Hey ya! Hope you guys have been well, it’s been a while 👀. I’ve been surviving, if you subscribe to my newsletter you’ll get all the details soon. There’s a couple more days left in 2019 and I’m not even sure how to feel about that. I feel like the year just began. Due to my absence and current mood I decided to do a spontaneous blog post (yay). Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend Vision Board 2.0: Brunch Edition and while reminiscing on the lessons, I decided to share a few. So here’s my mini review of the event and three (3) tips you can take with you into 2020!

Vision Board 2.0: Brunch Edition is exactly as the name suggests. A vision board party but more specifically, a brunch party. From being on social media I’m usually seeing people hosting or advertising vision board parties which piqued my interest. If you don’t know I went through the vision board process on my own last year. This was done through my own research and interest in the process. However, as mentioned earlier I was interested in the “party” aspect of things. How would it be with other like-minded individuals? What new information would I learn? Etc.

I saw the advertisement for Vision Board 2.0 Brunch on my IG timeline and noted the date to think about it further. In another part of my head, I was thinking of the fact that none of my friends would be interested, and I’d probably have to attend solo. I was thinking if it would be weird going alone or if it would be a big deal and more along those lines. That’s the biggest reason as to why I actually hesitated on purchasing my ticket. One day I saw the promoters post about a giveaway and I thought this was my opportunity. Low-key I was thinking that if I won, attended and didn’t like it I wouldn’t have lost anything really. (Besides my time, and we hate that)

Guess what happened though?! I won! The competition requested us to simply post a video stating what we were grateful for. I decided to do this on my IG stories which they reposted on their page. I found out I won about two weeks prior to the event. After they began posting throwback pictures from their first one I figured I would be okay attending by myself. There are some things I do and prefer doing solo but I believe this was my first time in Antigua doing such.

The week of the event was a busy one for me, so it actually slipped my mind when it was. From the flyer above you can see that they had a specific dress code; I decided on an outfit the night before after trying several options lol. I was also neglecting my hair that week, but decided to put in a few chunky braids (the night before) for a braid out. I must say, surprisingly everything came together!!

They made it clear they were going to start at 10:17 a.m. sharp, which I thought was weird but I planned to get there early. I wanted enough time to choose a proper seat and get accustomed to my surroundings before the event began. Upon entering I realized it was going to be a very intimate setting; there were maybe 50 or so people.

We first started with a meditation session (which I think lasted way too long) followed by breakfast. There were fruits, wraps, omelets, soup, fish cakes, vegetables and a few sweet options. I’m not a fan of eating eggs alone, so I would have preferred some toast, pancakes or waffles. However, what I had was delicious and of course there were mimosas as a drink of choice.

I wasn’t keeping track of the time but after eating we finally got into the featured speakers segment of it. The topics of the day were:

• Physical Health
• Selfcare & Meditation
• Healthy Relationships & Mental Health
• Beauty & Wellness
• Success

As you can see, the sessions were really focused on health. This wasn’t an issue for me, but I think we would have benefited to have someone speak about finances as that’s usually a big aspect going into the new year. Also, as time progressed I realized we weren’t getting into the actual vision boarding process yet and it was way pass lunch time.

Two of the most memorable presentations for me were Mr. Colin John-Jenkins who spoke about success and Mrs. Feona Charles-Richards who presented on healthy relationships and mental health. We spoke about setting and achieving your goals, thinking ahead, decluttering and even how to breathe properly.

Overall, the event was well put together. It was nice being around like minded people and good vibes. It was interactive and you learnt at least one thing from each presenter. Asking attendees to bring different materials also added an extra touch. There were giveaways throughout the day from various small businesses, who also got the chance to introduce their business to the audience. I’m interested to see how this event grows in the future and I think it’s worth the investment.

3 Tips for the New Year

1/ Change Your Habits

Sometime ago I started reading Atomic Habits by James Clear (fully recommend) and it got me thinking about how I can change or implement new habits. I’ve tried some things here or there, but I really want to work on it for 2020.

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous.

Atomic Habits, James Clear

So how can you change your habits? First off, it requires PATIENCE. According to the book mentioned above, there are four steps to building a habit: cue, craving, response, reward. Thus, in order to replace a bad habit it is suggested to make it invisible, unattractive, difficult and unsatisfying. For example purposes, say you’re someone who is always quick to check their phone at the sound of a notification.

• Make it INVISIBLE – reducing your exposure to the cue that causes it (e.g Put your phone in your purse/desk)
• Make it UNATTRACTIVE – highlight the benefits of avoiding a bad habit (e.g. you interact with people, you complete your work)
• Make it DIFFICULT – create an environment that makes the task hard to do (e.g turn off your wifi/data, put your phone on silent)
• Make it UNSATISFYING – add an instant cost (punishment) to reduce their odds or get an accountability partner

2/ Redefine Success

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

Maya Angelou

Success means many different things to many people. However, the one idea that we’re pushed to believe is success equals MONEY and lots of it. On the other hand, what you would find is those people who are “successful” with lots of money may not be happy either. Change your thinking that you need x amount of money in your bank account to be successful. Think about your own definition of success and work towards that; whether it’s making time for family, going on a trip once a year, graduating from school – YOU DEFINE WHAT SUCCES MEANS. Just like changing your habits this will need some self awareness and introspection.

3/ Take Care of Yourself

A no brainer but a constant reminder. You can’t serve anyone if you’re not taking care of you first. Things can get hectic and if you don’t take a break or prioritize your health, your body will shut down.

As I mentioned above one of the most preached about topics was health, not just health but MENTAL HEALTH and self care. Many people see self-care as ignoring responsibilities and taking a spa day etc due to the media, but it’s more than that. Those tasks may only make you feel better for a short amount of time, but what happens after that? It’s more than ‘consumer self care’.

One of the exercises we carried out at the vision board party was choosing a word that described our feelings. I chose “Anxiety”; I may not look it or appear that way but I’m always anxious about something. After choosing the word we were given various prompts to help us uncover why we had these feelings. More or less it was a decluttering exercise. Sometimes that’s all we need to do, declutter our thoughts and even our space.

Meditation also counts as self care and may help you to answer some of the questions about why you’re feeling the way you do. I will say though, it takes some practice (or maybe I’m easily distracted).

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*whew* I know this was a bit lengthy, but I hoped you guys enjoyed. In case I don’t ‘see’ you guys again before the holidays, Season Greetings and enjoy your Christmas festivities.

*Featured image by Vision Board Society (FYI that’s my board at the top, lol)