Our Girls Vision Luncheon

Today I would like to share a little history about me.  In my career life I am a Professional Administrator, Bookkeeper, and general organizer of all things that need to be organized in a small business setting, mostly at the Executive level.  This year in April, right after my 50th birthday, I made the decision to make a life change.  I quit my Administrative Manager position to pursue me.  What do I want to do, who do I want to be now that I have the choice and  some free time to think, and read, and just be me.  This may seem a little crazy to you and “out there”, but the time is right just for me.

So, in some long, heartfelt discussions with my Mom (always my biggest cheerleader, next to my travel chum!) she said, “We should have a Vision Luncheon!”.  Huh??? Vision Luncheon what are you talking about Mom.  My Mom is a former management trainer and teacher.  Her passion has always been teaching.  So I was game, I said, “OK let’s do a Vision Luncheon (???)”.  Now for everyone who is clueless on this subject out there like I was a Vision Luncheon involves some dreaming, maybe some goal setting, and lots and lots of vision focused on you.  And since my time is for me right now this seemed like a great activity to get me thinking about just me.  That makes me want to sing, me-me-me-me-me!!

So we pulled all of the girls in the family together; myself, my mom, my daughters, and my niece.  There were 5 of us in all, and my grandson tagged along.

Here are the materials required to begin this undertaking.   You will need:  Poster board, scissors, glue sticks, scissors and magazines that you are willing to cut apart, and possibly part with, and a big table or counter to sit at together for the experience of it all.  But at my house we all just sauntered over to that Old Dining Room Table.

Next step is to start digging into the magazines and cutting out pictures that appeal to you.  Don’t  dwell or dawdle for too long.  If you see a picture that appeals to your senses just cut it out and put it in a stack for yourself.  I think we did this for 30-40 minutes or so, while of course gabbing with each other along the way.

Then once you have a generous stack of pictures you can trim them a little or a lot depending on your “detail meter”.  Some of the girls in our group were meticulous about cutting out each picture to be used precisely and neatly, and others just cut off any of the junk they did not want.

Now comes the fun part; get your glue stick and start putting the pictures on your poster board.  Grouping them however you choose, and however they look the most appealing to your eye.  When you have finished it should look something like this.

The Teacher’sBy the way the reason we called this a Vision Luncheon is so that we could stop at any point along the way and enjoy a delicious luncheon prepared by my niece, Mary.

I think we took a break before we glued all of our pictures to the poster board, but you can do whatever your little heart’s desire.

Now is when “our teacher” really helped us see the value in this exercise.  Each of us had to present our boards to the group, and interpret what we saw about ourselves in our own boards. In other words, was there a theme or a group of items that stood out from everything else.  And then the group would tell the person collectively what they saw in the pictures presented.

This was so eye-opening for me.   It started to bring me back to my passions, the things I love to do, and not just the things I know how to do.

I know I am an independent soul, and look at the middle of my board.  All the pictures are of Independence Day.  There are lots of food things, because I am enjoying cooking again.  The list goes on and on.  Remember in the beginning of this exercise we weren’t choosing the pictures because we studied them long and hard for their content.  We were quickly choosing pictures that “appealed” to us.  The results were so much fun.

Here are the boards from the rest of the girls.  My daughter Hilary’s board was so busy with pictures she was quite astounded and she said, “What does this all mean?”, and of course our teacher told her, “There are a lot of things you want to try, so be bold and go try them.”

Hilary’s 

Mary’s 

  

 Naomi’s

Actually this luncheon is what got me started on blogging.  The girls kept telling me, you have lots of stories to tell and share, so here we are.  I am adding blogging to my list of talents, and hopefully I am sharing some insightful stories for you all.  Now everyone go to town and create your own Vision board.  A great way to rejuvenate the “me” in you.

No comments

  1. I look at my board everyday and remind myself of “the teacher’s” wise words 🙂

  2. Joan Weise says:

    Ahhh…a creative and expressive side of you is growing! I love reading your stories! I’m honored to have made such an impact with my suggestion.

  3. Mary says:

    I have mine hanging on the wall in my office, and every time I look at it I pick up on a different pattern. I also plan on adding to it, having it be an on-going visual interpretation of my goals 🙂

    Just this morning I noticed the bright light and open air in pretty much all of the pictures…

  4. Pam Lynn says:

    Hi, Renee and everyone,
    I just want to let all of you know this is such a wonderful idea. Very productive way to learn about yourself and get back in touch with who you are. Renee, you have inspired me…..I am also ready to make a life change at almost 55. A career change would be the best for me. I may try this activity with my family when we go back on Thanksgiving. Thank you
    Happy Fall to all of you!
    Pam Herman Lynn

    • Hi Pam-
      I just wanted to thank you for all of your awesome comments. It’s so great to reconnect with friends we knew from long ago!! I am loving the blogging world, and learning alot. Keep us posted on your vision get together. We’d loved to hear about it.

      Take care,
      Renee

  5. […] It is almost the end of April, and it has been just about a year since I quit my job in the Corporate arena!  My how time flies!!  I was crowned by my beloved Travel Man as the Domestic Goddess of our household shortly after I decided to stay at home for a while.  Little did I know how much I would love this title.  If you follow my stories you know I left my job a year ago to pursue other interests.  Here’s a link to my post from last April about my life change-Our Girls Vision Luncheon. […]

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