Cape Town – Self-care coach Dhanusha Dhoorgalu and life coach Lelethu “Lele” Shabangu have collaborated to host a Vision Board Workshop in Cape Town early next year. The now sold out workshop themed DREAM BIG will take place on the 28th of January at 9h30 to 13h30 at Little Stream, Constantia.
The two share that they met at a speaking event where they were two of four speakers. We chuckle as they try to figure out whether that was a year or two ago. But eventually, they can agree on how fruitful that encounter has proven to both their passions and coaching careers as they prepare to host their first ever event together.
Dhanusha is a digital entrepreneur, speaker and self-care coach. “I aid millennial women prioritise holistic self-care so that they can show up as their best self and avoid burnout.” She is the founder of Miss Dhanusha, through which she blogs, curates and sells bespoke self-care items that include a journal, affirmation cards and a colouring book for adults. She adds, “my belief is that self-care is an act of revolution.”
Lele, a banking professional, describes herself as a dedicated individual for change. “I am a holistic life coach, a facilitator, speaker, MC, group exercise fitness trainer and the founder of Yoyisa Consulting. My greatest passion in life is to see people live their lives knowing their worth, their purpose, their talents and what they can contribute in this world. I do this by helping individuals prioritise what is important to them so that their lives can resonate with their values,” she shares.
Other than some fabulous quotables, Dhanusha and Lele share with us their personal experiences with vision boards and give us an exciting peek into what attendees can expect to take away from the Dream Big Vision Board Workshop.
type4girl: This is your first event together, how has the planning experience been?
LELE: “It’s weird! Planning this event has actually been easy. I think it’s because we get each other. We are both very specific about who we’d want to collaborate with. Since first meeting, we’ve gotten to know each other and our individual values really well. We believe in a lot of the same things so it’s honestly been easy.”
DHANUSHA: “Lele hosted a retreat I was attended sometime this year and she asked me to speak a bit about self-care to the women in attendance. It was short, like half an hour, but it turned out so well. We know and understand how we work as a duo, we understand each other’s principles and values and we want the same thing.”
LELE: “I think it also helps that we’re not overly emotional people.I have a full time job and Dhanusha does this full time, but at the end of the day we both just want to get it done. We’re both adults and we know how to communicate. Things can get overly emotional so fast when you’re working with other people. We don’t have unrealistic expectations, we know and understand we both can’t be available all the time.”
type4girl: What is your experience with vision boards, is it something new?
DHANUSHA: “I’ve been doing a vision board for almost three years or so now. Before that I used to set goals and stuff. When I first started my blog 5 years ago I was in beauty and lifestyle, but I got more into vision boards when I niched into self-care. The thing with a vision board is you have to break it down into smaller, more achievable tasks with daily, monthly or quarterly goals; but make it so that your why is very clear. You’ll need your discipline and systems in place to keep you going, otherwise it’s just going to be there on the wall and you’ll come back to it in December when it may be too late.”
LELE: “I also started around the same time as Dhanusha, probably 3 years ago. For me it’s quite a personal thing. I grew up very insecure, I didn’t believe in myself or my capability to achieve things. So with me it’s my own journey of seeing myself as a person that can achieve things. I’d actually gone to a workshop around the time I started, and one of the things being spoken about was vision boards. I remember cringing thinking what the heck will I achieve? I hated crafts because I’m not even creative so I thought I’m probably never going to make one. Looking back, it has been one of the most transformative things I’ve ever done. Once I got started I started imagining my personal journey and confidence; I looked at the board and saw things coming to life. So yeah it’s very personal and something I do end of or beginning of the year.”
type4girl: What is it about the New Year high and how do we navigate periods of low motivation?
DHANUSHA: “Most people’s New Year’s resolutions fail within the first quarter of the year. Around 80% of resolutions are abandoned by Feb. This is because people like the idea of starting a New Year with a whole lot of ‘motivation’. But it’s not intrinsic motivation, it’s more external motivations. In January it’s I’ll go to gym then come Feb… (sigh). That’s why you can’t rely on motivation, you have to rely on discipline. And I truly believe in systems. But also why? Why do you want to go to gym, why do you want to look good, why do you want get this, study this? If there’s no why, it might be that you’re doing something because you think it’s the right thing to do or just because. We’ve got to find meaningful purpose in the things we do.”
LELE: “It’s also about mindset. Dhanusha and I were just discussing that we want to talk a lot about mindset at the workshop because it is such an important element. If your mindset isn’t right, if you don’t believe you can achieve it and you’re not doing the internal work then it’s basically bound to fail. The reality is no matter what you put on that vision board, there will be a time when you’re discouraged. You’ve got to work for it. You have to work towards those goals. That resonates with us both because we both had to unlearn and learn things and go for our dreams. It doesn’t come easily because it’s so much easier to quit. And it all seems so simple and possible in January because it’s a brand new year and yes we can! On the 1st of December it’s like all your problems disappear and you step into the New Year on a high. But when that high dies down, the real work begins. It’s psychological, it’s work.”
DHANUSHA: “And vision boards don’t have to be a year long thing or made at the beginning or end of the year. Life is seasonal, and you can have a vision board for many different seasons in your life. It can be for 5 months, one year, 3 years, it should be what you need it to be. If you have a bad day, a bad week, bad month, it doesn’t mean you have to wait until next year to get going again. Treat yourself with compassion and grace and say tomorrow I’m going to try again, try something different, see what I can learn from this and what I can do to improve. But don’t give up.”
