Everyone has heard of a vision board, right? For those of you who may not be familiar, a vision board is “a tool used to help clarify, concentrate, and maintain focus on a specific life goal. Literally, a vision board is any sort of board on which you display images that represent what you want to be, do, or have in your life.”
For a long time, I tried to convince myself that I didn’t need a vision board. It seemed a little cheesy to me. I have no idea why I thought it was cheesy. I think I just didn’t want to admit that I needed help remembering who I am and what I want my life to look like. I wanted to be able to stay focused on my own, but life is not meant to be lived on your own. We need reminders. We need pretty photos to look at and friends to talk to who will tell us who we are.
So a few months ago I decided to create a real life vision board. At first, my vision board was going to be anything and everything that inspires me. Let’s define inspiration really quick. Inspiration is "the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.” The things that inspire me, that cause me to feel something, are usually slightly off in some way. Meaning the photo is slightly blurry, or someone’s smile is too big, or the lettering of a quote is kind of messy. I love imperfection.
I gathered all of these ideas and photos from Pinterest, and quickly figured out I would need to be a little more specific with my vision board. I went from gathering anything and everything that inspires me to something a little more elusive, something that’s not easily defined. My board became a feeling. I wanted it to portray adventure and love and risk. I wanted it to embody what I want my life to feel like when I’m 80 and I look back on everything I did. I wanted it, more than anything, to show that I was willing to be vulnerable and brave and love people with everything I had.
So I set everything aside and started digging through my old Darling Magazine issues. Darling is absolutely the best at photography and type. Basically everything they do is perfect. So after much deliberation, I decided to put my old magazines to use and cut out some of my favorite quotes.
Once I had all of these beautiful pieces to work with, I decided I wanted to add something personal. My good friend Ceci (!!) told me Artifact Uprising was doing a promo for 50 free prints on Instagram so I printed some of my own favorite memories. But me being me, I didn’t want to glue the photos and never be able to change them out or use them again, so I decided to hang them on a string in front of the quotes so I have the ability to update my favorite memories.
And here’s the final product! It’s not perfect and it’s kind of messy, but it’s exactly how I want my life to be.
I hope this post inspires you to be inspired. I hope it helps you realize how important it is to remind yourself of who you are and who you hope to be someday, especially on those days when you can't see past your sadness. But most of all, I hope it helps you see what a creative human you are because we all have something incredible to offer this world.Links to supplies I used are below!Go find what inspires you and create YOUR vision board!
-Darling Magazine-Artifact Uprising
-Poster board-Glue-Exacto Knife
-Washi Tape (you can also use clothespins or whatever you have at home. I had washi tape.)
-String^ you can get your preference at any craft store or Target!
Bio:You can call me SJ.I was born in California, raised in Oklahoma, with dreams of going everywhere else. I am a textbook introvert, but I love people more than words can explain. I love reading, writing, travel, blurry photos, and anything that makes me feel something. I believe in kindness, in love, and in working hard for your dreams. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I try my best to enjoy every moment. I'm just trying to find out who I am and where I fit in this world.I'm not very good at talking about myself, so let's just get tea and have deep conversations about things that matter.If you’d like to connect or collaborate or both, hit me up. I’d love to meet you!