Today I went through the first stage of two surgeries to have cataracts removed and the lenses replaced. It's a common procedure, with most if not all patients experiencing a dramatic improvement in their vision, along with a very low complication rate. Despite that I had a lot of anxiety coming into this. Not about the procedure itself, but how well I would see afterwards. Would I be able to read a computer's monitor screen well enough to still write code? Could I find and hold on a target well enough to make those tiny groups of holes I pride myself on? Being a believer in not internalizing stress, I wrote to a number of friends, mentioning the surgery, the fact I was somewhat worried about it, and throwing a joke or two around as levity - I tend to use humor to counter stressful situations. One reply I received shocked me with the words "shut up" and "stop whining". I certainly had not been whining about eye surgery. Given the number of times this person
Solving the world's problems the old-fashioned way - from my chair out on the porch.