Over the past couple of years, I have always thought of making a vision board- I get all of my supplies and cut images and quotes out of magazines or printed off, but when it comes down to putting it all together, it doesn’t feel “right”. 

There is no one right way to make a vision board. The goal is to have something that reminds you to visualize what you want to achieve or how you want your life to feel; have something tangible to look back at the end of the year to see how much you’ve accomplished, grew, and changed. 

My goal IS to complete a vision board this year with efforts of intention, curiosity, and, most importantly, imperfection. It does NOT have to be perfect. It just has to remind you of why your daily choices matter for your long term goals. 

[I have not yet created my vision board, I will be writing this alongside the process of actually creating it to hold myself accountable and to share real live thoughts and process.]

Word(s) of The Year

I like to share quotes and inspiration on my Instagram stories. Most of the more recent ones are around intention, curiosity, and imperfection. I’m also in the middle of a book called “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” by Rick Rubin. When I first saw this book, I knew it was one I wanted to read. I save a lot of books on Pinterest that are more thought provoking and take some critical thinking.

On the first page of the book, there is a quote, “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes are inevitable” – Robert Henri. It’s challenging us to think about life this way. We don’t have to be producers (or even consumers); what matters is that we notice when something speaks to us, acknowledge its existence, and move forward with the information presented to us however that might be, humbly with understanding that someone else’s interpretation is valid too. 

This book has sparked ideas and inspiration to be more intentional, to be more curious without putting value to the results – thus imperfection. 

Intention. Curiosity. Imperfection. 

These are my words of the year. You don’t have to have just one AND you don’t have to have more than one. That’s the beauty of creating- it can be your own! 

The Wheel of Life

[At this point, I have just completed my Wheel of Life and am explaining what the exercise is and how I did it for myself this time. It’s okay to change things up from how you originally learned something! If it helps you- use it and do it!]

The Wheel of Life exercise was introduced to me by my life coach, Kristyn; I worked with her for a 12-week life coaching program while I was living up north. It has been a huge influence when it comes to looking at my goals and discovering which areas of my life are struggling or are put on the back burner throughout different seasons. This exercise was how we started off my program and now I find myself using it re-ligiously (generally every 3-6 months, or whenever I’m feeling stuck or conflicted). 

How I Learned It:

I’ll start with drawing out a circle on a blank piece of paper. Then slice up the circle like a pie for the different categories in life – finances, career, education, physical activity, health, relationships, social life, home environment, home cooking, spirituality, joy, creativity. Label each of the slices with a category. The tips of each slice are the center of the circle. I spend time placing a dot within each slice or category to determine how I feel about each area of my life. Closer to the center of the circle is not as satisfied, and further out towards the edge of the circle is more satisfied. 

For the most balanced life, all of the dots would be at the outer edge of the circle; connecting them would make a wheel – leading to the wheel of life. And that’s our goal, to feel balance in every area of our lives. Once I have dots placed on each of the categories, I can see what my wheel looks like. Some categories might be lower and create an indent on our wheels. And those are the areas to focus on in the next season of our lives. 

The next part of the exercise takes some time, but it is well worth it when the time is spent in reflection and full intention. For each category, I spend 20 minutes brain-dumping about where I currently am and where I want to be, or what I want to be experiencing instead. Once I’m finished, I can reflect back and create goals to move into where I want to be or what I want to experience. 

There are so many ways you can apply this exercise to your life. If I’m feeling stuck, this is how I get to the bottom of where I feel stuck and this is the most accurate way that I was introduced to it. 

Applying The Wheel of Life for My Vision Board

I’ve changed up how I like to use the Wheel of Life a little bit since finishing the program, but it is still intentional and reflective. I start out by listing the life categories- finances, career (generally break down into my passion projects), education, physical activity, health, relationships, social life, self care, home environment, home cooking, spirituality, joy, creativity, personal travels. Some of these are standard in everyone’s life, and some of the categories I’ve added in to fit my life and what I want to be experiencing. 

I still reflect on what I’m currently experiencing and what I want to be experiencing, but I usually don’t set time limits because I do spend a good amount of time reflecting (usually a couple of hours, honestly). Mine also looks like more of a list with Current Experiences and Goals with bullet points underneath. Sometimes I jump back and forth between the different categories and sections within, or think of something else while working on another section. It might seem like a messy process but this is how it works for me AND I’m still being intentional and reflecting. 

Now that this part of the process is done, I can start setting goals – or in the case of this post, this is where I would start pulling together ideas to visualize what I want to be experiencing.

