Employee displays relationship 'vision board' at work, reveals she has her coworker's LinkedIn photo stuck on it: 'It's just an energy representation'

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Nov 15, 2025 9:00 PM EST

An office can be a dangerous place to have a crush.

When you start to have feelings for a colleague, it is often worth taking a step back and asking yourself whether this is real or if you have just been brainwashed by being in their presence for eight hours a day. Quite often, it ends up being the latter, and even when that isn't the case, it can get mighty awkward if a move is made and then rejected (or a breakup happens while you're both still working there). 

What might be worse than finding unrequited love with a coworker, though, is being the person who is on the receiving end of these feelings. It can be hard to face somebody with whom you are required to be professional, but who you know yearns for something deeper. At its worst, it can be just as painful as having an office enemy.

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    an open scrapbook with a vision board collage in it, laid on a white surface with pictures and photos around it
    via Estée Janssens

  • In this story, a woman was stunned when her colleague appeared to reveal that she had deeper feelings for her in the strangest of ways. While a few different coworkers were eating lunch together, they started talking about the concept of vision boards, i.e. collages that represent goals that a person would like to achieve in the future. 

    When this topic came up, her coworker produced her own board that included a romance collage that contained her colleague's LinkedIn photo among other different images. The woman was shocked, and no matter how much her colleague tried to explain, nothing helped. She didn't know how she was going to address the issue when she went back to work.

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    My coworker secretly used my face in her “vision board” relationship collage.. and I don’t know how to act normal now

    This is going to sound insane but I swear I'm not exaggerating. I (28F) work in a small office. One of my coworkers (30F) is very into manifestation, crystals, “aligning energies”, all of that. She's nice, a bit intense, but harmless.. or so I thought. Last Friday we had a casual team lunch. Someone jokingly mentioned vision boards and she lit up immediately. She
    via lyricemberhaus
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    said she actually brought hers because she wanted to "update the universe during break". Everyone just laughed. She pulled it out. And that's when I saw it. There was a whole romance collage, candles, beach sunsets,
    via lyricemberhaus
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    champagne glasses, and in the middle was a cutout photo of my face. MY face. And next to it, a torso of some random shirtless guy with his head cut off from the picture. I froze. My
    via lyricemberhaus
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    other coworker saw it too and literally choked on her water. She tried to cover it by saying, "Oh no no it's just an energy representation". But guys.. it was my actual LinkedIn photo. Printed, cut out, glued next to half a man. She
    via lyricemberhaus
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    kept trying to explain, saying things like "It's not literally you, it's the energy you give me" and "You attract what I want to attract". Everyone got super uncomfortable and quietly changed the subject. I could barely finish eating because my heart was in my throat. I
    via lyricemberhaus
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    don't know how to look her in the eyes on Monday. What do I even say? Is this harassment? Is it delusion? Am I overreacting? I feel violated and also weirdly guilty for feeling violated. This is the most bizarre situation I've
    via lyricemberhaus
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    ever been in. Any advice is welcome because | genuinely have no idea how to handle this without making work ten times more awkward.
    via lyricemberhaus
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    four young coworkers sit in a circle next to their desks, eating chinese takeout
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    Other people tried to advise.

    WomanInQuestion I'd start keeping that "energy representation" to myself and limit your interactions with her, and inform your boss of her weird stalkery vibe.
    via WomanInQuestion
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    General-Visual 4301 It sounds like she admires you. She is obviously kind of socially unaware; she shared her vision board at work! She doesn't even realize that sharing her vision board at work is much too personal and that people will internally eye-roll. She's THAT person. It's cringey but I don't think there is more to it than she idolizes you. I would just keep a distance because she thinks about you and you don't want her to become a pest. This is Reddit and a great many people are going t
    via General-Visual4301
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    III_Reading_5290 She has enough self awareness to try to explain her way out of it, but not enough self awareness to realize that she should never show that board to anyone that she works with, for obvious reasons. She's not playing with a full deck and you should let your manager know that you are never to be left alone in a room with her and why.
    via Ill_Reading_5290
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    RumpelThiccSkin if someone used my face like that, i'd be filing that under "HR needs to know yesterday."
    via RumpelThiccSkin
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    harkness 1960 How is this woman holding down a job? Distance is your friend. Stay safe.
    via harkness1960
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    ksobby I know a few like this and while this seems super creepy, I do believe that she's only trying to manifest some of your energy. I don't believe in the new age bullshit, but my guess is that it really is harmless and she wants your vibe... not you.
    via ksobby
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    MochiKittten It's so weird that she actually pulled it out in front of everyone without thinking how you'd react seeing your face on it. That's honestly creepy behavior.
    via MochiKitten
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    ilovepeonies 1994 She does sound strange but I don't think she's obsessed with you, I think she wants to attract (?) things you attract in your life as well? I don't know, it's weird though. Probably limit your interactions, sounds like she's admiring you but this can turn into obsession pretty fast
    via ilovepeonies1994
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    style-addict Girl just take it as a compliment. Like you said she's harmless. She probably admires you. Don't think too much of it. However if you ever go missing we all know who did it
    via style-addict
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    SadFaithlessness3637 I'd tell HR if your workplace has it. Some folks here are telling you it's harmless, just some form of admiration of you and desire for a life like she imagines yours is, and it might be, but that's wildly weird behavior for a professional environment. At a minimum, she needs guidance on acceptable workplace boundaries, and i don't think it's your responsibility to nor should you try to guide her personally.
    via SadFaithlessness3637

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vision board crazy people employee coworkers manifesting relationships Office colleague reddit thread Reddit crush
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