2016 Goals: Make A Vision Board

A vision board is a visual representation of your goals in a collage form. It's something you can look at every day to remind you of the things that you are working towards. It is also something that you can look back on at the end of the year and measure your progress. Or you can look back at unachieved goals and identify barriers, road blocks, or changes that left those goals unfulfilled. What I love best about vision boards is that they are unique and creative and no two look the same even if two people have similar goals. I am a creative person, I love doing artsy-type projects. The more glitter, ribbon, and flair the better! But even if you are not creative or "flashy" you can still make a vision board that reflects your goals. 

Making A Vision Board

1. Gather Your Supplies

The first things you're going to want to do is get together the things you need for your vision board. It can be as much or as little as you want. But here are some basics:

• Poster Board
• Scissors
• Magazines
• Glue/Tape
• Markers

If you want to take it up a step here are some other things you can use

• Ribbon
• Tool
• Stickers
• Glitter
• Stick on letters
• Decorative Tape
• Hot Glue Gun

And I'm sure there are even more you can think of.  

2. Identify Your Goals

You can go through your magazines and haphazardly become inspired by the pictures but I think it's better to have an idea of what direction you want to go in before you start looking. The idea can be as general or specific as you want. For example you can say "I want to be healthier" or "I want to lose 15 pounds." Once you have an idea of the goal(s) you want to display on your vision board you can move on to the next step.
3. Look for Pictures
Now that you know the direction you're going in you can start to look for pictures that represent those goals. Notice I said represent. The pictures you select don't have to literally and word for word match your goals; what is most important is the meaning that they have to you. For example, on my vision board above there is a picture of a beautiful natural haired woman that I pulled from an ad for hair products (that picture actually got cut off of the picture above-sorry). To me that picture doesn't represent me wearing my hair natural, it represents me being comfortable in who God made me to be, naturally. Every picture is subject to interpretation but it's your vision board and all that matters is that you know what each image means to you.
4. Putting It All Together
This is the fun part! Taking all of your pictures and all of your supplies and creating your masterpiece. It can be a simple or as intricate as you want it to be. You can randomly stick the pictures on or you can plan out your layout. In my vision board I broke my goals into four specific categories and grouped my pictures in those categories. FUN FACT: One of my goals was to create a blog! 
5. Display It
This may be the most important step of them all. Once your vision board is completed you want to hang it up somewhere where you can see it every day. I think the best place to hang it is in your bedroom so that when you wake up you can look at it. If you do morning devotion you may want to put it in the space where you do that or you may want to put it by your mirror so that you can look at it while you get ready to start your day. Over time the images will be burned into your brain so that even when you aren't looking at your vision board you will be reflecting on your goals.

Make it fun!!!
Have a vision board party. Invite your girlfriends over and have the supplies laying out, play some music, and get to work. Or incorporate making a vision board into your end of the year holiday family festivities. Newlyweds can make a vision board to identify goals for their new life together. Families can also create a collaborative vision board for the household. Creating vision boards is a great activity for groups of teens and can be very helpful for new businesses. There are also websites that can help you create digital vision boards. 

I am a strong believer in the power of visualization. Having something you can look at every day is a big motivator to help you achieve your goals. AND once you've looked at your board for a while you don't even have to see it to remember your goals. Case and Point: When I moved it was hard to get my vision board to stick to my walls but I had looked at it so much I didn't even need to see the actual product to know what was on it. 

Are you planning on doing a vision board for 2016? How do maintain the goals set on January 1st  throughout the year? Leave a comment and let me know and Happy New Year to everyone.

"Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it delays, wait for it; it surely will come , it will not delay" Habakkuk 2:2-3  (MEV)   

Weight Loss...It's More Than Just the LBS Part 1

As we enter the fall season I know some people are thinking back to resolutions made on January 1st and wondering "What Happened?" Somehow the determination and motivation that was present at the beginning of the year has been watered down to a mere memory. The truth of the matter is that weight loss is more than just a resolution, more than about fitting into a pair of jeans or a swimsuit, more than about looking good at your next reunion. What most people miss is that weight loss is not just about the physical but it is a mental and psychological struggle. Today, I want to be vulnerable and share my own weight loss journey in hopes bring clarity to something that is more than just a trivial matter.

