After getting a little nudge from a book I recently read, I decided to take some time for myself and make a vision board. A vision board is a collage of photos from a magazine or printed from the internet that shows your goals or visions. I honestly can’t tell you the last time I sat down and made something for myself – but this was 100% worth it.
As I did my vision board this past week, I couldn’t help but think back to when I was in elementary school when we did this in art class. I remember having so many different kinds of magazines to choose from and we were able to pick what we thought were the “best pictures” to add. The only rule the teacher gave us was that we could only cut out what we needed (and not the entire page) to make sure there were enough pictures for everyone. However, we could have any dream or vision we wanted as long as no one got the pictures before us. When I created my vision board last week I was able to take more time to reflect, but other than the fact that my dreams and visions were a little more realistic, it was essentially the same vision board – because I am the same person. This recent one, however, had more intent. In school, sure it had its goals, but it also just had a picture of a cat just because I thought it was cute (and yes I vividly remember this cat that took up the entire page but felt it needed to go on my board because “I liked it”) This time around I noticed how this vision board was a close metaphor to life. I no longer had 50 different magazines to choose from, but only three (including The Wall Street and Dr. Oz). This time though, as I went through the magazines, I also looked through them and read the words rather than just looked at the pictures. I learned from it (similar to life) as I went. I read about the most powerful women of the year, how to lose weight and “live your best life” and saw what was considered the most fashionable thing to wear these days. But really, I didn’t find my vision in any single page. I found it from multiple pages and multiple pieces. I used words that were big in font size, but also tiny and not emphasized as much. I used pictures that have different interpretations depending on who is looking at it. I made my own vision from the options I had (in other words, the circumstances that were given to me in life). I found myself and my goals scattered through all of those pages because I personally didn’t fit into just one category. I was still able to create my own vision compiled from magazines that told me how I am “supposed” to live my life. As we grow older, our vision boards change. They change because our choice of magazines get smaller and we only have three magazines to choose from rather than 50 as when we were younger. Our options and life choices narrow as we grow older as well. We may start to see our lack of privilege and there are not as many opportunities as we thought. Goals become out of reach. We learn more about our own limitations, but the vision board is more meaningful, more thoughtful and more detailed. We can learn to be happy in our circumstances. We can still create a vision board just like we did before at the exact same size, but this time even when we discover more about the world, it can have more details and be more meaningful. After having this experience for myself, I encourage you to take a moment for yourself and reflect on your goals (especially with how the year is ending and a new one is beginning). Not just the easy goals, but also the tough and specific ones. Look through some magazines while you’re at it and see yourself scatter through all of the pages – but notice you are more than just a single page because you are unique and made up of all kinds of experiences and circumstances. Also, use this as a reminder that there are plenty of things offered to make you supposedly happy and give you help on how to do life but remember that there is no easy checklist for happiness. It comes in pieces (in little things) and they’re created within you. If we look at the small things in life and put them together, we can find out who we really are and discover more happiness. As a bonus maybe you can create a whole vision board– and learn more about yourself too!
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August 2022
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