For those of us who are able to see, it's almost impossible to imagine a world without sight.
How would you perceive colors? What informs your idea of how something looks? What would it be like to be legally blind your whole life, then suddenly be able to see?
A TikToker can answer that last question for us, as she was only able to see fully for the first time at the age of 36.
She's a woman of many talents who lives in Los Angeles. She maintains an active TikTok and Instagram presence, both of which are worth checking out.
One of the most fascinating things about Olivia is that she was legally blind until the age of 36, when she got a series of surgeries to give her full vision.
Olivia answers questions via TikTok, and her answers are downright fascinating.
After a total of four procedures on her eyes and a period where she had to wear eyepatches and goggles, Olivia says she cried when she realized she could finally see.
"I had no idea what I looked like," Olivia explained. "I had no idea what I would look like, so I would go in those stores with the mirrors on the walls and actually say hello to myself. I had a complete identity crisis."
"They were usually nightmares. To this day I'm still afraid of the dark," is the way Olivia characterized the dreams she had when she was blind. "I would see colors and shapes, and maybe a weird color would come at me."
Olivia's life-changing surgery didn't take place until she was 36. She had to wait until her 30s for a simple, relatable reason: money. She simply couldn't afford to get the surgery until she'd saved up enough.
"Things where there's a lot of information, like a concert, bar or busy restaurant, that really threw me off because my brain couldn't process it," she said. "It's almost like going from an 8-bit Nintendo to a PS4.
For people with visual impairments, this might all be old news. But for the rest of us, Olivia's unique perspective gives us a new lens with which to view the world.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!
