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Letting the Future Feel Familiar

The first days of the New Year naturally bring a forward-looking mindset—often mixed with a touch of nostalgia.

We may feel nostalgic about the years that passed, the visions that didn’t fully come to life, or the dreams we never quite dared to dream all the way into becoming.

I’m sure you’ve heard about Vision Boards.

As someone who has tried many different practices around manifestation and intention-setting, this year is actually only my second year creating a Vision Board 🙂

A Vision Board is a yearly—or sometimes a 2–3 year—vision of your life, represented through images you intentionally choose.

When you look at your board, it gives you a felt sense of that future. At the same time, it gently trains your brain and subconscious to normalize those images, helping you attract aligned opportunities and make decisions that turn them into reality.

So yes—Vision Boards are science-backed, if you’re curious about that part.

That said, if you’re someone like me who takes manifesting a bit too seriously sometimes, I invite you to loosen up and let this be a fun journey.

Years ago—long before Vision Boards were even a thing—I used to cut images out of magazines.

A couple of years back, when I came across those old collages at my mom and dad’s house, I was honestly shocked.

There were tropical scenes, nature, beautiful food, and luxurious environments.

And almost all of them had quietly come true—without me consciously tracking or “trying”—around the time I moved to Vietnam and started traveling, living in tropical and beautiful places.

It took 3–4 years for many of those images to materialize.
And the funny thing is, I wasn’t serious about them at all. I was simply enjoying myself, collecting beautiful pictures from fancy magazines 🙂

Maybe that’s why visioning for a longer timeline—like 2 to 4 years—instead of locking everything into a single year can remove unnecessary pressure and allow life to unfold more naturally.

Here’s how I create my Vision Board:

1. Define the life areas you want to focus on.
3–4 areas (maximum 5) are more than enough.

2. Clarify what you want to improve or experience in each area.
Ask yourself: What does my life look like there? For example, if it’s physical health—do you see yourself eating nourishing meals, exercising, spending time in nature, feeling energized? Like below 🙂

3. Use Pinterest.
Last year, I used random web images and Unsplash (a royalty-free image platform). But honestly, I missed so much by not using Pinterest.

Pinterest is a must—because your images need to evoke the exact feeling you want to experience. Over-perfect images can sometimes feel unrealistic to the brain. Pinterest is full of real people, real moments, and real lives—making it easier for your subconscious to believe.

4. Check how the images make you feel.
Some images may look perfect on the surface, but still make you feel uneasy or disconnected. Choose only the ones that make you feel good, grounded, and as if you’re already living that reality. Remember: it’s the feeling that attracts—not the image itself.

5. Bring it together.
You can use Canva or even a blank Google Slides deck. Play with image sizes, layer them, soften some in the background. Once it’s done, download it and set it as your background—on your laptop, phone, or iPad. Last year, I even printed mine on a physical canvas 🙂

So if you’re creating a Vision Board this year, let it be light. Let it be imperfect. Let it be playful. You’re not trying to force the future—you’re simply allowing yourself to feel at home in it. And when the feeling becomes familiar, life has a beautiful way of meeting you there.

With so much warmth & love ❤️🎄
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