Jessica Soroky continues her series Leadership is a Choice.

There is nothing like walking through a city in the early hours when the stores are closed, the streets are quiet, and the air is calm. The scattered lights of a few offices fall from the tall buildings showing the first signs of the corporate world waking up.

With my headphones on I allow my mind to drift, dreaming up a world that accompanies the soundtrack. My steps quicken and my heart beats faster, not because I am stressed or worried, but because I am excited. I have a whole day to make an impact somewhere and do what I love.

In my headphones a new song begins to play, slower and darker, my body mimics the tempo and starts to slow. Thank god for the skip button; I find another anthem that requickens my step.

This is my freedom.

It is in these few minutes of commute when my mind is at its widest. I stare up at the skyscrapers that kiss the stars and I wonder how many people that building employs and how many families those jobs feed. The ecosystem we have created is so vast yet we get so consumed by just our one little bubble.

I recently wrote a three-part post about a weekend where my bubble was shaken. I’ve spent so much personal energy on fighting, processing, and smiling. But in these moments, when the morning air is still crisp, I am able to step back from my bubble and get over myself.

Read this twice if you have to, I am about to tell you one of my secrets.

Getting over myself is something I must remind myself to do on a daily basis (sometimes more than once a day). I must remember the world doesn’t revolve around me; MY world might, but my fulfillment only comes when I open myself up beyond my tiny bubble.

This is how I find my freedom. I find the situations that allow me to escape my bubble and see the true breadth of this wonderful planet. It is only then that I am able to get over my bubble and myself to embrace how much is out there I don’t know.

After spending a few minutes contemplating the sheer weight and size of this city I take it a step further. This is one skyscraper on one city block in one city in one state.

In these escapes I can feel my mind getting over itself and embracing the idea that my problems, situations, and stresses are only tiny little specks in relation to the entire planet, the universe.

Thinking like this used to scare and overwhelm me, but then I realized what’s powerful is my ability to control my bubble. I may not be able to control the millions of other bubbles, but my bubble is my choice. If I want to have a good day I make it so.

Before stepping into the revolving door I decide to pause and enjoy the peacefulness that is this mind-expanding morning, for just one  more   second.

The empty elevator speeds past floor after floor to gently drop me at my destination and now I sit energized, nay, electrified – ready for whatever may happen today all because I let go, widened my mind, and choose to feel excited.

The early morning’s dark and empty streets paired with the right music is one of my favorite escapes. I know it is that certain combination of things which helps me to widen my mind. How cool is it to first find these escapes then learn to trigger them whenever you want.

I find escapes in morning coffee shops with a warm drink and a comfortable seat with my laptop. I have also written about one of my favorite escapes, airplanes: Sitting amongst the clouds with nowhere to go and no way for the rest of the world to interrupt and suddenly my mind is set free.

Where are your escapes? What sets you free?

 Photo credit

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 nonprofit 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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