If you do a good job vision-setting, your vision will seem a bit outrageous--that's because when you are truly planning for the future, you are planning for a time that is not here--a time that you will predict will happen.
In the past, as I've recounted before, I'd pretend to be a teacher long before I was a teacher. I'd dream of being a mother and owning a home, long before I was a mother or owned a home, and now I dream of being a grandmother, a mother-in-law, a gardener, and a community worker. I see many ways that this vision will come to life and wonder about the particulars.
Grandmother
Whether it is the children of my children or other children I nurture, I am preparing for the role of grandmother. As I shore up my home, I'm keeping the best old toys, games, and books to share with my future grandchildren. I'm holding on to treasured baby blankets and preparing bedrooms for grandbabies' visits. I'm not ready for this role yet as I have some preparation to do, but just as I felt when I desired to be a mother, I'm readying for the role with a number of tasks.
Mother-in-law
My boys are involved in serious relationships. One is getting married soon. I will be a mother-in-law. I grew to respect my mother-in-law greatly over time. Still today, I carry on many of the lessons I learned from her, and in recent years as I've become a mother of adult children, I understand my mother-in-law's choices and lifestyle more. Often I feel as if she's looking over my shoulder when I entertain, talk to my sons, or make life decisions.
Like my mother-in-law, I want to have a warm, welcoming home where people congregate at holidays to enjoy one another's company. Like her, I also want to celebrate my loved one's special events in life and be there for them when they need me or when I have something that will help them.
As a mother-in-law and mother, I want to respect my adult children's and their loved ones' paths and decisions in life, and as my own mom would always say, let them live their own life. My mom was always fiercely independent and fostered independence in many ways.
Community Worker
Once I complete the laundry list of overdue jobs I'm working at now, I'll start researching how I'll support my community in a meaningful way. I'm currently reading articles about that, and will likely find a position that fits my skills and desire to serve in some way.
Gardener
When I fell into the compost heap last spring, I questioned my quest to garden more. Yet, day after day when I've brought fresh veggies and beautiful flowers into the house, I realized that gardening truly adds value to your life, nutrition to your diet, and beauty to your home. Hence I'll work to garden more and better in the days ahead beginning with shoring up the compost heap, planting some tulip bulbs in porch containers, and starting my hydroponic indoor garden to add greens to my home and table this winter.
I am also working to make my lifestyle and home more sustainable, and will likely get more involved in local environmental activities in time.
Since vision is intangible, it can be difficult to trust or take seriously, but I know that taking your vision seriously holds great value for a good life.