I’ve been thinking about this one for a while. I’ve had some ideas swirling in my head, but they weren’t coming together. Then I was driving home from work and it hit me: why should you choose optometry? What is so great about it?
To be honest, I would have probably never chosen optometry if someone hadn’t told me that’s what I should do. That’s where the title comes from! When they first suggested it to me, I thought they were crazy. It hadn’t even crossed my mind as something that would interest me. Once the idea was there though, it stuck with me and grew more and more appealing to me over time until now… Here we are! It only makes sense though because…
I love optometry! This isn’t just something that everyone does either; this is something special to those who really love what they do (like myself). For someone who feels like this career choice isn’t for them though, here are some reasons why you might want to consider becoming an Optometrist anyway:
You get to help people see better
Let’s face it; whether you’re young or old or somewhere in between (or whatever), vision problems can be frustrating at best and debilitating at worst. I am wearing cool glasses right now that help me see better, and I’m pretty excited about it. The feeling of helping someone else see better is like no other feeling in the world to me.
You get to meet lots of new people – Let’s face it; some people are just naturally more extroverted than others (like myself). For those who aren’t so confident meeting new people though, optometry might not be the best career choice because you will have to meet many new patients each day! You’ll be making small talk and getting to know them every single day… It’s a tough challenge, but also a great opportunity for practicing social skills. Also, as we all know from being young kids… Making eye contact with strangers is hard for almost everyone! Optometry school teaches us how to break through this barrier by using different techniques like “the gaze”. Techreminders.com
You get an incredible education
Optometry school isn’t something you can learn in just a couple of semesters either. It takes years upon years of hard work before you can even call yourself an Optometrist. You will be learning and studying a lot of cool stuff, if you choose to. This education is great for your future career though, as well as an awesome thing to put on a resume!
You get to help people preserve their vision – You don’t want everyone’s eyesight getting worse after they’re done with you right? Well, by providing them with the best possible care (and maybe even referring them to other health professionals), you can help ensure that doesn’t happen. It’s one of my main reasons for the career choice at least!
You get to help people see the world differently… Literally – Everything looks different in different colors! For example, when I look at something red versus something yellow or blue… They look completely different. To show this difference visually though, it would have been pretty hard without images like these:
As an optometrist though, I can actually show patients things like this through colorblindness tests and various other eye exams we perform on a regular basis. It’s really neat!
You get to see different things every day
I like to compare the things I see in optometry school and at work to my past experiences as a cashier. Every single day, the people you meet are all so different from each other! You’ll see all kinds of people and interactions; some good, some bad… But mostly good. This can be a great way to gain new perspectives on life as well… And practice patience with others!
You get to help change lives for the better
As mentioned before, vision problems can be debilitating for an individual. By helping someone restore their vision or improve it even more than it was before, you can have a huge impact on that person’s life. It is something you will never forget about either… In fact, I still remember my very first patient ever (a little girl named Erin) who was in desperate need of glasses because she couldn’t see anything without them! She couldn’t even do her homework or play with toys because she couldn’t make out what they were supposed to look like.
If you are still reading this, then I’m going to assume that you are interested at least a little bit in optometry. In that case, click the link below for more information about my school (Des Moines University) and how you can become an Optometrist too!
