The Successful Woman’s Shoulder Check

This topic has made me think back, and then find, all the areas I have been cultivating a vision board in some form.

There was the original board in 2009 – the one that was poster board with images, quotes and words cut out from magazines and taped on. When I took it apart, I put all the pieces into a basic writing book; I made notes of the trends and what the images meant to me. It include style, self-acceptance, money management, love (and what does it mean to me), creating a home, inner peace, health, self-expression, simplifying life and exploring what success meant to me.

In 2011, I started an inspiration book. It was built off of something I used to do in high school – take my favourite ads from magazines and put them on my bedroom walls. I kept those images too, in five scrapbooks. They are a visual commentary on my interests and thoughts age 13 – 17. In much the same way, I was finding images/ads and needed somewhere to put them; the inspiration book was born. The difference this time was that I also wrote in the book, commenting on what the image meant to me and other thoughts around it. I wanted to give background to the pieces, a merging of journaling and the collection of images I’ve done for so long.

Magazines are not in my life often anymore, so I don’t have the opportunity to find many pieces for the inspiration book. In 2012, I took to Pinterest. That year was amazing and overwhelming for so many reasons. The first six months were extremely busy and so this board was more a view of what I looked forward to in the second half of the year (when major projects had wound down and ended). It was a vision in which I was free to follow after other interests and think about travelling.

In 2014, I started another board on Pinterest. I had left a seven year job that I really liked, and was thinking about what was next. It’s clear as I look it over now, I was thinking about moving to Toronto. The images are not only of that city, but of being brave, fearless and determined. It also featured images and quotes about success. It reflects my trepidation for making a move and yet allowed me to dream about it anyway. And here I am, living in Toronto.

Now it’s 2017 and I’m contemplating a vision board yet again, it would seem to be the latest in a series. What is amazing about pulling all these pieces together is the themes that reoccur, that point directly to what I value and what I enjoy (along with my fears): financial security, health, self-acceptance and love, travel, style, being in a space that reflects my personality.

I will be starting another Pinterest vision board now, one that takes all the knowledge I’ve learned over the years, about myself – so often reflected in the various incarnations of vision. I think it will be stronger and more complete for having been able to look back and realize what has changed and what has stayed the same. Some priorities have shifted, some questions answered, and far more wait to be answered. It’s nice to see how far I’ve come in some ways, of how specific parts of the vision have come into being since that first vision board eight years ago, how I am living pieces of it, rather than listing it on the board.

As the topic sums up: “it already exists”. To see it, I just had to step back and see how all the boards lined up and fit together.