While there are so many different themes to choose from for your vision board, self-care might be the one most of us need. Self-care has a deep and rich history that many of us do not know about, but we should.
So let’s examine the origins of the term “self-care” and how we can apply this to a self-care vision board for the year 2026!
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*Disclaimer: I am human. I write from the heart and from experience: not to suit any algorithm or perfectly curated feed.
What Is a Vision Board?
A vision board is a simple or complex collection of images, words, and symbols that evoke an emotional response from us. They’re designed to help us feel excited about our goals, but to preemptively feel gratitude for achieving that goal or receiving that thing!
Vision boards have been around a while, and they help with both our subconscious (aligning our vibration with receiving our desires) and our conscious (the action we take toward our goals.) This is good for both active and passive manifestation.
What is Self Care?
It is so important in the days of white-washed, capitalist BS “self care = bubble baths” to remember the origins and roots of the term self-care. Self-care originally came from the Black, lesbian writer Audre Lorde in the 1980s. She said:
Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.
Essentially, the systems that oppress us want us to be beaten down because we’re easier to control. This system relies on the exploitation of our labor. Think: the enslavement of Black people for a good portion of American history, or the unpaid labor of women through the post-war years.
Therefore, loving and caring for ourselves is a radical act. Setting boundaries is a radical act! Prioritizing our own needs in a world that wants to suck us dry of all our time, energy, and resources in sacrifice to The Man is a way to fight back.
These are the true beginnings of self-care, and if your definition of self-care does not include those points, it is incomplete.
Just to be clear, caring for yourself can still include bubble baths and a glass of wine! It can still feel luxurious or indulgent! But don’t lose sight of the bigger picture:
The need for self-care doesn’t mean that you’re broken… it means the system is broken and needs repair for the sake of everyone!
Self-Care Is Collective
In addition to self-care being radical acts of political warfare, Audre Lorde believed that without community, self-care was incomplete.
Self-care is meant to be collective. The last paragraph in the above-linked article is stunningly powerful:
Self-care doesn’t have to cost a thing. It can look like pursuing connection and community, mutual aid, supportive and reciprocal relationships, self-reflection journaling, validating feelings in a vulnerable conversation, setting boundaries, listening to your body, meditation, resting without justification or reason, feeding your friends, reading for pleasure, spending time in nature, quiet moments, crying, cultivating joy, practicing peace etc. Self-care is anything that gives you a way to reconnect with yourself and your community in meaningful, long-term ways that nurture our individual welfare and gives us the power to survive and continue to do the collective work.
In other words, self-care is a natural part of life when you honor yourself and your community.
Look to your past: What stops you from practicing good self-care?
For me, I see the patriarchal, capitalist structures that were present in my childhood than made me believe my job was to serve others, make myself small, and deny my feelings. My father, for all the good things he was, was regularly invalidating. When I would ask for help or express an emotion, his “go-to” response was, “Life’s a bitch, ain’t it?!”
It taught me to suppress my needs or my desire to reach out to others for help. Self-reliance is not a positive quality, it is the result of being consistently denied.
Patriarchy asks women to submit, to allow men to take the lead (look at all the good it’s gotten us, insert eye-roll here), and generally stifle our own needs.
So I encourage you to take a moment and take a look into your childhood or your past. What kinds of structures encouraged you to push aside your own needs? What situations made you feel as if your needs weren’t valid?
Extending Self-Care to Others
In this line of thinking, you may realize a time that you gave another woman a side-eye over prioritizing her own needs. Women who get their nails done are called high-maintenance. Women who take time to read in the evening instead of cleaning are called lazy. You may have even used these terms to describe others.
It’s not a new phenomenon. Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes wrote in depth about this in her book Women Who Run with the Wolves; The Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype (not an affiliate link).
Self-care means seeing yourself in the “other.” Even if someone in your community doesn’t have the same priorities as you, that doesn’t mean those priorities are invalid.
Check yourself when you’re being judgmental and instead, praise and celebration that self-care! Women should practice self-care collectively.
Not feeling the self-care vision board thing? Here are 20 other vision board theme ideas!
Craft Your Self-Care Vision Board in 10 Steps
To recap, self-care needs to be rooted in both our sovereignty and our community. It needs to utilize our desire to center ourselves and our communities over the broken system that tries to hold us hostage.
Here are 10 detailed steps to creating your self-care vision board!
1. Envision your needs and write them down.
Remember, if you take care of yourself with a bath, or listening to an audiobook, or a relaxing night with a glass of wine, those things are valid!
But dig deeper. What sorts of things exist in your life that are creating these needs? Are you over-extended at work? Are you in a relationship that needs closer examination? Do you need time for spiritual self-care?
Only you can decide what things in your life are causing your need for self-care, so be thorough!
Also, don’t forget to include what you need from your community and from others. Do you need help with child-care? Do you need deeper connection with friends and more social self-care?
3. Brainstorm what you have to give to your community
One teacher I used to work with used the following phrase in her classroom: “See a need, fill a need.”
Now, this can absolutely encourage you to overextend yourself if you’re someone who sees things that need filled all over! So please be careful!
