Tomar Thomas: Manifesting Your Dream Life
Written By: Tomar Thomas
I’d definitely say I was a pessimist growing up.
I always tried to prepare myself for the worst so when the worst came I wasn’t nearly as disappointed. This applied to my grades in school, dating, or just about anything that could result in disappointment, heartbreak, or failure. This mindset stayed with me into college as I tried to survive nursing school and being a student athlete.
I finally decided at the age of 23 that I wanted more out of life.
I was not fulfilled and my pessimistic mindset did not necessarily lighten the blow of failure. So in January 2021, I decided to create a vision board of all of my goals and set a mission to accomplish them by December 31st, 2021.
MY STRATEGY
My vision board consisted of photos and words that represented my short and long-term goals for the year. I placed my vision board on my phone and computer screen as a constant reminder of the things I was working towards. Now to be clear, I did not plan out every finite detail of how I would reach these goals, but I knew for sure I would achieve them by the grace of God. I’m sure you’re probably wondering what exactly those goals were, and it would take way too long to list them all, but at the top of this list would be graduating nursing school and reaching 10k followers on Instagram. To paint the picture for you, I was on track to graduate nursing school in the middle of a pandemic and I had just under 2k followers on Instagram at the time.
PASSION
Now placing a bunch of aesthetically pleasing photos and words together doesn’t just magically open the gates to heaven. You have to actively work towards making these dreams a reality, and put your passion behind these efforts. Not only did I hustle to balance being a full-time nursing student and content creator, but I believed deep down in my heart that if I wanted it bad enough God would provide for me. I constantly spoke about things as if they already happened. “I’m so grateful to be done with school and be a registered nurse.” “Thank you for ten thousand Instagram friends.”
It sounds so silly to say out loud, but when you believe it, things just align the way they are meant to.
OVERCOMING DISAPPOINTMENT
Even with this new mindset, everyone has bad days! What got me through these bad days was remembering that I am so blessed. I am surrounded by the most amazing and supportive people. They believe in me and will be there for me no matter whether I am successful or not. Secondly, when things don’t necessarily go according to plan, remember the purpose behind the goal and know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. I love remembering that my timing isn’t the end all be all. Sometimes the extra journey it takes to reach those goals adds extra appreciation once you finally accomplish what you set out to do, and in some cases your accomplishments surpass your expectation.
Lastly, appreciating the small things is so important. Having life, health, physical health, your five senses, a roof, clothes, a job, etc. These are small things that we take for granted every day and remembering that not everyone has these luxuries day to day is so humbling. I also feel that being grateful for the little things allows you to appreciate the larger successes so much more!
ALLOWING THE UNIVERSE TO DO THE REST
I am sure you are probably wondering if I happened to check every box off of my vision board and the answer is no. However, I achieved both goals at the top of my list and that is what I wanted the most!
The story
It was October and at that point in time I had grown my Instagram account by about 500+ people in 10 months. People thought I was insane to think I would reach my goal of 10k by December, but I still believed wholeheartedly that I could make it happen. Then one day a creator that I admired and had been following for years reposted my account on her profile and shared how much she admired my content. In 24 hours, my account grew from 2k to 8k. I was in absolute shock. No warning. No context. No reason. She just shared out of the kindness of her heart and if that isn’t an unexplainable coincidence I don’t know what is. Following this, a few reels of mine went viral out of nowhere and by December 31st my Instagram account was just shy of 20k followers.
As for nursing school, I finished my last clinical rotation on December 3rd, 2021. I spent countless hours studying and doing practice questions to prepare for my exit exam. On December 13th, 2021 at 8 am, I completed my 180 question exit exam from nursing school and immediately after I was brought into a room with our President to be informed that I had passed and had officially completed my Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Do I believe I could have accomplished these things without a vision board, absolutely. However, so many people make new year’s resolutions and by the end of January life takes over and those goals get pushed to the back of their your minds. Creating a visible board provides a constant reminder of what you want to prioritize for the year even as life takes over.
So I challenge you to, *insert your story here*
