Making the Internet My Accountability Partner

I have begun trying to use vision boards to help guide me to the person I want to be. This is a visual representation of what I want to manifest in my life. I decided to break it into manageable pieces by focusing on seasons. I originally created this board to be for personal use, so I used pictures taken from Google Images, I unfortunately do not have credit or info I can share about them. Because I had a wider array of images to choose from I chose to match the mood board to my personal aesthetic which is light, feminine, and very pink.

While some of these images are aesthetic placeholder images the vast majority speak to my goals and priorities for the season. I will discuss each aspect of my focus without regard to the images chosen. If this creates any confusion please let me know and I will be sure to update this post.

Friends – The people in my life are so important to me. I personally think my worst quality is the infrequency with which I reach out to friends. I have often gotten in my head about, should I or shouldn’t I reach out to catch up with a friend. That line of questioning opens the doors wide for my insecurities which I know aren’t rational and only further my isolation. I am quite happy to say I have been doing a much better job of reaching out to people and being a good friend to the people who mean so much to me.

Home – I want my home to be a space I enjoy and a space the invigorates me. Part of the focus is aesthetic in the sense that I want to be able to walk into a room and feel like it’s a space that I created for myself, not as a result of advertising or trends. I am not immune to the propaganda of advertising and can find myself giving into something even though it doesn’t line up with my long term desires. It is also important to me that my space feels organized. Not only is visual clutter something that bothers me, but I also struggle to find things when I don’t have a good sense of where they belong. I am doing better than I was, especially in regards to my closet, but I look forward to ongoing improvements.

Money – This I have previously discussed in length in multiple posts, so feel free to view my Credit Card Debt Repayment and Live Richer Challenge Savings Editions posts for more details. As the titles imply I wanted to focus on paying down debt and building a savings cushion.

Health – When focusing on my physical health, it was important to me that I also enjoyed this journey. I have been gaining a better appreciation for the way I feel after moving my body in the gym and it has been fun to make that a habit of mine. I also particularly enjoy hiking and want to engage in winter hiking as best I can, while still acknowledging my limits. I am in many ways a novice hiker and need to be careful about the difficulty and weather of the places I choose to hike. That being said, I only went on one winter hike. I also need to look at the diet aspect of health. As I have discussed previously I really struggle with finding the energy and motivation to cook and that can mean I have less fruit and veg in my diet. I had been wanting to re-find my love for cooking, try new foods, and have a more well rounded diet. I don’t feel I was successful at this for most of the season, but I had some good moments and I’m looking forward to creating a better future with those lessons.

Style – I want to feel good about how I look and present myself. I feel best when I’m able to dress up, which often includes makeup. For a bit more on my thoughts on this please see my Wardrobe Declutter post. I definitely feel I have room for improvement, but I haven’t fully finalized my thoughts on how I can make that happen.

Civic Engagement – I want to be a better member of my community. So I focused not just on political engagement, but also on volunteering. I have had about one community engagement obligation per week. I feel this is sustainable for me. I enjoy that these obligations are spread across a variety of interests including LGBTQ+ rights, civil rights, environmentalism, and poverty easement.

Mental Health – My mental health is a huge barrier for me to my other goals, so taking care of myself is a priority. But it also is a self reinforcing system. When I engage in my goals and values I feel better. So, making sure I scheduled time for my goals was important as was reflecting in my journal and with my therapist.

Hobbies/Entertainment – Last, but not least, is time for me to rest and to engage in hobbies or entertainment. I really like going to concerts, watching certain sports (thankfully it is hockey season), traveling, reading, knitting, and making the most of being in Boston. This was the most difficult to maintain. Partly because some of those hobbies can be expensive and partly because when I am in rest mode, I tend to fall into inertia quickly and struggle to get off my phone to engage in a “better” hobby. I have tried setting time limits on the social media apps I use the most, but it is so easy to ignore those limit notifications. I am still brainstorming ideas on how to stick to my goals, if you have any suggestions they are more than welcome!

As alluded to I feel I have many areas where I could still make improvements. These will feature in my goals for next season. The next post will feature my Spring Vision Board, so stay tuned!