Creative Fever: Vision Board Workshop
#BeCreative
The ‘Creative Fever: Vision Board’ workshop, organised by the Project 668 Team, had taken place on Sunday, 26th March and it was also my first induction as the newly appointed ‘Event Officer’ to the organisation’s activities.
Let me first introduce myself, my name is Emma Rainey, I come from Belfast, Northern Ireland and I have been living in Brussels, Belgium for the last 5 years. I’ve worked in the area of project management and have been involved in the nonprofit sector, working in the areas of child protection and gender equality. My star sign is Scorpio, I enjoy watching period dramas, I love travelling, and I’m also a self-confessed politics and history geek.
The work of Project 668 had attracted me to join the organisation, the idea of a group of young professionals setting up an NGO to combat youth unemployment through professional development was a vision I could very much get on board with. I myself, like many of my 20-something year old peers, have been in the position of being a part of the youth unemployed at one point or another. Therefore, the Project 668 #SharingIsCaring ethos in where we support each other through developing skills and exchanging information can never be understated in its importance.
When I stepped into the venue of where the workshop was being hosted, Bon Jour Bruxelles, I felt completely uplifted by the surroundings at once. The decor was scandinavian in style with a chic twist, and there was lots of quirky details around the brightly lit room. It was certainly something you would find on a Pinterest board for interior design goals.
Once myself and the team had set up the materials, Lidija Globokar, the President and Co-Founder of Project 668, gave an inspiring introduction about the vision board workshop and how it was part of Project 668’s ‘Year of Creativity’. The idea behind creating a vision board is that it becomes a visual aid to help you focus and map out your professional and personal life goals. We had provided magazines, newspapers, glue, glitter, colouring markers and pencils, and other crafting materials. The sky was the limit in how creative you wanted to be with your board.
As the sun was streaming through the windows, the team and participants enjoyed interesting conversations about life and their future ambitions. We also had coffee and tasty treats, there was plenty of laughter and support was given when needed. All this happened whilst we were cutting and gluing images and words that reflected our deepest wishes. It was one of the nicest Sunday afternoons I’ve personally spent in a long time. You can see for yourself just how much fun we had on the workshop’s video here.
As we finished our boards one-by-one, we each got up to present, explaining what each part meant, what we hoped to achieve by a given timeframe, how we were going to achieve that, and so forth. It was interesting to see how minimal some of the boards were but yet their owner could go into great detail discussing each part. Furthermore, even though each vision board was individual, and as were the dreams and ambitions attached to it, they all had the common themes of health, relationships, travel, career, education, and so forth. What was also interesting is that there was a sense of deep satisfaction amongst participants. By holding their vision board, not only had their life goals become visualised but they somehow were made to feel tangible.
As being the seriously meticulous and detailed person I am, I was the last to finish my board and thus, the last to present. It was called ‘My 5 Year Plan’ and had a section of buzzwords and motivational images to represent my career ambitions. My favourite piece is the arrow that I found in a newspaper section of the stock markets, to me it screamed the message ‘the only way is up’. The majority of my board though was dedicated to my personal life and to the goals I wanted to achieve. I’m just past my mid-20s and yet I have never learnt how to drive a car. For me, being able to drive is a form of freedom as being able to travel wherever and whenever you like is a skill every young person should have. I hope to be able to start my driving lessons next year and I’ll have my vision board to remind me of this promise.
The ‘Creative Fever: Vision Board’ workshop was a success in that it not only allowed participants to enjoy a relaxing Sunday afternoon being creative with like-minded peers, but it provided the opportunity to reflect on themselves as individuals and create something which represented their dreams and ambitions, whether they are professional or personal. When career planning, we often tend to do it in a methodical and sometimes boring way that it is difficult to become truly inspired to take action and to make things happen. I personally walked away from the workshop feeling positive and empowered, and that I was given a small gift of clarity and focus. My vision board is now placed over my work desk in my apartment and I see it every morning when I wake up. In all it’s weird, glittery, colourful, wonderfulness, it motivates me to get stuck in for the day and to start making my dreams become a reality.
by Emma Rainey