Every year in December, I concoct a mental vision board.
I am currently on my honeymoon, gorgeous Costa Rica, and I have created quite the list of intentions for 2025. I have started to write them down (I believe in lists and taking notes), as well as mapping out way that I will achieve them. I also believe in roadmaps, in case you are new here.
This is, after all, a blog about building dreams. You can’t just envision them and then do nothing. Action is just as important as the vision. It creates momentum and energy, even when the motivation isn’t there.
There is something about being beach side that seems to bring my mind and heart to a place where it can calm itself and visualize a future. I wish you were sitting right next to me on the patio where I am currently, feel the breeze and breathe in the blend of fresh air and the salty ocean. Intoxicating.
As I sit here, my mind is wandering a bit to the next year and what it is that I want to see, do, accomplish. My word for 2024 was "Create". I wanted to:
Create a new life.
Create a new path.
Create something beautiful.
I believe this last year reflected my word choice. I spent the majority of the year studying to set my own trail in a new career path. This was probably my most challenging year ever, mentally and emotionally. I absolutely experienced periods of being low in my spirit. It affected my personality and my relationships. There were plenty of moments where I just wanted to throw in the towel and just go back to what I was doing before.
However, there is something to be said about pushing through the challenges. Now I am working again in the field I worked so hard to get to. I still have one more exam to get through, but that will be finished early 2025.
I also set out to create a home and a new life for myself and for my family. My fiance is now my husband. We got married in September of 2024. Our children are with us. Together, we have created a home, space and provided opportunities for our kids to flourish and be themselves, and grow in to the women and man God designed them to be. They were made for more, and both Bill and I believe that we should do all we can to assist them. We may not be able to do everything for them (nor should we), but we are there and present for them as they learn, make mistakes, and discover for themselves what is possible.
In September of 2024, just before our wedding, I joined in with Hope Books to collaborate on a book they are publishing titled: Rising Above: Stories of Overcoming. I will be contributing a chapter and it is set to be released in February 2025. I have dreamed of writing and being an author since the 2000s. This is literally wild and the experience of writing my chapter and having someone review, edit and offer constructive criticism has been very educational and eye-opening for me.
I feel good about how 2024 has gone. I am eager for more, especially in 2025. I have an idea of what my word will be for next year, what my intentions will be....based off of the list I have already created in my mind and in my notes app.
As you reflect on this past year for yourself, what stands out to you the most? Did you choose a word for 2024? If so, what was it and how did your word show up in this year? If you could choose, would you do it the same way? Or would you want a do-over? For some, I imagine, this year was heartbreakingly painful. For others, better than they could have ever dreamed possible. Everyone has their own story, their own recollection.
I would love to hear your thoughts. I hope that you are dreaming and thinking of how you want your next year to look, and I pray that you are able to reflect on the good and the momentous of your 2024. Even if it proved to be challenging, I believe that we can find the beauty and the lesson in every circumstance. God is not a God of waste. He does not discard us when we are at our lowest. He is good, compassionate, merciful, just, loving and the giver of good gifts.
Rooting you on!
Your Dream BuildHer Bestie,
Tiffany Rhea
If you have
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