"I manifested a husband! While healing from heartbreak, I wrote about my ideal partner – 5 years later, we married"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
'In January 2018 I manifested my dream man and just six weeks later, I'd met him," explains Kelly Lundberg.
"I came across his profile on a dating app and instantly recognized him as Graham, the boy I'd gone to prom with at school back in 1998. We'd even shared a kiss on the night.
'Swiping right, we matched and started chatting, quickly hitting it off.
'When we were younger, things hadn't worked out because I'd taken a job to become a holiday rep, traveling the world.
'But now our paths had crossed again…'
'At the beginning of 2019, I went on a luxury trip with my mum to the Seychelles, where I wrote a desire statement about what I wanted my dream partner to be like.
'Desire statements are when you pick a date in the future and jot down everything that you want to have happened by then, describing what it looks like from that perspective.
'I'd written them before to help me achieve my business goals and they'd worked. I'd been single for the past two years after my previous relationship broke down and now, I felt ready to meet someone.
'As my mum read her book beside me, I scribbled away.
'It's June 2019 and my life has changed drastically. I've met a man, he's into fitness, tall and picks me up effortlessly. He's also a great communicator and calls me beautiful.
'Sipping my wine, I told Mum what I'd written.'
"'I look forward to meeting him,' she grinned.
'Little did I know that just six weeks later, Graham would come into my life.'
'Manifesting is imagining bringing something and bringing it into reality,' hypnotist Paul McKenna told woman&home magazine in our March 2025 issue.
This practice is more popular than ever and in 2020, Google searches of 'manifesting' grew by a staggering 600%.
Many celebrities are also big fans of using the Law Of Attraction. The likes of Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande and Jim Carrey have all attributed their success to manifesting.
Oprah Winfrey also regularly discusses its powers. In 2007, she said, 'The way you think creates reality for yourself,' and has often stated that visualizing herself as an actor led to her landing a role in The Color Purple.
Paul, the author of Power Manifesting, says that you must be very clear about what you want. 'If all we had to do was wish for what we want, everyone would be living in peace with no worries - but getting what you want requires action.
"And there's no point taking action until you're sure about what you want. Otherwise it's like setting off a boat with a rudder,' he says.
"Our first date happened in Edinburgh two weeks after we'd reconnected," continues Kelly.
"'Oh wow, he's tall,' I thought as I stood on my tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek.
"We had a magical time, laughing away and chatting about the gym, where Graham frequently worked out. At the end of the night, we shared a kiss and Graham told me, 'You're beautiful.'
'I didn't even think about everything I'd written on my desire statement, but I knew I wanted to see Graham again.
'Flying back to Dubai, where I lived, Graham and I continued chatting every day and he promised to come and visit me.
'Back at home, I read over the desire statement that I'd stuck on my bathroom mirror. Gasping, I remembered that Graham had told me I was beautiful, just like I'd written.
"Phoning Graham, I told him about my desire statement.
"'It honestly describes you, but I wrote it before we met,' I explained.
'He was 6' 2", loved fitness and was great at communicating. Still, I didn't want to get carried away, especially as we were living in different countries.
'Graham flew out to visit me four weeks later and from there we started a long-distance relationship, relying on Zoom date nights to keep the spark alive.
'By the end of the year, I knew we had something special.
'When Graham flew out in February 2023, he took me out for a fancy dinner and popped the question. It was completely out of the blue and I was shocked, but obviously I said 'yes' immediately.
'In May 2024, Graham and I flew to the Seychelles to get married. Just the two of us, it was a super special day.
"'I can't believe that this is where I wrote my desire statement just five years before,' I thought.
'The following month, we threw a big party in Scotland with our friends and family.
'I think the desire statement worked for me because I was truly honest with what I wanted. Sometimes you manifest something that you don't really want, so it doesn't end up happening. You also have to be very specific about what you desire.
'Graham now lives with me in Dubai and we've had a wonderful first year as husband and wife. We've found our groove and are building a beautiful life together.
