My Eyes Forced Me to Slow Down—Here’s What Happened Next
I didn’t expect a stubborn eye irritation to wake me up to what I’d been missing. But after weeks of a severe dry eye, gritty discomfort, and too many eye drops to count, I found myself squinting under the bright exam light of an ophthalmologist’s office, wondering what was going on.
Turns out, it wasn’t anything serious. Just a spring allergy flare-up, made worse by Arizona’s dry air... and my daily screen time for work.
The prescription? Artificial tears—and more importantly, eye rest.
At first, I thought: Sure. Easy enough. But when you work remotely and spend most of your day on video calls, “resting your eyes” is surprisingly hard. Still, I committed. Short breaks. Less staring. More blinking. More looking away.
Camera off. Eyes closed. Just a few minutes here and there.
And in one of those quiet pauses, something unexpected returned: meditation.
I used to meditate every morning. It was one of those rituals that grounded me—something I did not out of discipline, but because it genuinely helped me start the day with a clearer head.
But when I moved to Arizona and started working Central Time hours, my mornings got compressed. Suddenly, I was waking up and heading straight into meetings. Without really noticing, I let go of a practice I actually loved.
I didn’t try to bring it back later in the day. I think I had it boxed in as a “morning thing,” like coffee or breakfast. Or maybe I assumed the window had closed.
Either way, it faded. And I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I stopped scrolling, closed my eyes, and simply… breathed.
These little eye breaks have opened the door again.
No fancy setup. No 30-minute sit. Just five or ten minutes. Eyes closed. A breath-focused track or some ambient music. That’s it.
But something shifts.
It’s not just helping my eyes—it’s shifting how my day feels. Less rushed. Less reactive. More anchored.
So if you’ve let go of something that once helped you feel more like yourself, here’s a small invitation:
Start in the in-between.
Those in-between moments are everywhere. The pause between meetings. The time it takes your tea to steep. That quiet moment before you dive into your inbox. Instead of defaulting to email or scrolling, try:
Sitting with your eyes closed for a few breaths
Listening to one song with headphones on
Stretching your back and shoulders
Stepping outside for fresh air
Writing a single line in your journal
Deleting 10 emails that don’t matter
Doing one small thing that nudges a personal goal forward
Make a list. Keep it nearby.
And next time life slows you down—whether it’s burnout or dry eyes—consider it an opening.
A reminder.
A return.
A tiny moment to come back to yourself.
