Lights Out

I have a terrible affliction that I need to confess to. I suspect others out there will suffer in silence as I have, but the time has come to open up to the world. I struggle to turn light switches on and off. I don’t mean that I forget to turn them off when I leave a room. It’s worse than that. I remember to turn them off, but as I reach out for the switch I simply fail to switch it! This most basic of tasks seems unnecessarily difficult to me. I think it’s overconfidence. Being so unbearably straightforward makes me think that I need not give it the due care and attention that it deserves. Most of the time I reach for the switch but then look away, and am not actually looking when I try to switch it. This means I frequently overshoot the switch, where my pathetic motor skills are not capable of switching it before I have walked past it, and I have to double back. I don’t seem to learn either. This happens with an unnerving frequency, and I constantly look round to see if anyone has noticed. I have only shared my affliction with a select few until now. I hope that I will find the strength to manage the problem, and hope that, with your help, I will get past it one day. Maybe I should invest in lights that go on and off when you clap. Even I should be able to manage that.