Unlock Your Healing: How to Create a Vision Board with a Word of the Year for Intentional Growth

Welcome to Hey Tabi, the podcast where we say the hard things, out loud, with our actual lips. In this episode, host & licensed trauma therapist, Tabitha Westbrook, explores the transformative power of choosing a "Word of the Year" & creating vision boards to foster healing, hope, & intentionality.

Discover how these practices can help trauma survivors dream again, activate the Reticular Activating System (RAS) for growth, & shift from survival to thriving. Tabitha shares personal stories, practical tips, & reflective journaling prompts to guide you through finding your word and building a vision board that aligns with your faith and healing journey.

🔑 In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• How to choose a Word of the Year
• The science behind vision boards & how they reduce overwhelm & create clarity
• Steps to create a personalized vision board using simple tools or digital platforms
• Ways to incorporate hope & scripture into your planning for the year ahead.

✨ Highlights:

• “Choosing a Word of the Year can anchor your healing & growth.”
• “Vision boards activate your brain to notice opportunities & move toward them.”
• “This practice helps trauma survivors reconnect with their ability to hope & dream.”

💡 Plus: Download free journaling prompts to help you uncover your Word of the Year!

📖 Resources:
Grab the journaling prompts mentioned in this episode at TabithaWestbrook.com/HeyTabi.

🎧 Tune in now & take the first step toward a more intentional & hopeful year!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:41 Creating a Vision Board and Word of the Year
• 3:55 The Power of Visualization and Vision Boards
• 6:28 Choosing Your Word of the Year
• 10:01 Materials and Methods for Vision Boards
• 15:40 Reflecting and Revisiting Your Vision Board
• 20:58 Conclusion

Transcript

Welcome to Hey Tabi, the podcast where we talk about the hard things out loud with our actual lips. We'll cover all kinds of topics across the mental health spectrum, including how it intersects with the Christian faith. Nothing is off limits here and we are not "take two verses and call me in the morning."

I'm Tabitha Westbrook and I'm a licensed trauma therapist, but I'm not your trauma therapist. I'm an expert in domestic abuse and coercive control and how complex trauma impacts our health and wellbeing. Our focus here is knowledge and healing. Trauma doesn't have to eat your lunch forever. There is hope.
Now let's get going.

Welcome to this episode of Hey Tabi On this episode, we are going to talk about how we create a vision board and talking about words of the year. This is something that I started, gosh, it has now been like, I don't know, four or five years now. I think, I guess I've been pretty consistently doing a word of the year.
And I know but I actually have found it super helpful. So one of the things that I noticed is that when I set a word of the year, and I set the intention of doing that word of the year, or like I'm embracing that word, I guess is probably the best way to put it. I noticed that I move toward it.So for example, a year after I had a ton of really hard health issues, my word for the following year was restore. And that was a word that I kept coming back to in terms of working through healing and trying to be in a healthier physical place than I was the previous year, because the previous year was.

Honestly, quite rough.  more than most people ought to in a given year, basically. So it was really apropos that my word for the following year was restore. And I really did live into that word in a lot of ways.

And a lot was actually restored. Not just my Physical health in some ways, but also some other things in my personal life. And that was really awesome.
Another thing that the word of the year really lends itself nicely to is a vision board. And vision boards, again, have that same psychological anchor to say, here are the things that I would really like for the next year. Now, obviously we cannot predict everything. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, to be quite honest. But there are some things that we can sort of set an intention for. And I know that the Bible says that we may make the plans, but God really does order our steps. And that is true. This is not taking out the will of the Lord at all, but it is checking in with yourself about what do you desire? What do you hope if you're a trauma survivor, even thinking about desires and hopes may feel like I have just cursed at you because those words may feel very unsettling or very dangerous.
But I think this is an especially good exercise if you have experienced trauma, because it does help you learn how to dream again. God gives us good things. And I know that can be a really hard thing to kind of reconcile, feel like is even kind of true when you've been through trauma. And again, I'm not saying this is not name it and claim it or prosperity gospel stuff at all.

What I'm saying is we can actually just hope for good things. That's the thing, right? And that's really the essence of faith is hoping for something that hasn't happened yet. So this is just a really good exercise and it really presses into some healing and gives us this anchor for growth. So why do vision boards even matter?Well, when we visualize something, it really activates this part of our brain called The Reticular Activating System or the RAS. This helps you notice opportunities that are aligned with the places that you want to go. So if you start noticing, man, I would really love to go whitewater rafting. And that is something that is just important to you.