However, if you have something in abundance in your life, ask yourself, how can I use this over-abundance to share with others?
Maybe you are abundantly positive! Share compliments and positive words with the people in your environment!
Maybe you’re a great listener and have some time. Allow someone to share their burdens with you (protect yourself against negative energy, of course!).
Perhaps you’re excellent at setting boundaries! Maybe a younger coworker could use your help, assistance, and modeling at setting boundaries with the boss!
As Toni Morrison said,
The function of freedom is to free someone else.
Remember that your self-care extends to your community. You don’t have to be beholden to it. You don’t have to sacrifice your well-being. But when you have the time and energy to give, teach others how to care for themselves.
Self-care goes both ways! Write down your ideas!
4. Come up with some vision board words
Try to work with emotions or adjectives like:
- bliss
- heavenly
- deeply connected
- luxurious
- warmth
- vulnerability
- love
- pleasure
- sensual
- deeply relaxed
- art
- creative
Anything that makes you feel, deeply, those relaxed inner states is a good choice! Self-care encompasses a wide range of behaviors and areas, so this list is not anywhere near comprehensive! Get creative as you imagine the amazing ways you will feel when you have your needs met!
5. Find images that align to your needs, boundaries, desires, and things to share with others
The images that you include on your vision board should always be powerful! So choose images that really make you feel elevated emotions like the ones that you came up with above!
Just for clarification, let’s look at two different images. The first one, I searched on Canva for the keyword “woman relaxing on couch.” This was the first image.
The second image came from the keyword “woman relaxing in morning with coffee.” This was a few images down from the top, and the interesting thing is that it doesn’t even contain a person in it!
Usually, I prefer pictures with people in them who can show expression on their faces. In the first image, the woman is lounging, but I don’t think being on your phone doom-scrolling counts as self-care.
The second image doesn’t have a person in it, but it is SO much more sensorily stimulating! I can smell the bitterness of the coffee! I can smell the sweetness and cinnamon of the muffin. I can feel the softness of the blanket. I can see the morning light diffusing through the window! I can feel the pen in my hands as I start to write!
That first image is so flat! It doesn’t make me feel anything. The second, however, feels luxurious, and I don’t even have to spend any money to achieve it in my own life! Fantastic!
Try to find images for everything you’ve brainstormed, but make sure they’re framed as positive. You want to picture yourself in that image, so there should never be any loss or want or need. In the images, your needs and desires are all perfectly filled!
6. Print and compile your vision board
Once you have compiled and printed your vision board image and words, it’s time to cut them out and put them on whatever board you’ve chosen in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
I like to use Canva for putting together images and printing them out. They have tons of fonts (even for free users) and you can really get creative!
If you’re using a personal printer, 8.5×11″ is the standard size, make your images somewhat small if you have a lot of them, and then cut with a straight-edge cutter.
Take a look at my New Year’s Vision Board post for more info on all the details of putting your board together!
7. Consider adding some affirmations
Affirmations are always a fantastic way to stay in a positive frame of mind when working with your mindset and transforming your life.
Try these powerful, positive, present tense affirmations for self-care, or write some of your own!
- I nourish my body, mind, and spirit with deep care.
- My rest is sacred, nourishing, and empowering.
- I thrive when I listen to my needs and answer them with love.
- Every choice for my well-being strengthens my freedom.
- I am worthy of time, space, and tenderness.
- My self-care fuels my creativity and my joy.
- I radiate strength when I nurture myself fully.
- Every boundary I set supports my peace and wholeness.
- I am abundant in energy, rest, and care.
- When I choose myself, I choose life, power, and possibility.
8. Look at your board every day and visualize yourself there
Imagine a world where you have all your needs met, where you can get to a place of relaxation easily!
Yes, life is hard, and we don’t often have the time, money, resources, and help we need to make our lives the shining perfection we want!
At the root of self-care is political resistance, and when you practice self-care, you’re helping to change the system for the better for future generations.
NARRATIVE:
My Self-Care Vision Board
When I began brainstorming for my self-care vision board, I realized that most of my self-cares needs are related to my sensory functions. I was recently diagnosed as having ADHD, and I’ve struggled with sensory issues my whole life.
I frequently get overstimulated and need regular breaks. I have very specific color needs: red, orange, and yellow are too overstimulating. I also prefer diffused light or yellow light at nighttime.
Sensory experiences like baths, creamy drinks, chocolate, and the sound of rain are very soothing to me and contribute to my self-care. I also like chocolate for that hit of dopamine.
I also prefer being out in nature as part of my self-care.
After making these realizations, I found images that were soothing for me, printed them, chose a few affirmations and words, and went to town!
Here’s my final result:
We’ll see how this board helps me visualize self-care and my sensory needs!
Conclusion
A self-care vision board can be an eye opening way to prioritize yourself in a world that prefer you stay sick, dumb, and insignificant so it can capitalize on you. You’re human and you’re worth more than our oppressive system wants you to believe.
So when you care for yourself and your community, it is an act of resistance, of rebellion, of political warfare.
Are you going to make a self-care vision board for this year?!
Please feel free to share with me in the comments below!