Do you and your partner have a shared vision for the future for your family? It can be so helpful to know what you’re building together to bring focus and energy to your decision making.

Here is a story of how we do our family visioning:

Over the recent May bank holiday, my husband and I did a 13 mile walk across the South Downs from Lewes to Seaford. We did it as a way of having some space without the kids to think about what we want the next 10 years of our lives to look and feel like. We’ve both been quite focused on our work recently and felt we needed to reconnect to and update our vision for life and family stuff now our girls are 5 and 7 and we’re fully in the school chapter, for the next 10 years at least!

As I know from my work, one of the best ways to keep moving forward is to physically move our bodies. So we walked and talked, asking each other questions, loosely following some themes (see tips below) and it all just flowed out of us in a pretty coherent and aligned way. We do talk about this stuff fairly regularly but never seem to have the space in the day-to-day to discuss the full picture. So 5 hours of dedicated talking time in nature was what we needed!

Tips from how we did it:

  • We downloaded a route that was easy to follow on a phone. Because walking A to B felt important to represent a journey we found a route where we could take the train back
  • We thought about the next 10 years referencing upcoming milestones in our lives (significant birthdays, the age of our kids and their transitions, the number of summer holidays/ opportunities for adventures, where we hope our businesses/ careers will be etc to make it tangible and to support our thinking)
  • We referenced ‘The Wheel of Life’ for themes to check we’d covered the bases
  • We didn’t take notes while we were walking but wrote it up that evening and between us were able to remember the relevant bits
  • We brought snacks and lunch with us
  • And we carried swimmers to go for a dip in the sea at the end!

 

Setting intentions, creating vision boards and having a few headline statements of a vision as memorable shortcuts seem to really work for me – and my clients. This experience has left me feeling excited about the possibilities and feeling like we have some momentum towards what we want!

Is this something you do with your partner, or you would do? As we head into summer, now is a great time to give it a go!

If you would like to experience a visioning walk with me to get clear on your own vision before speaking to your partner, please get in touch via my profile page or book a free discovery call!

This article was written by  Georgina Gray one of our partner coaches who supports women who walk with working mums, literally (on coaching walks in nature) and metaphorically, offering creativity, compassion and challenge to help you lead a more authentic, intentional and values-aligned business/ life. You can get in touch via her profile page. 

May 31, 2024