What if Your Eyes Sabotage Your Intimacy with Dr. Bryce Appelbaum

Step into a mind expanding, optimistic, and deeply practical conversation with Dr. Bryce Appelbaum, a pioneer in neuro optometry, founder of MyVisionFirst and ScreenFit, and an expert in the connection between our eyes, our brains, and how we show up in every area of life, on this episode of Intimate Conversations: Dark Night to Divine Light.

From elite athletes to children with developmental delays to adults struggling with presence, focus, and connection, Dr. Bryce is on a mission to change the way the world understands vision. What he shares may change the way you understand yourself.

Dr. Bryce opens up about his own experience growing up with sensory overload, an alternating eye turn, limited depth perception, and a nervous system often stuck in fight or flight. The vision work his parents pioneered helped transform him from a reluctant reader and struggling young athlete into a confident, high performing adult. Today, he helps others explore the potential of their own eye brain connection.

What if some of our struggles with intimacy, eye contact, confidence, and connection are not simply character flaws? Could functional vision skills play a role in how we experience ourselves and relate to others?

We also talk about:

Why eyesight and functional vision are different, and why 20/20 eyesight is not the whole story How the brain processes visual information and influences attention, movement, and performance Why difficulty maintaining eye contact may involve visual processing as well as emotional or social factors How stress and fight or flight can affect tunnel vision and peripheral awareness The relationship between peripheral vision, spatial awareness, feeling safe, and being present How screens place demands on our visual system, focus, and attention What monovision contacts may mean for depth perception and spatial awareness The peripheral pointing exercise Dr. Bryce shares to explore peripheral awareness How vision performance training is used by athletes across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and other sports What ScreenFit offers for people looking to build healthier visual habits during screen use How visual awareness may intersect with intimacy, emotional connection, and confidence Why individualized vision assessments matter when exploring functional vision concerns This conversation is a reminder that the way we see the world can influence how we experience it, including our confidence, our relationships, our capacity for intimacy, and our abili