Got the look

They say age is just a number but in truth it's also back pain, grey hair, wrinkles and any number of other age-related fuckassery that happens to come along. It's specific to the individual and some suffer worse than others; I'm no different and at fifty one...Well, I'm not 30 anymore y'all, let's just say that. Don't get me wrong, I'm rocking it, but I'm not as strong, fast, supple or resilient as I used to be. On the flipside I'm not as stupid, reckless or prideful and so I think it's reasonably balanced. I'm content...Have no other choice!

Overall I think I'm going ok and despite some issues like being diabetic, back issues from past dumbassery, a few wrinkles here and there and not being able to bench press 100kg anymore I'm in reasonable condition. What I have noticed over the last few years though is that my eyesight is diminishing; It gets in my way a little, I'll be honest.

I wear glasses to read my computer, mobile phone and reading books now although have very good long-vision. Anything up to an arms length as far as text goes though...It's a little blurry. So reading glasses...It doesn't impede me much although a hobby suffered.

I've been a shooter for more of my life than I have not starting at around the age of nineteen. For thirty one years I've been pulling triggers doing various activities and have sent many thousands of rounds downrange and been very good at it; Not immodesty, just fact. But a couple years ago my eyesight started making things more difficult; Shooting with eye problems? It's not legit.

Seeing the sights on a rifle or handgun is critical. Sure, there's a range at which one doesn't need to use them, but shooting inside a building at a target only a couple feet away isn't all there is to shooting. Generally one needs the sights or accuracy suffers. Yes red dots can help but are limited to certain situations...I had to find a different solution.

Over the last year or two I've had increasing trouble seeing the front sights on my hand guns clearly. Front-sight-focus is imperative to accurate fire and considering the sights are at arms length, right in the blurry-zone for me, I had to deal with it. The same went for the reticle in my rifles. You can see one above. That target you're looking at is at about 760m down range and being able to see the reticle [read: crosshairs] clearly is shot-critical. I had to get something done or my accuracy was going to suffer.

I saw my optometrist and after some dud advice decided a change was in order. I found a new one, not a franchise-group with fresh-out-of-university optometrists, but an independent business with very experienced operators and the process began...The expensive process I might add, although what choice did I have - Seeing is important.

I ended up with two new pairs of glasses and was lucky that my health insurance covered $1200AUD of the cost so I was only out of pocket $950. Yeah, still costly right?

For the first time I got prescription sunglasses - I only ever wear Oakley® sun glasses and I was pleased that they could create prescription lenses to replace the originals. I also need wrap around glasses to prevent possible foreign objects entering my eyes when I shoot so again, was really pleased this was possible.

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I had to purchase the Oakley® glasses then they popped the lenses out and inserted the prescription ones. Basically the lenses are non-prescription when I'm looking straight but when I drop my eyes I look through the prescription section; They're bi-focal. It means I can read with them but wear them all the time and drive with them on and so on also.

When shooting it's a little problematic though as I have to use the prescription portion, the lower third of the lens, to get a good clear sight-focus, so my head position is just a little higher [tilted back ever so slightly] than I would like to make that work however after shooting with them once it ceased to be a concern. They work perfectly and the head position doesn't worry me at all...I don't even notice.

I do a lot of run and gun shooting so being able to run around is quite important. With the bi-focal lenses I found it a little difficult at first because tilting my eyes down means I'm looking through the prescription part of the lens and anything further than arms length is distorted but I've learned to work around it and am now just as quick as before.

Getting old sucks really. I mean it's cool to have the experience, knowledge and wisdom gained over my years but the other stuff isn't so cool I suppose. Having said that it's something I can work around like with the glasses. Sure, I might not look young, be as strong or fit as the younger me however in most ways I'm the same man I was, probably better, and what I lack in brute force I pick up in experience; I like to think so anyway.

One thing that hasn't suffered though is my shooting. In fact I seem to just get better at it the longer I shoot; Certainly once my new Oakley® prescription sunglasses came along anyway. So...G-dog's still rocking it in all most ways y'all.

If you've had similar experiences as far as getting older and adapting to the changes, eyesight issues or even if you're young but have still had to adapt and overcome physical limitations let me know if the comments below - I'm interested to hear your story.