Synaesthesia
An Oasis of my Imagination
By Tijs Kramer
Creative Intern at VBAT
Something is happening, or actually, a lot is happening. But the things that are happening share a common ground.
Throughout my entire life, my mind has been categorising and structuring all life events, dividing them in chapters. In the past my mind did this by the end of a chapter. But nowadays, I seem to be able to do this during, or even at the start of something new. It’s not something I consciously do, it happens naturally. And with that, I can’t help but feel that the current chapter that has just started, is already set on a theme.
All that I’ve learned so far, whether it’s about design, about responsibilities or about life in general, seems to fall together. Words, music and images inspire me. They are no longer separated by discipline, but instead form a cohesive idea. I visualize what I hear and I hear what I see. Neuroscientists have come up with a name for this; it’s called synaesthesia.
Now, I do not claim to have actual synaesthesia, but it appears that my mind has embraced this idea and conceptualised it, which enables me to imagine its effect. It feels like I’ve opened a new door, leading to a room that is the oasis of my imagination. If you’d ask me to put a sign on that door which would describe the contents of the room, I’d put up a sign that says: “Miscellaneous”.
Why is this happening now? I’ve only been with VBAT for a few weeks now. But the vision of this company is very well sensible. And it’s not necessarily the work that I’ve done so far that causes this transition, it’s the people I work with and the finished work that I’m surrounded with every day.
VBAT and the process of my inner progression are inseparably connected, and here’s why. Looking back on my teenage years, I’ve discovered a behavioural pattern that I wasn’t aware of back then, but still use today. I’ve never settled with a group of friends for a very long term. Instead, I moved from one group to another, and another, and so on, and so on. To understand why I did this, I tried to revisit the feeling I had before, and after engaging in a new social environment. Whenever I met a new group of people, the trigger for me to engage in interaction with this group was whether I looked up to them. I’ve come to realize that this must be some sort of primal behavior, of which its sole purpose is to progress. By surrounding myself with people I look up to, I forced myself to grow towards their level.
VBAT is full of people that I look up to and exciting opportunities that come with it. So the reason that I’m starting to flourish right now is because I’ve managed to mingle in in an environment that provides me with the most ideal climate to my soul. VBAT to me is what a tropical climate is to an orchid.
The essence of this idea lies in the origins of VBAT, a company that was created by the hands of a few innovative idealists. I lack the courage to claim that I’m innovative, but I’m sure as hell not afraid to say that I’m an idealist.
I feel like VBAT has already provided me with a key, the idealist within me used that key to open the door to the ‘oasis of my imagination’. As for now, the sign on that door says “Miscellaneous”. However, I will be spending a lot of there, and by doing so, familiarise with this newly discovered part of me. So, inevitably, I will be putting up a new sign on that door, and I am just as curious as you are, about what that sign will say.
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Written by Tijs Kramer
Creative Intern at VBAT
edited by Connie Fluhme
PR at VBAT
