Professional Identity
When I was little, my mother would take me sometimes with her to her job. She is an anesthesiologist, so I would learn about illness and the hospital would fascinate me. However, I never imagined myself working in health care. I did want to find a way to help people by what I do, but I never really figured out how. On top of that, sport is a big part of my identity. I am traveling all over the world for my sport, trying to achieve my dreams and goals. My view of the world is influenced by this part of me. It is only natural that this part of me also leads my interests in the direction of being active and keeping vital through life. Furthermore, I realized during the outbreak of COVID-19 how important and valuable physical and mental health is.
During the past years, I changed and developed as a person. I used to find it hard to describe myself and what drives me. It became step for step clearer to me who I am, because of experiences in sport and family. This development also changed me as a designer. I never really knew what I wanted to design for and what I wanted to achieve with my designs. In the past years I found myself very motivated to design for vitality and health.
I always have been triggered by the fact that some people go easily for a workout and others do not even bother going. I think in everyone is a part that enjoys working out, you just must find a way to reach it. I think everyone lacks motivation sometimes, it is just the question what inspires us to continue working for the things we want . However, it is not my main goal as a designer to get people to work out. It is my goal to have a world where people are healthy and vital, and that comes from much more aspects than only working out.
Another aspect of health I find very important is mental health. I have had some mental struggles over the past years. I always found it very hard to talk about and I didn’t want to bother anybody with it. However, the moment I finally shared my struggles, I felt relieved and had opened a part of myself for growth. Therefore, I think it is important that we need to help people share their struggles with others. I want to this through design by including technology to lower thresholds and making easier for people to speak up. However, the technology should not replace human factors in this process of recovery.