Welcome to the first post in my 2025 blog series! I hope you had a restful and enjoyable holiday season, and that you are finding some comfort in the slowness of winter. Each month, I will be sharing a new post with a guiding word, to inspire and uplift with some creativity and wisdom. This month's theme is VISION.
My favorite thing to do during the week between Christmas & New Year's is to begin visioning for the new year, in between resting and enjoying the quiet magic of the season. In case you were wondering, it is definitely not too late to begin visioning for the new year....I prefer to ease into the year since we are still in the middle of winter. I believe it is nature's intention that we rest our body, mind, and spirit as much as possible, and soak up all the coziness we can. I try not to worry too much about taking action until spring at least ;) If you are feeling called to begin "planting those seeds," here is my 4 step process for visioning the new year:
First, I start by reflecting on the past year and pay special attention to the things that I wanted to accomplish, but didn't. This is how I know they are still important to me. I have a goal checklist that I created in Notion a couple of years ago, a big to do list broken down by major life categories with all the things I want to focus on throughout the year. The categories are things like: personal, financial, parenting, relationship, wellness, business, and so on. I check in with these goals every so often throughout the year to see what I've accomplished, and to remind me of what to focus on as I go through the year. Not everything gets checked off, and so at the end of the year, I like to look back and see what I'd like to carry over to the next year.
Second, I begin the process of visioning by collecting images in a folder from Pinterest. I collect a lot more than I end up using. I focus on the feelings I want to cultivate in different areas of my life, as well as the aesthetics, because let's face it, I want my vision board to be pretty. This process takes about a week, as I spend time reflecting, and begin to dream about what I'd like to create for the next year. Once I have a good amount of images, I add them into a collage template I created in Canva, that has places for images, as well as many feeling words scattered around the collage. I play around with it, adding and subtracting images and feeling words until it feels just right...it's the same with my paintings :) This is my board from 2024:
When I'm done creating my board, I make it the backdrop on my laptop and print out a copy for a frame I have in my bedroom. It helps to see things often that you want to manifest...I swear it becomes a part of your subconscious.
Then, I go back to my Notion goal checklist, and create a new one for the new year. I keep the categories the same, and add a handful of goals underneath each one. These are usually larger goals that take time to complete. This year, I decided to keep them a lot simpler and focus on 3-5 goals per category rather than say, 7-10, and I figured I could always add more down the line. This makes them much more likely to occur since I will be less overwhelmed and more able to focus.
Finally, I begin planning out my month. I made some very specific plans for January regarding my business, and they are going well so far. Taking the big goals and breaking them down into smaller steps, and actually planning when they are going to happen is quite revolutionary for someone like me. I have way too many ideas, and have trouble sticking to things. Maybe you can relate??
If you'd like to see more, or hear me explain my process in depth, please watch the video below. I would love to hear any tips you have for visioning your year (and actually accomplishing the things) in the comments. To receive future blog posts by email, please subscribe to my newsletter.
I hope you wherever you are this winter (physically, mentally, or emotionally), you are finding some rest, ease, and peace in the little things that bring you joy. For me that looks like slower mornings, matcha in the afternoons, my favorite heated throw blanket, and trying to create a habit of reading fiction. I hope this process of creating a vision brings you some cozy inspiration this season.
Sending love as always,
Jessica