I started gaining weight when I hit puberty. Of course I noticed first, but I just waived it off. I became more self-conscious when others started to notice and make comments about it. I remember someone pulling me off to the side and saying "I see you're putting on some weight," as if that were a good thing. As my weight rose so did my desire to do something about it. I desperately wanted to change myself. But no matter how many sit-ups I did in secret or how hard I tried not to eat; the weight stayed.
Throughout middle school and high school, it was there, and I was extremely conscious of it. I didn't want people to watch me eat, I was always concerned about how I looked in my clothes, and I was always comparing my body to others. But even worse, my self confidence was draining and I had such a poor self-image that I consciously avoided looking at myself in the mirror. 
When it was finally time for me to go off to college the weight was still there. But it was at this point that I came to terms with the fact that I was a big girl. I accepted that this is how I would be for the rest of my life and I began to search for the positives of being a "heavier girl." I started to stop avoiding looking at myself in the mirror in an attempt to force myself to accept the beauty that lie within. I still wished I could be skinny but I stopped blaming myself for who I was. When I graduated from college I came home to more of the same; the inability to lost weight, the acceptance that my size would never change and desperately trying to convince myself that it was okay even though deep down I knew that this was not who I was supposed to be.
In 2011 I began my Master's program at Drexel University.To date, that program has been the most grueling experience of my life. I cannot remember putting so much time, energy, and effort into anything else. Not only was the program academically rigorous, it was also emotionally draining. We were required to be emotionally vulnerable with strangers! I uncovered some hurts that I tried to keep buried and came face to face with truths and realities that I spent years ignoring and burying. I finished the first year of my graduate program emotionally lighter but still physically weighed down; but, releasing that emotional weight was what ultimately allowed me to lose the physical weight which resulted in what some people have called a "dramatic weight loss." As you can see in my picture I lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, 80lbs more or less in approximately one year.

Weight loss can be one of the most difficult things to accomplish. So many people struggle for years without seeing the results they want because they fail to realize that it's more than about the lbs. This series will address some of the other areas in our lives that we need to attack before we ever lose a pound or an inch. Granted, this may not apply to everyone, but those who have been working, trying, and failing to see results should consider that what lies beneath the surface can sometimes be our greatest adversary and the hardest parts of ourselves to look at and accept are those that have the greatest impact on who we are AND how we look.

I hope you continue reading in this series....questions, comments, concerns? Leave it all below and I'll be sure to get back to you!

"It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves" Sir Edmund Hillary













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New Year New Me

"New Year, New Me"

Okay,Okay, I can sense the collective groan that everyone has after reading the title. Weeks before the new year hits everyone flocks to social media to inform everyone of their plans to make a complete 360 (really 180 but I digress) once the clock strikes 12:00AM.  But, by January 2nd everyone has lost the motivation and the phrase "New Year, New Me" has lost all of it's value. So how do we reclaim the phrase or the idea that we are completely capable of making the long lasting changes that we want in life? By doing what we set out to do in the first place. I know, I know, it's easier said than done. But as someone who has failed miserably AND succeeded wonderfully at making life changes allow me to share two tips for achieving the goals that we set for ourselves.

Remember, it doesn't matter when you start or how many times you fall off track, you're striving for completion not perfection. One of the things that bothers me the most about how people set goals is their decision to set a start date i.e. "The beginning of next month" or "In the New Year." Setting our start dates in this way limits us and allows us to push our goals back more and more. Once the next month hits we push it back another month. Reality: the minute you decide you want to make a change in your life you are capable of beginning that journey. If you're goal is to loose 20 pounds you can sit down that day and figure out  your plan of action. If you want to save money you can look at your spending and determine where you can start cutting back, immediately. We often set these far away start dates and then...well you know what they say "Out of sight out of mind." Whether you have the vision for change in on February 12th, December 28th, or January 17th, don't limit your self to the "New Year," get started ASAP. And be aware that you will not be perfect, things will not always go the way you planned. BUT, remember that no matter how many times you mess up you are always capable of getting started again. And if you happen to take a detour, you don't have to wait until the first of the month (or year) to get going again. Just like you don't have to push back your start date you don't have to push back your re-start date either.

  "Never put off for tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well"~ Mark Twain

Keep in mind that true strength doesn't come in one's ability to stand alone but instead in the acceptance of our flaws and our courage to reach out for support in the areas where we fall short. As I type these thoughts of mine I recognize that this is such a huge pill to swallow. I myself struggle with being vulnerable enough to admit that I am incapable of doing EVERYTHING myself. Instead of accepting a helping hand I would rather flail about and fail on my own. If this is my experience I'm sure that this is many other's experience as well. Reality: we all need help! As we set these goals for ourselves we have to seek out networks of support that can encourage us, hold us accountable, and achieve goals with us. Now identifying these supports is a daunting task. We all have those people in our lives who look like our cheerleaders but are only out opponents in disguise. Those who cheer us on while secretly concocting a plan to knock us down. Then there are those who are all for starting the journey with us and then at some point we look around and realize they have disappeared. Or what about when we finally decide that we want to achieve a goal and we get so excited about our new journey but no one else is on board. I get it, finding a good support system is tough. But there are ways to weed out those undesirables before they leave us standing alone. There is nothing wrong with "interviewing" your supports to make sure they're in it for the long haul and just as excited for your success as you are. And, with the help of the internet, social networks, and phone apps, we can seek out interest and support groups who are working towards the same things we are. Also, remember that just as we need support to reach our goals, there are others who are looking for support to reach theirs. Sometimes if we can be that support to others we will unintentionally find the support we need. At the end of the day, if achieving our goals is that important to us we will take the time to make sure we have  a team that can help us get to the finish line. 

"I am because we are"~ Africa Proverb

I hope that these two tips are beneficial as you enter the New Year with new goals and hopes for yourself. What has been helpful for you in reaching your goals in the past? What are some of your goals for 2015? Thank you for taking the time to stop by, questions, comments, all of the above...share it below. If this was helpful share it with a friend and I'll see you in the next post.