Fighting the anxiety: vision boards

The struggle with mental illness has been a real one for me. Like so many people, I have struggled with anxiety, depression and other mental disorders. The most difficult part of these mental illnesses is that we lack clear solutions that will create inner healing so many people need. However, after several years of having no solutions to my struggles, I finally found something that brought relief.

I made a vision board at the end of summer 2019. I wanted this year to be different. I wanted to feel good about myself and feel confident about my inner goodness. For me, that meant I needed to get some sort of control over my anxious ways. 

Vision boards sound a little silly, but they are nothing short of extraordinary. Vision boards function similarly to a poster you hang up in your room, except a vision board is decorated (by you) with pictures or quotes that capture your goals. All it took was a quick trip to the dollar store and print shop. Vision boards can provide you with a creative outlet while helping you achieve your goals. 

The most important thing for you to do is to pick images that inspire you. A vision board is supposed to send you positive vibes. The last thing you want to do is paste a bunch of depressing and intimidating images onto a board that you see every day. Doing so would bring you down, and that’s not the point. The easiest way to get everything you want on the board is to write down a list of goals you have for yourself. These goals can be as simple as “I want to be happier” or “I want to help others more.” Your vision board does not have to be a new year’s resolution board, it can be more about your vibe goals. Think about what your vibe is and what you want your aura to feel like. That’s what you want on the vision board. 

The rest of the creation is simple. Print out pictures that inspire you and correspond with your goals. Make the board as colorful, plain or exciting as you want it to be. For my vision board, I ended up using a white corrugated board from the dollar store and just glued my pictures onto it. Put the board somewhere you’ll see it every day. Think of it as an inspiring poster. 

Unless you’re an art major, there are not a lot of opportunities to be creative as a college student. Though some may consider it juvenile, there is an art to creating a good vision board. (Really though, it’s pretty easy). The truth is making a vision board just involves a lot of cutting and pasting. A kindergartener could do it. 

The effects of making a vision board may not happen overnight, but it will happen. All I wanted my vision board to do was inspire me to love myself exactly as I am, and it did. No matter what you’re struggling with, a vision board can help you overcome what you need to overcome. Just trust yourself, trust your brain and get pasting.

—emily.white@aggiemail.usu.edu