My Digital ’21 Vision Board

If you’ve read my blog for a while, it should come as no surprise to you that I’m a huge fan of vision boards – anything goal-setting-related, really. If you don’t know what a vision board is, it is a visual inspiration board containing pictures, quotes and other visual elements to help you stay motivated and to serve as a reminder of all that you’d like to accomplish. Traditionally, it’s done on a large poster and images and phrases are cut and glued from magazines, newspaper, print outs, etc onto said poster. Then, it is hung in a place that you walk by everyday. A vision board is unique to each person and serves as an aid in manifesting your dreams and goals. It’s definitely been a while since I’ve created one but 2020 really got me in the mood to look only forward and I figured that a vision board was a great way to start off the new year. In this post, I’ll walk you through my process in the hopes of inspiring your own vision board for 2021.

I created my vision board digitally, using Canva. I used the dimensions of my iPad because my plan was to set the image as my background on the device I use daily. That would ensure I would at least glance at it on a daily basis. When I first started, I divided my page into 3 categories: spiritual, personal and career. Those are the 3 areas of my life I knew I wanted to explore in more depth. I then started looking for images or phrases that encapsulated a certain feeling I was going for: peace. If 2020 has taught me anything is that peace can be found even in the most chaotic of times but that can only be done with intention. So I ended up with pictures of people meditating, Buddha and nature that permeated all 3 of my categories (yes, even career!). I also wanted to affirm and validate myself, especially when I’m feeling low, and added phrases such as “one day at a time”, “it’s okay to feel your feelings”, “take care of your mind” and “take a breather”. Again, these phrases were present in all 3 areas of my life. While “work hard” and “level up” were written in the career section, so was the word “balance” along with an image of a woman lounging in a chair, and a yin/yang symbol.

As I continued to work on my vision board, it ended up looking something like this:

If it looks a little chaotic and messy, it’s because it is. While I loved the images and phrases I’d chosen, the sheer amount of them cluttered not only the page but also my mind. This simply wouldn’t do! So I rearranged and I ended up with this:

Phew! Much more organized with cute little sticky notes and everything! But…it still wasn’t right. What was I really trying to accomplish? I sat down and went back to the root of my vision. What was I trying to achieve? What was I trying to feel? And the answer was simple: peace. Peace in the sense that I could remain steady in times of both joy and difficulty. Peace in the sense that I could be confident in my ability to face any challenge without the worry of becoming undone. And I noticed that the same theme played across all areas of my life. And so my final 2021 vision board looks like this:

And I couldn’t be happier with it! The message is simple but powerful. I like to work hard but I know I’m prone to overdoing it. I’m prone to major burnout if I don’t approach everything I do with a sense of balance. I end up becoming overly controlling of everything and everyone in my pursuit of utter perfection – of checking off all of the items on my neverending to-do list. 2020 taught me that working hard without resting hard is not sustainable, nor is it healthy.

The reason I’m showing you my process is because I think we all have the same propensity at the beginning of each new year: we make a bunch of new year’s resolutions that we don’t end up sticking to beyond January. Not only that, but we end up chastising ourselves for it which makes us less productive and more self-destructive. It is so incredibly important to not just focus on your output but also your input. What are you doing to nourish yourself? Your mind, body and soul? How are you taking care of yourself? Because if you’re going to make a list of new year’s resolutions, your self-care plan should be the very first thing you think about. How do you want to feel in 2021? Stressed and anxious? Always comparing yourself to others? Or do you want to feel at peace, confident and ready to take on new challenges? For me, I’m looking forward to taking things slow and steady this year, taking it one moment at a time because the present moment is all we have and I plan on enjoying every bit of it.

What about you? What’s on your 2021 vision board?