And remember, you can do this any way YOU WANT. If it’s easier for you to create a vision board with intention and meaning by flipping through magazines and cutting out what you want to put your focus on in the new year, by all means do that! I like thinking about my life and goals this way BECAUSE this exercise works FOR ME.

My Life Support + Inspiration

I LOVE PINTEREST. Like, I reallllllllly love Pinterest. If I don’t want to engage on social media, I will go to Pinterest. It’s relaxing AND in a way it’s kind of like Tik Tok for me. I find new recipes, new wardrobe styles or pieces, new DIYs to try, inspiration, books to read, and the list goes on. I already have in depth boards sorted into categories (mostly to help make everything easier to find).

I will be going through my boards and saving images in a folder on my computer that I want to use on my vision board. (You can also use magazines here). 

[This is my next step in my Vision Board process]

I have completed saving images that help me visualize the life I want to be experiencing. I may take time to go back through Pinterest to find additional images if I think something is missing while I’m laying all of my images out. 

I used Canva to create different “grids” for sizing the images and spent some time placing them in sizes I thought were appropriate for how important they are for me. I have about eleven pages with 6-9 images on them and cut out each of the images. The nice thing about printing your own is that there is more opportunity for creativity and there are no limits of images and quotes you can use! 

Supplies I Gathered

I used to be an avid crafter and I’m trying to get more in touch with my creative producer self again. I have a loooot of crafting materials from previous projects that were either left over, or I never got around to using. 

Items that I had laying around in my home:

• Computer (to search on Pinterest and print images)
• Canvas (has been sitting in my garage still wrapped from probably college)
• Scissors (I bought these while I was planning for my homemade Christmas gifts this year 
• Glue- sticks, liquid, and hot (I have an abundance of glue, it’s a staple for crafters)
• Colored card stock (I had a ton of this left over from previous projects like homemade books, journals, and even some scrapbooking too)
• Markers 

Items that I bought specifically for this project:

• Printer, paper, and ink (black and white, and colored)

Of course, you don’t need to go out and buy a printer, but I’ve tried hunting through magazines for the images I want in the past and sometimes they’re just not in the magazines that you have on hand. I had also pulled out glitter, stickers, and little jewels that I had thinking I might use them. 

Reflecting While Doing

[ At this point, I have finished my vision board (woooooo hoooo, I did it!) and jotted down some thoughts throughout my experience.]

When it was time to start laying everything out on my canvas, I recognized that I was worried about how everything would look. In the past, I was always afraid to commit to where I wanted to put something until I had it all laid out. To work through this mind challenge, I decided to pause, get some green tea going, light a candle, and really romanticize the whole experience. 

It was comforting to sip on a tea and smell my classic winter tree scent with the mood lighting setting the tone. I started out with spreading out the bigger images and committing to those with a little bit of hot glue in the middle of the picture. This gave me some freedom to stick other pieces underneath one another and layer others on top of each other. 

After all of the bigger pieces had homes, I started filling in the empty spaces with smaller pieces. One thing that really helped me with layering and overlapping was to make sure the sizes were mixed so no corners matched up. It really gave it a collage feel with some organized chaos. 

Some of the bigger images that are related are near each other. For example, I have a picture of a bartender, server, and a flight of cocktails with a cocktails book kind of in the same corner. Serving and bartending is something that I really enjoy; and in my reflection of the wheel of life- I acknowledged that while I want my passion projects to really take the lead in my finances and monthly expenses, I still want to be involved in the hospitality industry through these jobs for something to look forward to and to keep being the social butterfly that I am. 

Some of the smaller images included extensions of big ideas, but are scattered throughout the canvas. I think this can symbolize how little actions every day can influence how that idea shows up in your life throughout a season. 

Towards the end of my vision boarding journey, there were small little spaces that weren’t the right fit for some images- some were left out. I got to work cutting out little pieces of cardstock to add in phrases and doodles to fill these spaces and really put a little touch of “Erika” to the board. 

Make it Your Reality

Overall, this experience was much needed. Earlier in the day I was overwhelmed with the amount of tasks I wanted to complete but ultimately decided that spending some time being intentional and exploring curiosity left me the most perfectly imperfect masterpiece. 

I plan to have mine displayed in my hallway from my bedroom to my bathroom and living space so I know that I’ll see it everyday. AND throughout the year, I want to frame pictures of ME doing the things I put on my vision board as the year goes by as proof that I AM DOING these things and keep me motivated to be the person I dream of becoming and having the life of my dreams. 

DO. BE. HAVE. 

I’m looking forward to catching glimpses of different areas of my vision board throughout the year as I walk past it daily. It will be so rewarding to make the connections of my manifestations. Reflecting on all of my accomplishments at the end of the year is going to be such a profound moment for my personal development and awakening.