Write The Vision: A Labor of Love

Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay.

~Habbakkuk 2:3-3

I’m a hoarder of things. Old Magazines. Photos. Memorabilia from my school years. Essence & Honey Magazines. I have tons of those. I keep everything in one of those cute three drawer plastic compartments hoping that one day I will sit down and make a scrapbook of what used to be my life. But as I sat and pondered I wondered, ‘why not create something of what I envision my life to be?’

A vision board.

I always have an idea of where I want my life to be. Who I want to connect with. What I want to accomplish for the upcoming year. But often times, I find myself forgetting in the hustle and bustle of life. Sure I can still see the goal, but I never sat down and created the plays to score.  Thus I was delighted this week when three great friends of mine and myself decided to create vision boards for 2010. Great! Let’s get to creating…..

Then I tweeted: What should the deadline be for the board?

My E-Sister JG* responded:

Huh? Sunday? Anyone who knows me knows that I take forever to do anything other than bathing.  If you say be there at 10, I’m showing up at 10:45. Blame my mama, not me! I was born late at night. But with three days until the deadline, I decided to get on my grind. I figure If I can stick to this deadline, then the rest of 2010 should be smooth sailing for me.

Creating this vision board was a true labor of love for me. I started getting my quotes, pictures, and ideas together on Thursday but I did not begin putting anything on paper until late last night. I got off at 12:40 a.m. and went to work. Halfway through the project I developed an intense adrenaline rush.  For once in a long time I was motivated by something bigger than myself. I had to finish this. Not because of the commitment that I made to myself but the commitment that I made to my three E-Sisters and the other three women who choose to join in on this effort. A sisterhood network was formed. To put an unnecessary point in it on account of my laziness would be wrong.

I didn’t “finish” until 5:30 a.m. FML.

I had so much energy left over that I cleaned and rearranged my entire room, based my hair for my relaxer, and cooked me some oatmeal. I finally drifted off into a peaceful, much needed slumber around 7:00 a.m.

The biggest lesson I learned from this project is that passion+motivation=success. I always had the passion to do a vision board. However I was never truly motivated to do one because that meant that I would really have to sit down and put on paper what I wanted my life to be like. Not what I saw from other’s lives, but my life. That was hard. But once I saw the response from a group of focus driven, awesome ladies, I became motivated. The old saying of surrounding yourself with positive people is so true. The positivity that I see pouring from these individuals is overwhelming.

Here is a brief explanation of the vision:

Me, Myself, and I: The entire left portion of the board is dedicated on improving myself as a woman. Healthy.Sexy. Strong will be my personal motto for 2010.  I will focus on fitting more exercise into my schedule, and eating well. Both are very difficult tasks but I believe that I am up for the challenge. I will develop an ample derrière. PERIOD. I got the girls, I just need the cousin to make it complete. Check the quotes that accompany the photo.  I will focus on being more confident in myself and my abilities because confidence is sexy. I want to amplify that. I will not be scared to fail in search of perfection. I will develop my street-smart style and finally grasp the concept of its not what/who you wear but how you wear it. I also want to work on grief healing. January 15, 2010 will mark 18 years since my father’s passing and I’m still not over it. I know that if I don’t learn to cope with it, it will continue to kill me slowly.

Money Is Power: Good credit makes the world go round. Unfortunately, mine is shot to the pits of hell. That combined with my lackluster saving techniques has me ready to call President Obama for a bailout. However, I know that I must do better. Being young has me at a slight advantage as I have more time on my hands to correct the mistakes of the past. I am committed to learning the real value of money and making it work for me, not me working for it.

Career Girl: I am something like a Jamaican. At the present time, my total count for 2009 W-2s are at 6. I’m a writer at heart. But I do everything else except write. No bueno. I will commit myself to writing more, mainly through Clawset Freak. This has become my outlet of sorts and the fact that I have more consistent posts in two weeks than before shows that I can do this. As I am new to the blog game, I will be hitting up more seasoned bloggers. So don’t get upset if you see an email from me! Likewise I want to focus on contributing to other publications to build up my portfolio and provide a new perspective to readers.

Love: This is the smallest section on the whole board. I did this for a reason. After getting out of a somewhat unstable situation, I just want to enjoy the single life for a while. I’m not letting go of the possibility of a relationship, I’m just putting a loose leash on it. I won’t be pressed about it though. Like Hitch said: You’re not sick, your single. Just enjoy the ride.

Spirituality: I could not pinpoint one specific place to hold for my spiritual journey because I feel that it acts as a covering for this whole board. Above all else God is the pilot and I am just a stewardess. He directs my path and knows what is best for me. I just want to focus on building a stronger relationship with him and finding a church home that suits my needs. Oh, and work on that tithing thing. Yea……….

The Sisterhood Network: 2009 taught me so much about friendships. While I will go into it in a future post, I will just say I feel comfortable in the place I am with the people I know. I put these chicas in my vision because we are all the same, yet so different in many ways. But in the end the friendship is genuine, without judgement, and based from Twitter. LOL. Like wise they have shown me that despite all of the issues one can go through, in the end Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

Where in the world is Jen?: I can count on one hand the number of vacations I have ever taken in my life. I seek to change that this year. So far Washington D.C, Chicago, and New York City are on the map. I just have to plan accordingly so I won’t max out my funds. If I happen to have a three day weekend, gas or air travel, a getaway will be in the works.

Overall, this vision board was very cleansing for my soul. It was also a lot of fun. In the future I may make smaller ones to focus on specific areas in my life such as writing or finances. Who knows… the sky is the limit.  I will leave you will one of my favorite quotes ever:

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.

~Maya Angelou

To view close up shots of my vision board click here.

Note: If you look closely at the vision board you will see various Jen sightings in each of my sections. Also please check back for a future posting where I will unveil the vision boards of my E-Sisters: JG*, SkinnyBlackGirl, and AlissaInPink. If you want to read of their personal journeys in this project, click their name.

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