Our 2021 dreams & manifestations

We have never been the type of people who create vision boards. We’re goal oriented, yes, but we’ve never really taken the time to create physical representations of these goals. 
2020 was a difficult year that distracted a lot of us from our goals and forced us to grow and adapt in different ways. That’s why this year we both decided to create vision boards that depict our personal and professional goals for 2021. 

Before we could start visualizing our goals we wanted a better understanding of vision boards themselves. Here’s why we’re making them & why you should too: 

1. Creating a vision board forces you to reflect and think about what it is you really want.
2. Vision boards provide you with a daily reminder of your goals and visualization is powerful!
3. They are a great mode of creative expression!
4. Have you ever heard of speaking it into existence? Vision boards help you to do just that.
5. Vision boards push you to celebrate your successes and achievements! Plus, they’re amenable, so once one goal is achieved, there’s room for another.

There aren’t any real rules or guidelines to creating a vision board, other than to include things that inspire and motivate you. You can include goals for all areas of your life, like relationships, career, personal growth, travel, etc. Or, you can choose to focus on only one aspect. 

You can also either create an actual board and really get crafty, or do a virtual board using Canva or Powerpoint, like we did. We got most of our images from Pinterest — just pick whatever calls to you! 
We set our boards as our phone backgrounds to keep them visible and keep us accountable every day.

So, what’re some of our goals for 2021?

AMANDA

Find a career I truly love
Be confident in where I am in my journey
Make a home

2020 has been a difficult year for everyone. Luckily, our family is healthy & safe. I don’t take that for granted at all. What this pandemic has really showed me is that I’m not happy in my career. I’m a news reporter and anchor. Many might call me “the media.” Reporting on daily COVID-19 death numbers, the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the pain and anger that stemmed from that, as well as the incredibly divisive political climate has definitely taken a toll on me. 

The daily stress is something I need to take a break from. And I’ve learned that I need to prioritize my own happiness. Starting over is scary, and I’m terrified to leave the only career I’ve known and the position I worked so hard to get to, but I think it’s time to find something that I truly love. 

2021 is going to be a big year for me. I’M GETTING MARRIED!! This year has also showed me how important family is, and hopefully I’ll be moving back home to California to start my own family. It’s also the last year of my 20s.

So this second goal is a really loaded one. I want to find confidence in where I am: that includes in my family life (getting close to 30 and seeing a lot of my friends have babies and buy homes definitely makes me anxious that I’m “behind schedule”), in my journey to find a healthy, fit lifestyle, and in my goal setting. 

I recently found an old piece of paper with my 2020 goals. I think it was the first time I looked at it since writing them down. No surprise: I didn’t achieve any of them. 

So this year I’m vowing to keep better track of my goals and successes. I’ve decided to begin bullet journaling (and I’m excited for you to follow me on this journey!) so I can hold myself accountable and celebrate my wins. 

Lastly, I want to make a home with my future husband. We’ve been far from home for a long time and I want to finally be able to put down roots. For years, I’ve been saying, “We’ll do that when we’re in our real home.” So this year I want to create our real home — even if it’s a rental or apartment for now.  

SERA

Close exercise ring every day & achieve extended side crow pose
Read 10 books this year
Be more open

One of my main goals this year is to prioritize my health and fitness. To do that, I set two concrete goals for myself: close the Exercise ring on my Apple watch every day (which means working out for at least 30 minutes a day) and achieving the extended side crow pose in yoga.
Fitness has always been a significant part of both of our lives, but it has definitely taken a backseat for me in the past few years. Recently, I’ve become passionate about yoga and have been able to successfully achieve some difficult poses so far. I hope to continue this progress, starting with extended side crow. 

Another goal of mine is to read more. I loved reading in middle and high school, but haven’t had much time for it since. Reading is such a great form of self-care. It allows you to take your mind off things and transport into someone else’s story. Fun fact: Amanda actually used to hate reading so much that I would do her reading assignments for her in school! Now, she reads more than I ever did! I’m definitely excited to pick it back up again!

Saving the most difficult for last, I want to be more open. That sounds vague I know, but I’ve always been a pretty closed off and private person. Even writing this right now feels weird and uncomfortable (seriously, I already feel my stomach turning), but starting this blog has made me realize just how closed off I can be. 

Not just with our following on Instagram or our readers here, but also in my own personal life. It’s really difficult to open yourself up and allow people to see the less than perfect sides of you because it means making yourself vulnerable to judgments and rejections. It’s especially difficult when you’ve spent 22 years perfecting the art of avoiding vulnerability altogether. 
This year I really want to challenge myself to share more of who I am with everyone I interact with, whether online or in-person. I know that this will be difficult, which is why I’ve categorized it in my head as more of a long-term goal (maybe in 5 years I’ll be one of those people that can describe themselves as an “open book”). 

With that in mind, even if I only accomplish this level of openness with one person (that isn’t Amanda, she already knows me better than I know myself) this year, I’ll truly be proud of myself. So, cheers to fitness, open books (literally and figuratively), and 2021! It’s going to be a great year!