Wearing glasses is a big deal. If you started wearing them as a child you probably got the free bonus of ‘character development’ too as you were subject to ‘speccy four eyes’ taunts etc.

Today though, glasses are cool, and kids want to get them, thanks to people like the great glasses ambassador Mr Harry Potter. Today, I think it’s harder for adults to get used to glasses for the first time. Let me walk you through it so you can really empathise here…

So, you’re in your forties and you’re getting on ok in life. You might not be perfect, but you’ve generally got your act together. You’ve learned a fair bit from your 40 plus years in the game of life. You’re street smart. You know who you are. You’ve got a reputation. You’ve got a personality. You’ve even got a look.

So, you can imagine the annoyance when something creeps up on you and catches you out. It starts out as something of nothing. You have to hold your phone a bit further away from your face to see it clearly. But you think you’re just tired. You go for dinner in that nice restaurant, and you can’t read the menu. But you put it down to the lighting being awful. Some restaurants are too dark to even hear yourself think!

The next week at work someone hands you a print-out of an excel report and you can’t read it. What stupidly small font size did they use to print this bloody thing, you think – surely nobody can read this without a magnifying glass.

Meanwhile, as the weeks go by you’re convinced you might need arm-lengthening surgery because you now have to hold books and your phone SO far away to see them. Either that, or you’ve increased the text size on your phone to ‘embarrassing’ size – there is two words per line of text. And to make matters worse you can’t see the food on your dinner plate anymore which brings a whole new level of taste sensation to eating a meal.

What is happening to you, you think? I mean, you had your act together and now it’s all falling apart. You think you might need reading glasses and you literally didn’t see it coming.

Now, don’t for a moment think this is no big deal. Just get some glasses and hey presto, problem solved. Nope. Human beings are much more nuanced and sensitive creatures. What does wearing glasses really mean? Think about it. For the first timer it is a step into the unknown and it dawns on you bit by bit.

1. Do I really need glasses? Maybe this will pass? You go for an eye test.
2. The optician says you need glasses. You can’t process this. You need to think about it.
3. Maybe it’s not that bad you tell yourself. Who needs to see what they’re eating anyway? You consider doing nothing and struggling by for six more months.
4. You are not excited about the prospect of wearing glasses.
5. You don’t know where to start – what will suit you, what do you need, what are the options, how much should you spend etc.
6. You panic when you realise that glasses change your entire appearance. You will have them in the middle of your face, and they will change how you look in every photo forever. Oh. My. God. You like your face as it is. You’ve really gotten used to it over four decades together. This is scary.
7. What will people think of you? Will your partner still think you ooze sex appeal? What will your colleagues think? Will your friends make fun of you? Will your kids think you’re getting old? This is a lot to wrap your head around.
8. You realise you are turning into you parents or your grandparents. You remember them searching for their reading glasses when then were right there on top of their head. This is rock bottom.

And that’s not to mention the ‘logistics’ of wearing glasses. Simple things like selecting a pair that is comfortable enough for you to put on your face and wear all day or for long periods. Nobody wants to go through life with a sore nose or sore ears, nor do they want a pair of glasses constantly sliding down their nose.

Other logistical issues involve figuring out how much to wear the damn things. The whole on again / off again thing with glasses gets tired quickly. (If you are a frustrated reading glasses wearer contact the team to learn about lenses that you can leave on with far less on and off action required!)

Successful glasses wearing also demands not sitting on them, losing them, forgetting them, dropping them, and more. So don’t let anyone ever tell you ‘it’s just a pair of glasses.’

The reason we have so many fans at Jones And Co. is because we fully understand these issues and with full empathy we help clients transform their experience of being a glasses wearer from a negative one to a positive one. Here’s to an effortless eyewear experience! You deserve it!

If you or any loved ones need any help please email the team to request a copy of my book The Definitive Guide To Choosing Glasses That Make You Look and Feel Good and we’ll send you a free copy.

P.S. This article was inspired by my wife Catherine who recently got her first reading glasses and is now in contact with several Airbnb hosts in Norway trying to locate which one she left them in. In her defence she says she is still trying to include ‘glasses’ in her mental checklist of things she needs to remember – keys, bag, phone, purse, GLASSES.