'Desire statements are a good way to work out what exactly it is that you want in life, but you can't just write it and expect things to fall in your lap. You have to take action and be open to opportunities.
'Some things don't always happen exactly as you see them and others may take a little longer, but it's all working away in the universe.
'You just have to trust the process.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
I'm 59. She's 19. We're in love. Now what?
Longtime journalists Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes have decades of relationship experience between them. Each has been married and divorced twice. They've raised children, been through heartbreak, found love and together have formed a blended family. The celebrity couple has weathered it all by staying authentic to themselves and each other. Now they're here to share their battle-tested expertise with you in , a relationship advice column from Yahoo. Have a question they should answer? Email askamyandtj@ and hear more from them on their podcast. Amy and T.J., I'm 59, she is 19. I'll wait while you shake off the obvious initial reaction, the one that says I'm a predator or, at best, simply with this young woman because of the sex! She and I have found intimacy at a level we never thought existed while navigating the complexity of falling in love. You guys could not be more correct … love is indeed messy! Finding the courage to step off the cliff of "settling for less," in hopes of experiencing the kind of love that even the best poets, artists and musicians can't fully describe, is paralyzing! She and I are currently standing on that cliff. Can you offer some non-judgmental feedback about how — or whether — to pursue this relationship? Hope to hear from you and congratulations on stepping off that cliff yourselves!T.J. Holmes: That's … damn. He's 59, she's 19. They're in love. Bill Belichick's girlfriend is 24, and he's 73. That's a 49-year age gap for them. It's not a morality thing, but there are 25-year-olds I don't have anything in common with. So, how does this work? Amy Robach: I say to my daughters — they're 19 and 22 — all the time: You don't know what you don't know. It's probably the most annoying thing I say to them because, of course, they can't know what I'm talking about, not yet. But it's the truth. You don't know what you don't know when you're 19, and your 20s are such an important time to figure out who you are, what you want and what your limits are. TH: Love can take so many forms. You never know where you're going to find it, how, when or with whom. Sometimes love just happens and, if you're not hurting yourselves or someone else, who are we to say it's wrong? But based on what you've said here, I don't think I could in good conscience simply say, 'yeah, go for it.' If you really care about this woman, and love her, think of how much life she has ahead of her and how much she might miss out on by being with a nearly 60-year-old man. She's going to miss out on being a teenager, on partying with her friends, on so much of the stupid little stuff that's part of our formative years. Don't take that from her. AR: I'm not interested in judging who should date whom. It's not so much the age gap. There are people who fill different roles in our lives and the age difference between you might feel comfortable and safe to her right now. But I can't imagine that it's always going to be that way. And it's her age that is a bigger red flag for me. A relationship like yours — between a considerably older man and a very young woman — is difficult because there is a power imbalance and an experience imbalance. I see many potential problems for you both because she is so impressionable at this age. Both T.J. and I got married for the first time when we were 23. And I wouldn't advise that either! Because you don't yet know who you are in your teens and 20s. Your brain is still forming, growing and developing until you're 27. In fact, I told my daughters that if they wanted to get married before 27, they'd have to pay for their own weddings. You have had all of the experiences in life that make you sure of who you are and what you want. But a 19-year-old doesn't really know any of those things. TH: It was Aaliyah who said, 'Age ain't nothin' but a number.' And it isn't; age isn't necessarily the important thing, but experience is. Love is a powerful thing — I know it, I've felt it and I feel it — but I don't know if there's a love strong enough to overcome the challenges you're going to face. It might be worth thinking about what some of those challenges might be down the road. I ain't judging anybody for anything they do. Amy and I never would. But think about it: Is this young woman going to stay with you until the end of your days, and then start dating again? What type of life experience do you want her to have, with or without you? And that's not to mention what your friends and family or society think of your relationship. AR: If you don't have that kind of support, it puts pressure on a relationship. When our relationship was outed, the first and most important thing we had to get was the support of our children, friends and parents. We needed that. Most couples do, especially if their relationship is going to be scrutinized, and you should be prepared that yours might be. The truth is that a 19-year-old doesn't know s***. She's had almost zero experience, and she's trying to have a relationship with you, somebody who has had decades of different relationship experiences. You know what you want and need, and what you don't. You know what you can give. She doesn't know any of those things yet. She hasn't yet had a chance to explore who she is. Your 20s are so important for that. AR: If my own daughter was in a relationship with an older man and said, 'This makes me happy,' it would never be worth fracturing our relationship because I disagree with whom she chooses to be intimate. However, I would still put my two cents in. You two need to ask a lot of hard questions about what you're willing to sacrifice. You, as the older person, need to think about what impact this could have on someone you love. Sometimes love is doing the right thing instead of what you want or need in that moment, but it's doing right by the person you love. It's setting them up for the best success in life. TH: I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong. But if you love her, you've got to let that girl go. To get advice directly from Amy and T.J.,send whatever relationship question is keeping you up at night — whether it's about friends, family, your love life or beyond — to askamyandtj@
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
I'm 59. She's 19. We're in love. Now what?
