One of the very first moments on this journey was a long walk with my friend Jefta. Jefta had also been a member of the FreedomLab community and wanted to start his own business. With his newborn baby strapped to his chest, we walked countless rounds through The Hague. It was a dialogue walk. We mused about entrepreneurship, the decline of FreedomLab, and our roles now and in the future.

Is a tool just a tool? I explained to him my realization that in my personal reflection on leaving FreedomLab, I had also still had some treasures, namely the many tools we tested and a proven methodology. I told him that I now wanted to start a platform with all the learnings, but didn't want to make the same mistake again. What I wondered most was how to make these tools more than just tools. They're not fill-in forms that magically provide answers. Tools are obstacles for the mind to challenge yourself. It was precisely that layer, the layer of meaning-making, that I missed in the renewed FreedomLab. So my research question became: How does one actually create meaning as a human?

How does one actually create meaning as a human?

A clear question that I subsequently posed to countless experts. And everyone was eager to explain it to me. They all start confidently telling me, but after a few seconds, they completely get stuck. Because you feel it in your core, but putting it into words was so difficult. It became a question that I could finally sink my teeth into again, and it felt like something truly fundamental.

This journey of exploration into meaning-making has opened up a whole new world of inquiry for me. It's fascinating how such a seemingly simple question can lead to such a profound new advanture.