It is a goal that you have. You might start noticing ads for whitewater rafting sales, right? For guided expeditions. And I think that's fantastic. So that's something that you can really,  goal for, and then your brain's going to start looking for it. And that's really, really helpful.

Also, it really helps you move from just surviving to thriving. If you're a trauma survivor, I think as trauma survivors, we get so incredibly used to just making it through a day that we forget that there's another option, even in really hard times and suffering and things like that. Yeah. There are options for thriving now, they may not be what we want them to be.And that's a whole different podcast episode, but there are options to help you shift from just, I got to get through this to, Hey man, life could actually be really good. And also creating a visual plan helps really reduce overwhelm and it gives you clarity and hope. So when we things in a vision board and we put them down on paper in some way, then we can.

Kind of clarify things for ourselves and look at, Oh, this is where I want to go. It's like making a pictorial bullet list for your brain. And our brains really do like order versus chaos. Our God is a God of order that helps a ton. And there is. Hope in looking at a vision board and wanting good things.

And again, I know that hope can be such a dicey word, depending on where you are in your trauma journey. And I understand completely, but it is really important to have hope. And even if you don't get to do  everything on your vision board, or it doesn't all work out the way you hope, even if a little bit of it does, that can be very, very encouraging to someone who has literally just been in survival mode for forever.So this is something that I think can be super helpful in the healing process in general. So why do I start with a word of the year? Well, first of all, what is the word of the year? I talked to a little bit at the very beginning about that, but it's one intentional word that captures your desire to focus your healing or your growth area for the year.

So that could be any kind of word. It could be rest. It could be courage. I told you mine was restore.  which is  That like feeling that vibe, which I, it really just spoke to me.  as I was thinking about my word, it could be freedom. It could be faith. It could be any number of things.

So if you get out the dictionary and start flipping through the pages and a word really catches you, then that would be something that you might want to consider as your word of the year. And I also realized I just referenced pulling out a paper dictionary and flipping through actual pages. Maybe that's just me and I'm the only one that still owns paper dictionary, but I do love a good dictionary.But however you look up words, that might be a good way to do that. Another way to find the word is to reflect on the season of your life. What is God teaching you? What is it that you are feeling is like your lesson in this moment? one year, a friend of mine said that her word was trust, and she was real nervous about that because, you know, when we say trust, we feel like God is going to be like, all right, here we go.
And I do think that puts a little bit of a shady space on God, because we're expecting a total Job experience. And maybe that's what we'll get. And maybe we won't, but I think that, Hey, is there a word that maybe comes to mind from what I'm learning here.

Also journaling prompts. What do I need most in this season? Where do I feel God calling me toward? And that can be something that you can do. And I will have a little document in the show notes, a little PDF journaling prompt list that you can use if that is helpful to you. So feel free to go to the website and download that.You can also pray for guidance or reflect in silence. You know, I think we sometimes minimize prayer and asking God, honestly, but that is another option. Sometimes also free writing, just writing words can be another way to find the one that just lands on your heart.

And you can always. adjust it. So let's say you kind of tentatively pick a word or you have a few words that feel like maybe this could be the word of the year, just kind of like a paint swatch. Like when you're getting ready to paint a wall, sort of you put it on the wall and you see how it looks in different light and kind of do that with a word.

So if you have a few words that are coming to mind and resonating with you in some way, you could write them on post it notes, put them on your bathroom mirror and see which one you keep coming back to. And that can be a really helpful place as well to  pick the word. And again, I think with a lot of trauma survivors, we get into this place where it is like, it has to be the perfect word.It doesn't, it doesn't have to be perfect progress, not perfection always. So if you're like, all right, I picked a word. It feels pretty good. It's okay. If you change it in six months, that's not a big deal. Maybe your word is change. Maybe you'll change it 400 times over the year. Maybe you'll change it once a day, which would then be 365 days.

And that's totally fine. You do what works for you. So what do you need to create a vision board? Well, it's really simple. You can do it a million different ways. And honestly, sky's the limit. Like if you have the ability to create some gigantic art piece, then do exactly that. You can do whatever you want.

