Seeing Clearly

A deeply moving and courageous memoir, Seeing Clearly is the story of one man's journey of self-discovery as he grapples with progressive vision loss.

At age 54, after emerging from one of the darkest periods of his life, Chris Monnette is diagnosed with neovascular macular degeneration, an incurable retinal disease that slowly robs him of his eyesight. As each cell in his macula dies and his vision diminishes, he is forced, literally and figuratively, to see the world through different eyes.

Raised in the shadow of an emotionally stifled father, Chris learns early on to mirror the belief that vulnerability equals weakness, a philosophy reinforced during his time at the Virginia Military Institute and as an officer in the Marine Corps. Blind to his own emotions, he goes on to build an outwardly successful career-one that masks a deeply unstable life marred by infidelity, divorce, and the painful fracture of his family.

As Chris' field of vision shrinks, his sense of self blurs around the edges. Once an active person who loved to fly airplanes, ride motorcycles, and ski, he becomes increasingly dependent on others for even the most basic tasks and is left with no choice but to embrace the vulnerability he has so long avoided. In doing so, he is able to take ownership of his mistakes, find true intimacy, and create a life of abundance on the other side of fear.

A piercingly honest meditation on the emotionnal legacy of stoicism, Seeing Clearly is much-needed proof that being a man and being vulnerable are one and the same.