Making my new vision board for the year is one of the absolute highlights of my January. I love thinking through the things I want to spend my time on, the goals I want to set, and the ideas I want to nurture. I’ve had years where I see a lot of what I envision for the future come to fruition, and I’ve had years where I’ve accomplished almost none of the goals I originally chose. Either way, having a vision board helps keep my true priorities in focus and gives me insight on when I need to put my head down and work harder or when I need to reassess and pivot.
For me, a vision board is just an inspiring way to visualize the things that are most important to me as I head into the new year. Some of these are very tangible goals with easily measured progress. Some are more like themes or ideas I want to keep at the forefront of my mind to guide my decisions. I usually start with a list of the things I want to put on my board, and then I do a Google search and save images I find that represent that item to me. I print them, cut them out, and pin them on my board! (there’s a picture at the end of my post of my finished board)
I love seeing other people’s words, lists, goals, or vision boards because it motivates me on my own journey. Even if I don’t want to emulate, specifically, a set of ideals or objectives, it can be really inspiring to watch other people accomplish the things they set their mind to. Equally helpful can be watching people not accomplish everything they want, because it validates that life happens and that’s ok. I’m sharing my own vision board in hopes that it might inspire, motivate, or spark ideas for you that you can turn around and apply to your own life.
1- BE COZY AND RESTFUL. I want this to be my theme for 2025. I want to work hard and I want to get things done, but not at the expense of a peaceful and restful home. The two things that have the greatest impact on my schedule and make each day feel luxurious are reading and being fully present in each moment. I intentionally do not multitask every moment of the day (I absolutely multitask sometimes), but make sure that when I’m with my kids, I am fully with my kids, no phones, no lists. When I am working, I am fully working, not allowing other time wasting activities to distract me. When I’m in a conversation, I’m fully in the conversation, with eye contact and a clear mind. I also have been loving going to bed a bit earlier than usual and using a reading light to get in some chapters before I fall asleep. Literally the definition of cozy!
2-POST WEEKLY. I want to end the year with at least 52 new videos on YouTube and posts on my blog. I’m trying to build up a library of meaningful content and I know that slow and steady will win this race. Consistency is going to be key, so I’m dedicated to developing good rhythms to help me achieve this goal.
3- CREATE A SUSTAINABLE DAILY SCHEDULE. One thing I very much struggle with is finding a daily routine that works well for our family. Part of that is because of constantly changing seasons as we endure pregnancy, or add new babies (out of my control) but part of it really boils down to laziness and not wanting to follow through with building better daily habits (within my control). I want to feel less like I’m always struggling to keep up and more like I have a handle on what happens in our home.
4- INVEST IN MY FAMILY AND MY CHILDREN’S EDUCATION. I want this to be my priority, top of the pile. I love homeschooling and I love being a mom, but last year, as we finished up our first ever year of formal homeschool and I began to pursue creating art and videos in earnest, I really lost my “ordo amoris”, as the Charlotte Mason moms like to say. That’s just fancy Latin for “order of affections” and my affections were not rightly ordered when I let posting and content creation overshadow my work as a wife and mom. I’m setting really firm boundaries this year for when I work on my own projects and not letting it bleed into the time I get to enjoy being with my family and educating my kids.
5- READ 50 BOOKS. Because there are too many books on my TBR as it is, and not enough life to read them all. Books are magic.
6- LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I think it will be really helpful for our schooling as we learn hymns and folksongs.
7- HAVE A MONETIZED BLOG AND YOUTUBE CHANNEL. By the end of the year, I want to have reached whatever requirements necessary to receive monetary payouts for these platforms (WordPress is a dollar amount of ad revenue, YouTube is hitting certain follower and view milestones). As I endeavor to build up a business in art/writing, being able to get income in a more “passive” way like this would be ideal.
8- COME OUT WITH NEW PRODUCTS. Specifically, I have two ideas for things I want to create/make/write that will require a lot of time investment but I think will be so cool and have been brewing in my mind for a long time. I want to shrug off the fear and imposter syndrome that’s been holding me back and go for it!
9- SPEND 1000 HOURS OUTSIDE. We’ve been following the 1000 Hours Outside movement for years, and have yet to reach the magic number (that’s ok…it’s about lifestyle, and boy, has our lifestyle shifted since becoming aware of the goodness of being outdoors!). I think this is our year, though! The kids are pumped and motivated by our mini parties we have every 100 hours, and I’m excited thinking about all the wonderful sunshine and air and exploration they get to experience in their childhood.
10- SAVOR A RESTFUL POSTPARTUM TIME. I’m due in May with baby #5, and I want to savor it. With our fourth, the months after her birth were incredibly difficult and exhausting due to “colic” (whatever that actually means). I was often distraught and stressed. Even if the same situation should occur with this baby, I hope that my past experience and the perspective it gave me will help me to weather the transition with more grace and peace than before. After four babies, I know just how quickly they grow and change. I really want to treasure the very short time I will have with this sweet little one as an infant. One way I am planning to ensure a restful, peaceful time is by planning ahead and prepping lots of meals for my family to easily eat. I’m also working hard now to establish good rhythms with the kids so everyone has an idea of how things are to be when I’m not as present as I am now.
11- DESIGN GREETING CARDS. In 2023, I came out with my first ever cards, three different packs of holiday designs. It was so much fun and I want to expand my selection to include everyday, pretty cards to use throughout the year.
12- PRACTICE PHOTOGRAPHY. The past year or so, I’ve been on a journey to drastically reduce my phone usage, and in almost every way it has proved to be a huge blessing. But I don’t love the resulting decrease in pictures I have of our life (leaving my phone inside means I can’t snap those funny candids when we’re out back playing with water!). I have a hand-me-down camera from my brother and I want to learn how to use it well so I can solve that problem!
13-HAVE PRODUCTS IN LOCAL SHOPS. I would really love to see if I can get some local shops to carry some of my products, and have them available to a wider audience. This will take a lot of courage and relationship building, two things I have historically been terrible at. I’m excited for the challenge!
While this list isn’t comprehensive, in the sense that I have many other things I hope to do and accomplish, these are the big ones. These are the main goals and ideas that I am setting before me to help guide my decisions regarding my time and investments. I feel a lot of suspense this year and am so curious what kinds of progress and lessons looking back at the end of 2025 will reveal.
Do you have a word for the year? A resolution? A dream board? I’d love to hear about it! Comment below or send me an email and share so we can encourage one another!
