There are moments in life when clarity doesn’t arrive quietly.
It comes after pulling over.
After the fear passes.
After the rain finally lets up.

I still remember driving from Cleveland toward home on the Ohio Turnpike, caught in a dangerous storm that forced me into emergency parking along the freeway. Visibility was nearly gone. I couldn’t see where I was headed, only what was immediately in front of me, and even that felt uncertain.

Then the rain eased.

As I pulled back onto the road, a rainbow stretched across the sky. And almost impossibly, that song came on the radio: Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now.” It felt less like a coincidence and more like a confirmation. A moment where the physical world and the spiritual one lined up and whispered, You’re going to be okay. You can move forward now.

That song wasn’t written as a light, feel-good anthem. It was released in 1972, in the shadow of the Vietnam War, when clarity, hope, and forward movement felt fragile for an entire generation. Its message wasn’t about pretending pain never happened; it was about what comes after the storm.

Which makes it the perfect soundtrack for National Vision Board Day.

Vision Boards Aren’t About Manifesting Fantasy

They’re about recognizing reality clearly.

A true vision board isn’t built in denial. It’s built after acknowledging what blocked your view, what slowed you down, and what forced you to pull over.

Using the themes of this song, here’s a grounded way to frame your vision board this year.

How to Build a Vision Board Through the Lens of “Clear Vision”

1. Name the Rain

Before you choose a single image, write down what has clouded your vision.

• Fear
  
• Burnout
  
• Grief
  
• Disappointment
  
• Health challenges
  
• Financial stress
  

This isn’t negativity—it’s honesty. You can’t see clearly if you pretend the storm never happened.

Vision boards gain power when they acknowledge what you survived.

2. Identify the Obstacles: Not to Fear Them, But to See Them

The song doesn’t say obstacles disappear. It says you can see them.

That matters.

On your board:

• Don’t avoid reminders of hard truths
  
• Include words like boundaries, rest, discernment, and focus
  
• Let clarity replace chaos
  

Seeing obstacles clearly means you stop running into the same ones over and over.

3. Honor the Clearing, Not the Speed

After a storm, you don’t floor the gas pedal immediately. You proceed carefully, but confidently.

Your vision board doesn’t need:

• Hustle culture
  
• Unrealistic timelines
  
• Other people’s expectations
  

It needs:

• Steady progress
  
• Healing rhythms
  
• A pace that respects your nervous system
  

Clear skies don’t demand urgency. They invite trust.

4. Make Space for the Rainbow

The rainbow in my story wasn’t the destination. It was reassurance.

On your board, include:

• Signs of hope
  
• Symbols of faith
  
• Images that remind you why you keep going
  

Not everything on a vision board has to be a goal. Some things are simply promises.

5. Look Straight Ahead

Vision boards aren’t rearview mirrors.

Ask yourself:

• What does “forward” look like now, not five versions of me ago?
  
• What season am I actually in?
  
• What kind of life am I building toward, not just success, but peace?
  

Blue skies don’t erase the past. They redefine the path forward.

A Final Thought

Sometimes the clearest vision comes after being forced to stop.
Sometimes the delay was the protection.
Sometimes the rain wasn’t punishment; it was preparation.

If you’re building a vision board today, don’t rush it.
Let clarity arrive the way it often does, slowly, honestly, and with grace.

And if you’ve just come through a storm, hear this:

You don’t need perfect conditions to move forward.
You just need enough clarity to take the next mile.