The Power of the Vision Board

I found a piece of laminated wood in the garage.  I think it was an extra inner shelf for a cabinet somewhere.  It was heavy, so I was not able to hang it up.  Instead I propped it up on a corner counter in my bathroom. A perfect place ~ I would see it daily. I initially sought out pictures to place on the board, and later I added pictures as I came across them. The board quickly grew full of visual reminders of what I wanted from life.

My vision board has traveled with me now through three homes.  I haven’t added any pictures to it in awhile, but I still like to have it sitting in my bathroom corner. It serves as a daily reminder of dreams and goals still to accomplished, and it also plays tribute to the goals I have achieved. To me, the board is a reminder to always seek adventure, to be fearless, to explore, and to hold those dear to me close to my heart.

One of the first pieces of paper that I added to the board was a triathlon training schedule that I had created for myself. You can see it in the bottom left corner. I only had the first week crossed off before I think I quit the schedule.

But I never gave up on the dream, and yes, I eventually completed my first triathlon in 2011!  I have completed five since that first one; with two of those being half-iron distances. Let me tell you, I am slow. Slow as molasses in January, as I once had a teacher so fond of saying.

But I do have stamina and as my husband says, I am tenacious. I used to always worry about how I would measure up against “real” athletes. However, age brings wisdom, right? At some point I think I just realized that what I want to accomplish is for me. It does not matter how slow or how fast I am.

For many years, I would not do certain physical activities, because I knew I would not be really good at them. I am a competitor, but as I got older, I no longer worried about competing with anyone except myself. I can tell you that is a very freeing place to be. When you can quit measuring yourself against all of those around you, you are free to do so much more. One regret I have is that I did not get to this place sooner in my life. I would have started racing much earlier.

My last triathlon was last July, and I was very happy that my time improved over the prior tri. Not nearly as much as I had hoped for, but I will take any improvement I can get. I trained a lot more, both physically and mentally, for last year’s tri and the additional time, energy, and planning paid off.

Unfortunately, I injured myself in September, and my physical activity has really come to a halt. I have been giving my body the time to heal. The healing is happening – slowly. The time has come to jump back into the pool; time to start bringing more physical activity back into my life. Tonight.