) insightful post.

 My 7 year old sister, Danielle, suggested writing about this topic when I was out of ideas. So, thanks Dani.

 Thank you for reading and I'll talk to you soon.

XOXO

Harel