There's no limit here. You can do what works for you and you can just be wild with it, or you can be. Not wild at all. It's up to you completely. A lot of folks will get poster board, magazines, some sort of printed imagery, scissors, glue, markers, et cetera, those kinds of things. The very first vision board I ever did, I was way too afraid to draw anything or put stuff out on paper and all of that stuff that felt so incredibly intimidating to me that I was like, no, thank you.I'll be over here. So I actually used Canva, which is an online program. You can type in vision board templates and you'll actually get a few. It's really helpful. And that was like my first foray into doing a vision board because it felt more accessible to me at the time and less overwhelming. So whatever works for you is totally fine.

You can use pages out of a coloring book, can use words out of a book that you find in a thrift store that you don't mind tearing up. You can find,  magazines. You can actually go buy magazines for this. This was always one of the things I've never really had a ton of magazines around as an adult.

So it wasn't like, Oh, I can grab a stack. I don't have a stack, but you can also ask friends for them and say, Hey, do you have. Some magazines that you don't need that you wouldn't mind me cutting up and see if there's pictures in there can print pictures offline. If you want to do something in paper, if you like to draw, want to draw or paint, you can do all of those things.So anything that is a fit for you, you can totally do. You want to start by maybe placing your word at the center of the board. Now, again, This is totally up to you. You don't have to do it any particular way. You don't have to,  put it at the center. This is just a place to get you started. So you're going to do this.

However, it feels good to you and you can't mess it up. That's the most beautiful thing. However you do it, it will be perfect. And then you basically want to surround that word with images and words that represent your hopes, your goals, and your intentions. So, for example, one year, I definitely wanted to hike more.
That was a goal that I had. And so, in that vision board, I put a picture of me on the trail on a summer day looking really happy. And that just reminded me that I wanted to hike. One time, I used,  pictures of my feet,  like in my hiking shoes on the trail as an image of standing solid. And so you can really be creative with this in however is most comfortable to you.You want to include categories in this, like personal growth, your relationships, your overall health, mental health, and physical health. I know, again, these are things that for survivors are often not thought about because we are so used to putting ourselves on the back burner. But caring for ourselves well is actually part of something that the Lord desires for us.

So I want to encourage you that this might be a stretching for you, and that's totally great, and you can totally do that. You can also include categories like spirituality and creativity. The sky is the limit, but those are some great places to start. So I'll just repeat them for you. Personal growth, your relationships, your health, both physical and mental, your spirituality and creativity are all really excellent categories for you to have.

If there are scriptures that affirm those things for you, or that resonate with your word, or that you just really love, you can also include that. So if you are a Bible doodler or, you know, any kind of person that wants to like, Do you calligraphy or script? That's great. If you're not that person, you can print it out and glue it down.And that works just as well. You really want this process to be reflective and therapeutic. So you want to take your time with it. Don't just try to rush through it and get it done because you're like, Oh, this is a good thing to do. So I'm going to go do it. Right. Really kind of sit with it and sit with the words and the images and try to let your body feel as much of it as you can.

And that's going to help it really take root. And also it kind of just helps you slow down and think it through again, progress, not perfection. This doesn't have to look a certain way. You never have to show it to another living soul. If you don't want to, you can just do it for you and it can just be yours, right?

This isn't for production or Anything that anyone has to see. So really take your time and focus on the meaning. And I think that will really help kind of reduce that pressure of, Oh my gosh, am I getting this right or whatnot? So once you have your vision board complete, and again, you don't have to do it all in one sitting.It might take a few days. You might want to let it marinate a little bit. It's really up to you. I have done them in multiple ways. I've done them in one sitting with a group. I've done them over a week. Individually, I have done them over a month at times where I'm really wrestling with the word and what it means to me and how I want it to look or considering things for the following year.

All of those things are fine. Once you're done though, you want to place it where you can see it every single day. You can do that a bunch of different ways. And again, you don't have to share this with anyone. So if you live with other people, The place you can see it, but maybe not that your kids will walk by or something, if that is uncomfortable to you.

For me, I tend to put it up in my bedroom because that's just a good place. I'm always in there at least once a day. And because I do travel quite a bit, I actually will take a picture of it and put it on my phone. And that way I can go to, to have it in its own album, which is a vision board album. And I can look at my vision board and go, okay, Where am I at?I want to really just make sure that I am walking in the direction this year. That is really important to me. And you really do want to regularly revisit it. Do it at least once a month. Sometimes it's really good to put like a calendar reminder or some sort of alarm that says, Hey, check in with your word of the year because we forget, right?

