Have you ever made a vision board before? If not – let me fill you in.
Many people have their own definition of what a vision board is or how to make one, but to me, a vision board is a collage of images and affirmations that you see in your future. Vision boards can be made digitally using tools like Canva, or physically using poster boards, magazines, stickers and glue. Personally, I choose to go the physical vision board route so it can be hung up somewhere in my apartment and I can constantly remind myself of how I’d like my year to go.
At the beginning of 2021, I made a vision board for the first time with a few of my friends. We made a whole night of it, thinking about how we wanted our year to go and listening to music and trying to find inspiration within the pages of magazines and stickers from the craft section at Walmart. Trust me – I didn’t know where I was going with it or have any kind of plan when making it, I just did what felt right for me at the time.
Where I went wrong in my 2021 vision board was that I was focused on the past and the present, as well as thinking the vision board had to be made the “right” way. I didn’t relax, I didn’t let go – and it held me back from truly visualizing what I wanted for myself during the year. And like my vision board at the beginning of 2021, the entire year was a bit chaotic.
So, I attempted to approach my 2022 vision board with a different mindset. I asked myself questions like…
What do I want my aesthetic for the year to be?
What will be my “word” of the year?
How can I express my true self on this board, while equally expressing who I want to be?
I took the time to stop thinking about what was right or wrong, and instead took the time to sit and reflect on myself and my goals. For my word of the year, I decided it would be “empowered.” I didn’t want to let outside forces control my year again, and I wanted to empower myself to take control of my destiny for the year.
This was something I tried to keep in mind throughout the entire creation of the vision board, and by the end of the vision board making session with my friends for 2022, I was looking at something that I was proud of – it was creative, it was raw, it was me.
But why should you make a vision board?
Everyone has their own reason for making a vision board – maybe it’s a specific goal you’re looking to reach in a certain amount of time and you’d like to visualize it, or you can take it from a more general approach and just visualize your aesthetic and goals for the year. Grab a few old magazines and a pair of scissors and file through the pages, cutting things out as you go. I prefer to cut out anything that speaks to me and then sort through all of the clippings at the end – but if you’d like to take a more planned approach then that’s okay, too. To assemble it, use blank poster board and glue and lay it out exactly how you’d like it. If you’re like me and want a little something extra, adding stickers and patterned scrapbooking paper to the background can take it to the next level.
Put on some music and get in the zone, and truly spend some time with yourself and reflect.
So, if you’re like me and have been thinking about the life you want for yourself but don’t exactly know how to visualize it – try making a vision board! You’d be surprised where it’ll take you.