Longtime journalists Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes have decades of relationship experience between them. Each has been married and divorced twice. They've raised children, been through heartbreak, found love and together have formed a blended family. The celebrity couple has weathered it all by staying authentic to themselves and each other. Now they're here to share their battle-tested expertise with you in , a relationship advice column from Yahoo. Have a question they should answer? Email askamyandtj@ and hear more from them on their podcast. Amy and T.J., I'm 59, she is 19. I'll wait while you shake off the obvious initial reaction, the one that says I'm a predator or, at best, simply with this young woman because of the sex! She and I have found intimacy at a level we never thought existed while navigating the complexity of falling in love. You guys could not be more correct … love is indeed messy! Finding the courage to step off the cliff of "settling for less," in hopes of experiencing the kind of love that even the best poets, artists and musicians can't fully describe, is paralyzing! She and I are currently standing on that cliff. Can you offer some non-judgmental feedback about how — or whether — to pursue this relationship? Hope to hear from you and congratulations on stepping off that cliff yourselves!T.J. Holmes: That's … damn. He's 59, she's 19. They're in love. Bill Belichick's girlfriend is 24, and he's 73. That's a 49-year age gap for them. It's not a morality thing, but there are 25-year-olds I don't have anything in common with. So, how does this work? Amy Robach: I say to my daughters — they're 19 and 22 — all the time: You don't know what you don't know. It's probably the most annoying thing I say to them because, of course, they can't know what I'm talking about, not yet. But it's the truth. You don't know what you don't know when you're 19, and your 20s are such an important time to figure out who you are, what you want and what your limits are. TH: Love can take so many forms. You never know where you're going to find it, how, when or with whom. Sometimes love just happens and, if you're not hurting yourselves or someone else, who are we to say it's wrong? But based on what you've said here, I don't think I could in good conscience simply say, 'yeah, go for it.' If you really care about this woman, and love her, think of how much life she has ahead of her and how much she might miss out on by being with a nearly 60-year-old man. She's going to miss out on being a teenager, on partying with her friends, on so much of the stupid little stuff that's part of our formative years. Don't take that from her. AR: I'm not interested in judging who should date whom. It's not so much the age gap. There are people who fill different roles in our lives and the age difference between you might feel comfortable and safe to her right now. But I can't imagine that it's always going to be that way. And it's her age that is a bigger red flag for me. A relationship like yours — between a considerably older man and a very young woman — is difficult because there is a power imbalance and an experience imbalance. I see many potential problems for you both because she is so impressionable at this age. Both T.J. and I got married for the first time when we were 23. And I wouldn't advise that either! Because you don't yet know who you are in your teens and 20s. Your brain is still forming, growing and developing until you're 27. In fact, I told my daughters that if they wanted to get married before 27, they'd have to pay for their own weddings. You have had all of the experiences in life that make you sure of who you are and what you want. But a 19-year-old doesn't really know any of those things. TH: It was Aaliyah who said, 'Age ain't nothin' but a number.' And it isn't; age isn't necessarily the important thing, but experience is. Love is a powerful thing — I know it, I've felt it and I feel it — but I don't know if there's a love strong enough to overcome the challenges you're going to face. It might be worth thinking about what some of those challenges might be down the road. I ain't judging anybody for anything they do. Amy and I never would. But think about it: Is this young woman going to stay with you until the end of your days, and then start dating again? What type of life experience do you want her to have, with or without you? And that's not to mention what your friends