As a not quite middle aged dude, I only just now figured out how to see magic eye stuff. I tried a couple times in elementary school but didn’t get it so I stopped. Had a few drinks earlier, stumbled on some magic eye pic that I could see clear as day and it blew my mind a little
It sounds like you might be looking at the left image with your right eye and the right image with your left eye. That’s what happens when you cross your eyes instead of looking past the image.