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My health background and graphic design experience motivated the launch of Bridge Creations. The health background included years of abuse, schoolyard bullying, cyberbullying, racism, discrimination and workplace toxicity. The background saw the implication of isolation and mental health issues, during my post-graduate studies and research I identified an essential need to use visuals to promote positive health and well-being. During my journey, I felt that it is okay to not be okay, there is nothing wrong about being so-called “different”, and the world requires sympathy for others.
The episode is hosted by Fragile Moments shared experiences from my late childhood, teenage and early adulthood years. My experiences involved schoolyard bullying and workplace toxicity, explaining the severe effects it has on a human being’s health, behavioural patterns, identity and self-esteem. I encountered racism, name-calling, viral social media images, mockery, and unethical life micro-management.
Late Childhood and Schoolyard Bullying
When I was 12 years old I was in a separate class of students who either lacked learning skills or people and social skills who had little or no respect, empathy, courtesy and good behaviour. I was mocked for my nationality, how I speak and where I come from. This was where I started to understand bullying and the effects it has. I was commonly nervous, paranoid and frustrated when slurs were given towards me.
Moments later, when I was 14 years old I went through further misery, at one stage I had no friends after a relationship issue which led to isolation and spending whole school days by myself. During one lunchtime, a group of students tried to annoy me and it led to me being frustrated to attempt to attack the students, leading to the group continuously mocking me over the next 2 years. In addition, another student stubbornly annoyed, teased and irritated me for no apparent reason, and continuously did this for the next 3 years. The outcome led to unhealthy habits of constant self-rage and frustration.
The Rise of Social Media and Sports
I grew up enjoying a love for rugby union, and learning life skills in leadership, community, unity and resilience. While playing rugby at one point in my life, I was going through a dark path that derived from a viral social media of myself after a sporting grand final win in 2011. This period saw the rise of social media, while it provides benefits of social connection and storytelling, there was a dark side that I was on the receiving end of. The bullying effect spread like a virus, entering my senior high school studies for the first time I was not interested in playing where I had to play with the bullies. I faced a critical choice in 2012 to give up the sport that I love or play with bullies that I knew would bring me down. However, I regretfully chose to play which led to 9 months of poor performances, low focus on school, a negative outlook on life, isolation, constant denial, hiding from bullies, and personally accepting insults.
The essential need is to find connections to avoid small issues growing. One unforeseen conversation changed my view on life. Leading up to the conversation, not one person was aware of how I felt, my rage-filled anger and the unhealthy lifestyle I was going through in the 9 months. The conversation allowed me to relate to others that culprits committed unacceptable behaviours. The conversation showed the bright side of life, and I realised that I was not alone, at one point, I contemplated to myself do my peers hate me and that I can’t be myself because I don’t know who I am.
The conversation helped me improve my self-esteem, regain trust in others, recover my passions, maintain connections, and move on from this darkness. Particularly not forced to take extreme measures such as attending another school, leaving a sport I love, changing my identity and allowing unchangeable history to develop. A year later in 2013, finishing my high school studies saw significant achievements in becoming one of the highest rugby achievers, connecting with other peers and feeling happy about who I am. The improvement occurred from a conversation with a friend and relating with other friends’ and teachers’ viewpoints on the bullies’ lifestyle as unacceptable.
Workplace Toxicity and Recovery
My life was back on track, however, from 2016 to 2019 after finishing school I was the number one victim of workplace toxicity. I required a pocket money job while studying at university to assist with finances. A year into the job I deeply enjoyed, saw the arrival of a new management staff. The new manager utterly lacked the empathy to care for work-life balance, the need for an essential commitment such as a university education, belief in natural human-centred mistakes, and foresees that everyday lives revolved solely around work. The manager unethically opted to take a dictatorial and autocratic leadership approach, with power and control corrupting the mindset, particularly, aiming to bring others down and feeling superior to others due to the management position.
I was constantly mocked for my life, past histories, performances, and timelines outside of work. Furthermore, my unavailability with other essential commitments university and sporting commitments led to frustration with the manager for not covering certain shifts. Like high school, I struggled with my university focus, and enjoyment in life, and I even had to give up rugby to make the manager happy, but not to please myself.
I was viewed as a useless person, nothing I do is ever right, I’m such a waste of space and time. While I never took the insults personally, issues grew substantially, as one conversation would have solved the toxic environment over 3 years. Although my colleagues agreed with me that the leadership was unacceptable, the leadership was allowed to continue without action. In addition, various regular customers at the workplace dislike and show hostility to the manager for the toxic and malicious leadership.
With hatred, I show good deeds, move past bad habits, improve enthusiasm, help with staff roles or provide positive customer service, and achieve personal milestones such as university graduation, I am still viewed as worthless and useless to the manager. In addition to myself, the workplace even led to constant drama among staff members’ connection with the manager, gossip about the manager’s self-centred leadership, various staff resignations, and a significant drop in sales or visitors due to public despise for the manager.
The manager opted to abuse his power through an unethical workplace theft attempt, the manager luckily escaped termination and decided to resign for a reality check. When I chose to resign from the workplace, a sincere apology from the boss about the manager’s behaviour helped connect with the viewpoint on the manager’s leadership style. The apology helped entirely reinforce and guarantee my viewpoint that the manager’s leadership was unacceptable. The apology provided evidence to disprove the pain that the manager attempted to give me if I was an utterly lousy person after all. However, speaking up could have possibly solved various areas, such as the termination of the manager, and behaviour change.
Finding relations and not being alone
During this journey, I learnt many lessons about resilience, sympathy and respect. While I studied for a Master of Design Strategies at the University of Canberra, a project was published in a journal article to understand the great benefits graphic design has for health. I hope to combine this power of knowledge with my journal to see visuals applied around the world for a healthy and bright future.
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