Life can feel overwhelming at times, especially when you’re living with chronic pain. You may feel like there’s no point in setting goals because your chronic pain makes it so hard to reach them. However, making a vision or dream board for success can help you achieve goals that you never thought were possible.
How Does It Work?
When you create a dream board, you think about the goals you want to achieve, and most importantly, how you want to feel. It’s a powerful visual that helps you focus on the positive goals you want to reach. Remember, the brain can only handle one thought at a time, so consider giving it a positive thought.
What Goes on a Dream Board?
You can choose whatever inspires and motivates you. Think of your board as the ideas and feelings that you want to bring to life in your own life.
Consider your goals in a few areas:
- Relationships
- Career and finances
- Home
- Travel
- Personal growth
- Health
It’s okay if you don’t cover each area with the same detail. You might have more goals in certain areas and not as many in others. The first step is to think about these areas, and what you want them to look like over the next year. Write down your goals for each area, and start visualizing your board.
You might be surprised at how quickly your dream board takes shape. As you focus on each area of your life, your board may expand. You might include photos, inspiring quotes, pictures of places you want to visit, recipes you want to try and more. These are your dreams, so make the board a reflection of yourself and what inspires you.
Should You Have More Than One Dream Board?
That’s up to you. If you want to have a main board that branches into smaller ones, that’s completely fine. As you think about your goals and how you want to feel, more boards may develop.
Consider leaving a blank space on your dream board for anything that you want to add over the year. Keep track of your goals and how you feel throughout the year by writing in your journal.
How Can a Dream Board Help with Chronic Pain?
While dreaming and setting goals won’t stop chronic pain, it may help you set attainable goals—both big and small. For example, many people with chronic pain find traveling to be difficult. However, if traveling is a passion of yours, you can add it to your dream board with ideas for how to reach that goal.
For example, people with chronic pain often find it hard to fly. You could add flying to your favorite city or state to your dream board as your goal. Then add learn stretching techniques for flying, tips to balance activity with rest and places you love to see. Soon, you’ll be able to visualize the positive aspects of traveling with techniques to keep you more comfortable.
Maybe your biggest goal is to eat healthier to reduce inflammation. You can add your goal to your board and then include motivational quotes, healthy recipes you’ve always wanted to try and new gentle exercises to try.
Your board is yours, so you can add whatever you want to it. Ask your spouse or a close friend to make one with you, and have a vision board party. It’ll be a fun way to set personal goals with someone you enjoy being with.
Remember, once you have set your goals, you also need to take steps to work toward accomplishing them. Set the intention, then try to do at least one thing each day, big or small, to work toward achieving that goal.
In addition, dream boards could provide you with new coping strategies for living with chronic pain. Making a board helps you set positive goals, visualize what you want to feel and helps you achieve your goals throughout the year.
