Blogmas Day 6.
I have a deadline to meet.
It’s this Wednesday and I could possibly have met the deadline tonight but I am a natural procrastinator*. When I was at Secondary school, I first came across the quote “If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done” and at the time nothing rang truer for me and I adopted it as part of my identity. That’s no longer completely true as I’ve been really working on that over the last few years. I’ll go into that in more detail in a future blog. No, the irony of that last statement is not lost on me.
Feeling crafty?
The task at hand it actually a fun and fulfilling one. The homework set last week on my presenter course from Disruptive Talent Group was to create a vision board. I know it will be fun and fulfilling as I’ve done one before. It took me a while to get started last time. I carefully searched and selected images from the internet and printed them off. I’ve never been much of a ‘crafty’ person and I haven’t been in possession of magazines for years.
My natural medium for creative expression is good old fashioned, pen to paper writing so making a visual representation of myself and my hopes and dreams was really different. In fact, I’ve only just began to claim the adjective ‘creative’ in describing myself. There could be a lot of reasons for that but if in doubt, blame the parents.
Growing up, my Jamaican born mother never encouraged the arts or, more specifically, Art. “Why take a GSCE in Art? You can draw at home!” My GCSEs and A’Levels were all very science heavy but that was ok. I pretty much loved all my academic subjects and, to be fair, Art didn’t love me back. I couldn’t draw for s***.
But back to the vision board. Once I bought my large IKEA picture frame and set aside a time slot to put all my collected images together, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was an exciting activity to do – like I was literally creating the best life that I wanted to live. When it was complete, I couldn’t stop looking at it and admiring it. I was beaming. I took a photograph of it and sent it to a handful of loved ones in my inner circle before hanging it on my bedroom wall where it could be the first and last thing I saw from my bed.
That was at the beginning of 2019. 2019 was lit.
I’d already agreed, after a prompting from God the previous year, that if a door of opportunity opened, I’d walk through it. This meant that I said yes to a lot of things I might not necessarily have done before. The year was super busy and I was often out of my comfort zone but, my goodness, was it rewarding. Giving talks at a summit, hosting a live album launch and starting a podcast were just some of my firsts. It was also the year I went to my first ever open audition which led to my radio presenting job at the BBC.
I asked my sister to take this photo of me on the 30th December 2018. It had always been a dream to work for the BBC but I had absolutely no idea how I could get in with no experience and no contacts. This image didn’t even make it into my vision board frame (I was dreaming CRAZY big) but I blue-tacked in just underneath as it was definitely worthy of being there and would be incredible. To think that in less than a year I recorded and broadcasted my first show from here less than 12 months later still blows my mind.
2020 Vision. What could possibly go wrong?
I had every intention of making a new vision board at the beginning of 2020 but I was still so busy from the tail end of 2019. My regular day job in education was also insanely busy and if I’m honest, I was really becoming overwhelmed. If only something could have happened that year that would give me a chance to stop and reflect on all this change in my life…
Fast forward to 2021, I don’t think many people were too huge on setting plans for the future as life proved itself somewhat unpredictable. My 2019 vision board is still up but some of the images have slipped and the whole thing needs updating. This homework exercise has come right on time. I’m ready to stretch my imagination and hopes once more and really dream. I know how powerful it can be.
Anyone care to join me?
*A procrastinator in recovery. I don’t claim that as my identity. See that? That’s GROWTH, baby.
Grace Smith Speaks 