Vision boards can benefit your mental health
I love a good vision board. Vision boards are a fun, creative way to document your goals visually. When you create a visual reminder of your dreams in your physical space, they spend more time on your mind. The more present you are with your goals, thinking about them, the more you work towards accomplishing them.
Vision boards can be delightful for our mental health, too. They help us stay connected to our vision for our life and future, fostering hope! When done correctly, they help us stay aligned with our personal values so we make decisions that feel good. Making decisions that honor our values, our goals, and the future that we want builds self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy is having confidence in your ability to exert control over your motivation, behavior, and social environment. Essentially, self-efficacy improves your confidence, your self-esteem, and your feelings of being capable. All of those things improve your mental health!
Another way vision boards can benefit your mental health is by connecting you to meaningful work. Meaningful work is work that feels purposeful and fulfilling. Meaningful work is one of eight factors that impact our mental health. When you work on something that feels meaningful and impactful, you feel good about yourself and life. Lack of meaningful work negatively impacts our mental health. Doing meaningful work boosts our mental health. Because vision boards help us keep our goals and vision present in our minds, they encourage us to do meaningful work toward the future we want.
In addition to all the feel-good effects of magnified hope, increased alignment with your personal values, multiplied confidence, and meaningful work, there’s also the art aspect to consider with vision boards. Creative exploration and expression are so beneficial to our mental health. Vision boards provide a safe space to explore and express your innermost desires and values creatively.
Finally, creative hobbies nurture contentment, being in the present moment, and getting into a flow state. Creating a vision board can be fun! Going through different magazines or Pinterest can spark inspiration through artful photography and connection to powerful words. Creating a collage of photos, words, and quotes representing your goals keeps your hands and mind engaged.
Have fun while improving your mental health; that’s a win-win!
How to make a vision board that rocks your mental health (in a good way!)
There are some nuances to be aware of when making a vision board that will support your mental health. Not all vision boards are created equal. Some provide a fun/creative element but do not provide long-term motivation or support to one’s mental health. Other vision boards might make a person feel defeated or disconnected from their vision. It’s all about HOW you create your vision board.
Here are a few considerations so you can create a vision board that supports your mental health- start with goals that deeply matter to you, avoid using photographs that primarily depict body image, choose the medium you enjoy most, know the underlying emotions you’d like to feel throughout the year, make the creative part enjoyable, and keep your completed vision board somewhere you will regularly see it!
- Start with goals that deeply matter to you. I’ve got an entire blog post about how to set healthy goals. Check that out so you begin this project with a supportive, encouraging vision.
- Avoid using photographs that primarily depict body images. This is the most common mistake I see on vision boards, and it’s a mistake I used to make on mine. People use photos on their vision boards representing their ideal body, typically pictures of half-naked women who are super fit. Don’t bring yourself down with that folly. Those images rarely motivate people to change their lifestyles. They usually leave us feeling inferior, disappointed in our appearance, and defeated before we even start. Sidestep typical fitspo images. They are not taking you where you want to go and are not supportive of your mental health. Instead, choose photos that represent the activities you’d like to do.
- Choose the medium you enjoy most. There are so many different ways to make a vision board. You could create one digitally using Canva, Photoshop, or Paint. Or you could go the physical route. I prefer physical; even if I make one digitally, I’ll print it out! Physical vision boards offer so many options. You can use a notebook, journal, giant poster board, cardstock, canvas, or corkboard. Whichever medium will be the most enjoyable for you to play with is the way to start.
- Identify the underlying emotions you’d like to feel throughout the year. In this blog post on how to achieve your goals, I talk about the importance of getting to the underlying feeling. It’s essential to setting good goals, achieving your goals, and crafting a good vision board. Identify whatever underlying emotions you’d like to experience throughout the year and choose images that provoke those emotions. For example- powerful, peaceful, kind, unburdened, carefree, serene, loving, confident, cheerful, faithful, creative, playful, etc.
- Make it fun! Make a big mess, invite some girlfriends over, and host a vision board-making get-together, or cozy in with your favorite pajamas and a warm drink and start creating your vision board. Choose whatever path will bring the most enjoyment for you while you get creative.
- Display your vision board intentionally. Choose a place where it will be seen often. Display it in multiple locations if need be (easy to do if you create it digitally and print it out!) Areas to consider are your bedroom wall, bathroom mirror, office, planner, phone screen saver, or computer background. There are so many possibilities. The more often you see and connect with your vision board, the more positive effects you’ll experience throughout the year.
Here are a few of my vision boards throughout the years...
I hope you enjoy watching how my vision board came together in my video and that you feel inspired to make your own. It’s a great way to get creative and offers so many potential benefits. Happy vision board-making!
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