Jessica Soroky continues her series Leadership is a Choice.

The state of being clear.

Freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.

When I was 8 years old I had my first moment of pure clarity.

I sat in the front seat of my mother’s car; I was excited because my brother wasn’t going with us on this trip so I didn’t have to sit in the back seat. I loved staring out the front window, imagining where the other cars were rushing to, I still do. The world seemed to zoom past in a grey and blue blur. Occasionally there would be a green blurb that stuck out over the road. The blurbs never said anything, but mom always seemed to use them to determine where we were going.

When we arrived at our destination I jumped up onto a big chair and swung my feet. A doctor came in and put a crazy looking machine in front of my eyes. The doctor began moving dials while asking me over and over again, “One or two?” After only a few minutes the white and black blur that was in front of me on the wall began to take shape. There were letters on it and I could read them from all the way across the room! More dials moved and a few more times I answered “one” or “two”. The doctor clicked another button and more lines of letters appeared. I could read them all!

This is one of my most vivid childhood memories because I realized, for the first time, what the world looked like to everyone else. I couldn’t get enough. I sat in the front seat of the car on the way home, excitedly wearing my new glasses. I remember my mom directing the car towards a freeway on-ramp. Looking up I saw now that the green blurbs had words, numbers, and street names. I turned to my mom and almost yelled, “Holy crap! This is what the world looks like to everyone else?”

I didn’t imagine I would have another moment of clarity like that. Could there be anything as life-altering as the first time I saw through 20/20 lenses? If you read my “I chose the Red Pill” blog last year then you know that I did have another such moment.

These moments are rooted in blissful ignorance. Before my glasses I thought it was normal to sit as close to the TV as possible to watch cartoons or to hold the book only an inch from my face as I read about all the trouble Harry Potter was getting into.

Before finding this material on The Responsibility Process my ignorance was extremely blissful. I thought I had the world in my hands; I was on the “right path”. Shame and blame seemed to be everywhere so that must’ve been the “normal” thing to do. Then I took the red pill and I saw the world again for the first time. This mental clarity grows every day; the deeper I get into my practice, the more it grows.

My continued practice is like the doctor perpetually in front of me with the crazy looking machine resting against my face. “One or Two?” Each choice I make takes me closer or farther from responsibility, from mental clarity.

The clarity builds on itself every time I allow it to.

The power I feel building every day has a direct correlation to the level of clarity I have in my life. The more mental clarity I have, the more wonderful the world seems to be. It is interesting to see how much happier, more peaceful, and more alive the people and places around me are when I am happier, more peaceful, and more alive myself.

I choose to wear corrective lenses every day so that I can physically see the world in the way that I want.

I choose to practice personal responsibility every day so that I can see myself the way I want – free, powerful, and at choice.

What do you see? What do you choose?

Jessica Soroky, CSM

Jessica is a Certified Scrum Master with over three years of practice in agile delivery and seven years of team leadership. She is also the youngest participant in The Leadership Gift™ Program and its growing worldwide community of leaders and coaches. After five years of non-profit development through Nellie’s Catwalk for Kids, Jessica continues her leadership journey in state government, not-for-profit, and private sector leadership studies.

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