My Vision Board Update!

“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.”  -Habakkuk 2:2-4

In January of 2010, I was feeling all over the place mentally and didn’t really have any focus so when a few e-friends suggested we all make a “vision board”, it seemed like a good thing to do. I sat down with a poster board, a ton of magazines, scissors, rubber cement, gospel music playing in the background and got to work on creating my personal vision. Not what someone else wanted for my life, not what I was supposed to want for my life according to society, but what I wanted for my life and for my future.

Nearly two years later, my vision board still sits in my (now third) apartment as a conversation piece, a little bit of insight into who I am, a reminder of what I have left to do, evidence that I am not missing a “creative” gene, and most of all as a huge sign of accomplishment. Looking at it reminds of me of where I was and where God has taken me.

A vision board is not a magic bullet that transformed my life (only God can do that and even then it is not “magic”), but it is definitely a way to visualize and see what it is I want and compare that to where I am. It’s also a way to see what I don’t want anymore. Sometimes my vision changes and that’s okay. The vision board is also my reminder of how I’ve evolved.

Looking at it the other day, I began to think:

The left side of my vision board blows me away just looking at it. In January of 2010, I was super-single, in emotional ruins, and inexplicably tied to a man whom I didn’t realistically see a future with. Looking back, I think I just wanted to win even though winning him would have been losing ultimately, but I can be competitive beyond reason. Thankfully, my steps are ordered by God and He refused to leave me to my own devices. When I made this vision board, I was able to visualize what I really wanted: a man I could see myself eventually marrying. The trainwrecks I had been involved with for the few years prior to that were trains I should have never been on and I recognized that. Of course, after I made my vision board, I leaned it against my bedroom wall and continued down my path of self-destruction for a few more months. But I always knew what I wanted and what I would ultimately get: true love.

I mentally put a big checkmark on the left side of the board and turned my focus onto the right side. My career. I have a great job now and I dont know what’s next from here, but I do know that (thankfully) my days of being hopeless career-wise are long gone. I’m still considering graduate school, but not sure if I want to do that and grad school is not something I want to commit to until I’m SURE.

Im also still working on the health and fitness aspect of my life. It ebbs and flows. One day I am Treadmill Tammy and the next I haven’t been to the gym in what feels like forever. I want to be consistent with my exercise and eating right.

On the money saving tip, I’ve gotten way, way, way better! Saving money for my wedding has gotten me into the habit of actually saving a substantial amount of money. I’ve never actively saved money for anything – especially not for a long period of time. I decided that even after the wedding, I am going to continue to save money to replenish what I spent. [As a sidenote: I *really* wish my dad were still around. Much to his chagrin, when I was in college I would blow my entire refund check in less than a week. If he were alive now, he would be floored that I have even saved $1 toward something in the future. ]

I have been dressing better lately, but not breaking my bank account to do so. I still haven’t become a consistent makeup wearer, but I wear it more often than I used to!

Spiritually, Jesus and I are likethis which is more than I can say for where I was with Him when I made the board. I’ve definitely raised the moral standard in my life.

So yeah, this vision board business is pretty sweet. I may even make a new one in February after my wedding. Visualize my married self: Alissa Christine Henry. I love the sound of that.

Have you ever made a vision board?