I’m not entirely sure why, but I decided to make a vision board for 2026. A friend told me hers worked wonders in 2022 so you never know your luck.

Google told me a vision board is a “collage of images and words representing a person’s wishes or goals, intended to serve as inspiration or motivation.” It also gave the example of:

“on her vision board she put a log cabin, a sailboat, a red car, and a man and woman dancing on a white carpet”. I spent far too long thinking that a white carpet was never a good idea and shouldn’t be on anyone’s vision board, and that the person in question must have been quite materialistic. It took a mince pie and a coffee to refocus.

Anyway, I’m currently thinking a personalised much more sensible vision board is both a great idea and a disaster waiting to happen – but you have to try new things I guess.

The first new thing I tried was ‘Canva’ which lost my vision board when I was three quarters finished visioning. It took me a while to remember what I put on the original vision board which probably shouldn’t have happened – I ought to have imprinted my vision in my brain before I started to virtually glue images of pickle board to a collage.

I’ve gone pretty small by other people’s standards I’m sure. There’s no lottery win or marathon medal pictured. Instead I’ve envisaged holidays – you never know your luck – and my usual ’embedding good habits’ (although if they haven’t been embedded after 50 years I feel they are probably forever destined to be floating about). I’ve envisaged seeing friends and family loads, taking another qualification and managing to have some money in the bank.

I figured it would be against the rules to vision Phoebe getting into drama school, or Tilly still enjoying uni on my board because these are one step removed visions – so I cheated and put “supporting our successful happy children” because that way they have to be both happy and successful at whatever they fancy, and we are also able to support them, so triple whammy. I’ve tricked the visualising system.

I also included a picture of clothes on it along with the phrase “fashion icon” largely because it was already there on the template and I couldn’t work out how to remove it.

Finally, I bravely put a picture of a pen, and another of myself reading something aloud at open mic night on it. I’ve done it a couple of times so I can do it again, maybe next time without wobbling, and having remembered my reading glasses. I will print the vision board out when we have some ink (note to self: include ‘never run out of printer ink on vision board’) and stick it on my office wall next to a magnetic positive avocado I got free with three packets of collagen.

Of course a vision can be undone in a second. Goals can be derailed, or frankly just not matter one tiny bit anymore. There was loads of awful shit last year that wouldn’t have been helped with a vision board of any kind. I could have just put a big picture of a cake and a slogan “make it through one day after another x 365” which is really all any of us do and was certainly our achievement in 2025.

Worst case scenario I tear up the vision board and use it to light a barbeque. Or maybe it will actually encourage me to become a fashion icon and take up pickle ball – neither of which would be a bad thing.

Visions for 2026 anyone?