I dropped my son off at school today just like I do most days. I get there around the same time each day and see a lot of the same faces as other parents are getting their youngsters out the door for another fun-filled day of learning. As I dropped him off today, I saw a little girl that I see on a regular basis. She is adorable with curly brown hair and a big smile for anyone in her vicinity. But this little girl is special. She carries a white cane because she is blind. But she is still there, everyday, playing with the other children, doing her work and enjoying life.

It got me thinking about vision in general today. I don’t know this little girl’s story. I don’t know if she can see at all or if she was born that way. All I know is that she’s always smiling and looks pretty happy with life. I wondered if she had a vision for herself and her world. Even though this little girl can’t see what is physically in front of her, perhaps she has a vision in her mind of what life is and should be.

I’m a very visual person. I don’t fully understand things until I see them in action. That’s probably why I spend so much time on YouTube hunting for knitting videos… I need to SEE it to get it.

Have you figured out where I’m going with this yet?

The vision you have for your life is so important. Because that can be the thing that sustains you in the hard times. And there will be hard times, no doubt.

I’m in the middle of building a vision board for myself. I know, I know… they sound cheesy. But I think they can be incredibly potent when defining your life plans, goals and keeping you on the path you want. If you set up a vision board, you can have something that you instantly call to mind when you’re frustrated or not where you want to be. I’ve been pulling and collecting images that will help guide my decisions because they all symbolize the path that I am on and what I want in life.

What do I have on my vision board? I have a couple of things so far.

A house with a wraparound porch. That dream house I’ve been thinking of.

A really cute puppy. I miss having a dog.

A stylish home office because I’m so comfortable working in one and want to keep that lifestyle.

Images of runners. Because I want to get back to running. Hey, it can happen. No, scratch that. It will happen.

All of the images I selected I did so because they evoke some kind of strong emotion in me whenever I look at them. I put them all on a poster board (hooray for craft time!) and keep the board in a place where I will see them regularly. I will also take a picture of the board and keep that image on my phone. Voila! Now I have a portable vision board.

But this is just a tool to discovering what your vision actually is.

No matter what tool(s) you use, you always start with the same question:

What do I want from life?

So what do you want? Dream big my friend. The world is a mighty big place.