Okay, family, gather ‘round. We need to talk.
I was scrolling through my phone today, trying to delete old screenshots (why do we keep 4,000 photos of things we definitely don’t need?), and I stumbled across a meme that hit me so hard I almost dropped my coffee. It just said:
“Vision so bad I saw the good in you.”
I laughed. Then I stared at it. Then I laughed again, but it was that dry, “ha-ha, oh god, it hurts because it’s true” kind of laugh. You know the one.
Because let’s be real for a second—how many of us need to file a class-action lawsuit against our own eyes? I’m serious. If “seeing the good in people” was a medical condition, I would have been in the ICU years ago. I’d be the patient they present at medical conferences. “Here we have Tina, a classic case of Optimistic Delusion Syndrome. The subject looked at a walking, talking red flag and said, ‘Ooh, look, a festive scarf!'”
It got me thinking about the “good” we think we see in people, especially in those relationships that have long since expired (thank God). When you’re in it, your vision isn’t just bad; it’s hallucinating. You’re not wearing rose-colored glasses; you’re wearing a blindfold made of denial and hope.
I remember thinking, “Oh, he’s not emotionally unavailable, he’s just… stoic. He’s deep. Like a philosopher.”
No, Tina. He wasn’t a philosopher. He was just ignoring you. He wasn’t “mysterious,” he was just shady. But my vision? Blurry as a windshield in a downpour. I was squinting at his behavior, tilting my head to the side, trying to find the angle where his absolute bare minimum effort looked like a grand romantic gesture.
It’s actually impressive when you think about the creativity involved. We become fiction writers. We fill in the blanks. They give us 10% of a person, and our brains invent the other 90%.
• They text back after six hours? “He’s so hardworking and focused!” (He was playing video games).
• They don’t introduce you to their friends? “He wants to keep our little world private and sacred!” (He’s still texting his ex).
• They act jealous? “He’s so passionate about me!” (He needs therapy, not a girlfriend).
We literally squint so hard trying to see the potential that we give ourselves wrinkles.
And the worst part is the “I can fix him” mentality. That’s the cataracts of dating. We see a fixer-upper and think we’re on an episode of HGTV. We think if we just love them hard enough, support them enough, and have enough “patience” (read: tolerance for nonsense), that the “good” we imagined will magically materialize.
It usually doesn’t.
But here is the silver lining, because you know I always try to find one (even if my vision is compromised). The fact that our vision was that bad says something good about us. It means we have hope. It means we operate from a place of seeing the best in people, of wanting to believe in potential. It means our hearts are open, even if our eyes need a serious check-up.
However, I am officially retiring from the optometrist business. I am done straining my eyes trying to find a microscopic speck of decency in a sea of bad behavior. From now on, if I have to squint to see the “good” in you, I’m just going to assume it’s not there and keep it moving.
So, to anyone else out there who has ever needed a Seeing Eye Dog for their love life: I feel you. I see you (clearly, for once). And honestly? Maybe it’s not that our vision was bad. Maybe we just have really vivid imaginations.
Let’s just agree to use our superpowers for something else next time. Like spotting red flags from a mile away.
Stay sharp, friends.
— Tina