Written By: Lauren Howard
I literally burned my eyeballs.
I so wish that was a joke.
I worked so hard and so long that I burned my eyeballs from staring at screens.
And the worst part? It wasn’t even enough to reset me so that I stopped (literally) burning the candle (or my eyeballs) at both ends and through the middle.
I thought my work-from-home set up was getting the glow up! I got new monitors to replace the one small monitor that I had been using for years, and I was so excited about it.
They were pretty and bright and high definition and and and and . . .
Oh, bright enough to destroy my vision?
Maybe not meant to be looked at 18 hours a day, every day?
Oh really?
Say it ain’t so . . .
After a few days, my eyes started to hurt a little. Then more. Then tear up uncontrollably. I looked like I was crying all the time.
The pain was really bad, and it got worse when I sat down at my desk.
So what did I do? I tried to find new ways to sit down at my desk.
Never occurred to me to, like, take a break or anything. I kept pushing through early mornings and late nights with my eyes trying to float away from me.
Finally, the pain got so bad that I couldn’t wear my contacts anymore. I tried my glasses. Marginal improvement.
I feel like it’s important to note that it STILL hadn’t occurred to me to stop. I just got more stressed that I couldn’t work because my stupid eyes were hurting for clearly NO reason.
Finally, I pieced together that it all seemed to start when I got the new monitors.
I adjusted the brightness and found the setting that is made to reduce blue light.
It gradually got better with time away, the setting change, and some rest. I stopped looking like I just had just watched “The Notebook” for the 100th time that day.
The worst part, though? I went back to working like I had been before until I hit the couch a few months later and physically couldn’t get up for more than a week.
Burnout was scarier than anything I have ever experienced, mostly because I went from what I perceived to be “fine,” to completely unable to move in hours. There was no warning.
Don’t be me.
You are more than your output. Your eyeballs deserve better.
Founder & CEO at elletwo
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