While January felt like it lasted far longer than it should for some, it brought a plethora of events to cover which has made the time pass quite quickly for some of us at the Southern Standard.

From President Trump’s inauguration and questionable executive orders to the Tennessee House of Representatives voting on multiple important bills, it seems 2025 will be a very interesting year. 

However, as some of the more attentive readers may know, my articles were not as prevalent in the last two papers of January and there is a very good reason for that. 

I recently had Lasik surgery, which fortunately went very well and has allowed me to see clearer than ever before. While I have not yet reached 20/20 vision, I am very pleased with the results of my operation and hopeful that my sight will continue to improve over the coming months. 

The procedure was fairly easy to get through and it was completed in roughly 10 minutes with most of that time being spent answering questions.

While I am thankful the procedure was uneventful, it unfortunately left me with an excessive amount of free time and a laundry list of restrictions to ensure a safe recovery. 

Some of the restrictions were inconvenient like not being able to lift anything over 20 pounds. Others were almost unbearable like having to sleep in a pair of skiing goggles and not being able to take a hot shower for a week after the surgery.

Another difficult restriction was not being able to bend my head below my waist. As someone who is incredibly clumsy and drops things frequently, I had to come up with various creative solutions to get through the day without causing too much strain for my eyes.

Still, not every restriction was difficult to deal with. Not being able to lift over 20 pounds allowed me to avoid some strenuous chores around the house. Not being able to exercise gave me an excuse to not hit the gym without feeling too guilty. 

Alongside the restrictions, I was also required to use three sets of eye drops four times each day. 

While that might not sound too bad to some of you, I had a bit of trouble as I spent more time losing the eye drops than I did using them.

After a long weekend of doing very little, I am happy to report that many of the restrictions have been lifted and I have been able to return to my normal work routine with no issues. However, the next issue I will face is the excessive water bill that will be coming soon as a result of the many hot showers I have to catch up on. 

Standard reporter Caden Hurley can be contacted at churley@southernstandard.com.