and family or society think of your relationship. AR: If you don't have that kind of support, it puts pressure on a relationship. When our relationship was outed, the first and most important thing we had to get was the support of our children, friends and parents. We needed that. Most couples do, especially if their relationship is going to be scrutinized, and you should be prepared that yours might be. The truth is that a 19-year-old doesn't know s***. She's had almost zero experience, and she's trying to have a relationship with you, somebody who has had decades of different relationship experiences. You know what you want and need, and what you don't. You know what you can give. She doesn't know any of those things yet. She hasn't yet had a chance to explore who she is. Your 20s are so important for that. AR: If my own daughter was in a relationship with an older man and said, 'This makes me happy,' it would never be worth fracturing our relationship because I disagree with whom she chooses to be intimate. However, I would still put my two cents in. You two need to ask a lot of hard questions about what you're willing to sacrifice. You, as the older person, need to think about what impact this could have on someone you love. Sometimes love is doing the right thing instead of what you want or need in that moment, but it's doing right by the person you love. It's setting them up for the best success in life. TH: I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong. But if you love her, you've got to let that girl go. To get advice directly from Amy and T.J.,send whatever relationship question is keeping you up at night — whether it's about friends, family, your love life or beyond — to askamyandtj@
%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2Ftal-amazon-one-off-summer-matching-set-tout-3697a111be674502bdb512e606550067.jpg&w=3840&q=100)

Travel + Leisure
14 hours ago
- Travel + Leisure
This Matching Set Looks Like Expensive Resortwear—but It's Under $45 at Amazon
The Marie Kondo method can be applied to your summer vacation packing list, too. In addition to 'does it spark joy?' ask yourself, 'does it make me want to sip an Aperol spritz in the sun?' If the answer is yes, then by all means bring it along. Following the clicks of seasoned Amazon trendspotters, we found a matching set that evokes that very feeling. Reviewers say this cute two-piece strikes the perfect balance between being airy and elegant, yet as comfortable as pajamas. Now, that is the holy grail of vacation outfits—and it's under $45. The gauzy set comes with an oversized button-down shirt that tucks into (or drapes casually over) the matching drawstring shorts. The rayon it's made of is soft and thin, the fit loose and flowy. One reviewer called it 'heaven,' while another said it's 'the most comfortable outfit ever.' More than one shopper compared it to a much higher-end Aritzia set, the organic cotton Sail Shorts and Sail Shirt, which costs about $150. For much less, the Automet lookalike has impressed customers with its quality. One who wrote that they're 'absolutely in love with this set' said the material is great for the price—good enough to even pass for 'summer evening wear.' The brand is already well-known and loved for its viral jumpsuits and other lounge sets, which have earned high praise among travelers. 'This set is so multifaceted,' a shopper said. 'I wear it as a bathing suit cover-up on the boat at the lake, and [I] also wear [it] as pajamas.' Another said they were going for 'a cute coastal feel' for a beach trip, and this set was just the thing for that aesthetic. Some are saying the lighter shades can be slightly see-through, so check the feedback before you settle on a color. There are also mixed reviews on whether it wrinkles, though most agree the creases almost blend in with the natural texture—nothing a portable steamer can't handle. The general two-piece set format is an effortless summer travel uniform that allows you to spend some extra minutes working on your reading list instead of stressing over what to wear. You can wear the pieces separately, too, if you feel like pairing the top with jeans or slacks for an elevated look. Planning a summer vacation? Shop for even more comfortable, lightweight shorts sets at Amazon, below. At the time of publishing, the price started at $38. Love a great deal? Sign up for our T+L Recommends newsletter and we'll send you our favorite travel products each week.