We get. Busy life gets, well, life gets lifey. Let's just be honest about that. And it can be really helpful and grounding to go back to that word every single, you know, month and go, where am I at? How am I moving toward it? Am I moving toward it? Does this word still fit? Again, can always change the word if you need to.
Is there something I need to shift or adjust? You can also take the time to journal about it. How is this word guiding your steps this year? So for me, again, my word this year is resonance. And if I consider how is this word guiding my steps, I want to know, am I in alignment, right?Resonance to me, It feels very much like a rhythm, like a vibration in some ways. I know that probably sounds a little woo woo for some, but for me, it's a rhythm. So am I in good rhythm in all the parts of my life? Is everything vibing? Am I taking time for self care? Am I caring well for others in that process?

What does this look like for me? And so I'm gonna just check in and see how I'm doing in that process. And then again, I'm going to adjust, I'm going to shift where I need to shift. I'm going to do what I need to do, and it will be awesome. And again, this just brings in hope, right? God talks about us hoping, and he is our ultimate hope.

And all the good things are from him. And I think that honestly, it just gives us an opportunity again, to just to hang out with him and go, all right, Lord, this is my word. Tell me a little bit more about this. one a year, my word was heal. And I sat down with that word and I was like, Lord, there seems to be so much that needs to be healed, both in my soul and my life.Like, I feel like I am not getting anywhere with any of it. And it just really gave me. An opportunity to hang out with him and just talk with him. And I know that depending on what your traumatic experiences have been and whether or not spiritual abuse was involved for you, that having a really frank conversation with God might feel super scary.

And what I'll tell you is this, and that. He is not mad when you talk to him. And sometimes we have to disentangle ourselves from the theology that an abuser maybe spoke over us. That looks absolutely nothing like God at all, frankly, if I'm being real honest with that. So if that's hard for you, that's okay.

You are where you are. If there is a really deep struggle there, you might benefit from talking it out with a therapist. Totally get that as well. And you don't have to like talk to the Lord in King James either. Like he's okay with wherever you are, but it is an opportunity to sit with him. You just go, Hey, I have questions.God, I need some stuff. So I want to just encourage you in this space as you choose your word to just Sit comfortably, right? Maybe doodle it. You know, as you kind of are settling in with it, but it is such a good practice in terms of learning to hope, learning to have dreams for the future or engaging in that practice.
Again, so much gets taken from us when we have experienced trauma, that is really helpful to do these things because they do stretch our hope muscle, if you will. And that's important, you know, traumatic events, steal our hope. Very much because we've been in really hard places. And when we are dealing, especially if we're dealing with like complex trauma that has been going on forever, and it was really bad, then this might seem very much like a pipe dream and things that you just don't even know how to deal with anymore.

But I want to encourage you to give it a try. It is something that. Might just be way more valuable than you've ever thought if you've never done it before, or if it is a practice that maybe you've set aside and haven't done in a bit, maybe now is a good time to invite yourself back in. So with that, I'm going to end us today with just a little bit of a mindful moment together.For the folks who have been in the faith based advocacy class with me, you know, that I do this often we do lots of grounding breaks in there, which is amazing. because I know I've brought up words that maybe were hard for you, honestly, hope and desire and future and dreams can be such big, hard words, depending on where you are in your journey.
And I just want to honor that with you. So I'm gonna invite you. If you're comfortable, you don't have to do anything. Of course, everything that I ever will talk about or, So if you are comfortable, I'm going to invite you to just put a hand on your chest, either hand does not matter which one, just take a couple of deep breaths with me and breathe in through our nose and out through our mouth
and breathe in a big exhale, one more big, deep breath.

And a big exhale. If you're noticing some energy in your body, you can give it a wiggle. Sometimes that is really helpful as we are kind of moving through things is to actually move our physical bodies. I want to say thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Hey Tabi. Don't forget to grab your journal prompts.If you're struggling to come up with your word, I will have a link in the show notes, and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. 

Thanks for joining me for today's episode of Hey Tabi. If you're looking for a resource that I mentioned in the show, and you want to check out the show notes, head on over to Tabitha Westbrook. com forward slash Hey Tabi, that's H E Y T A B I, and you can grab it there. I look forward to seeing you next time.