About me

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Iris, I’m twenty-three years young and I live in Amsterdam. I live there with my mother, my brother and two cats, whom I all love dearly.

Even though I grew up in the city, I much prefer the peace and quiet that nature provides. I love spending time in the forest, or the dunes, or the mountains, just somewhere outdoors, really. Wherever I can breathe fresh air. Preferably with a camera and a note- or sketchbook, that’s when I’m happiest.

I was vegetarian for most of my life until I made the decision to go vegan at fifteen. Having discovered the cruelty behind the entire animal agriculture industry and its environmental impact. And I’ve never looked back. I’ve always loved animals and couldn’t bear the thought of causing them harm. Going vegan made me try many new foods and cuisines, so it is far from boring. It has also opened my eyes to not only the cruelty that humans are capable of, but also the compassion. It gives me hope that there are others out there who are willing work extremely hard to create a kind and compassionate world for all who live in it.

Knowing this, it probably won’t surprise you that my passions include hiking, photography, writing, painting and cooking, among other things. If I had to describe myself in three words, it’d be: passionate, artistic and adventurous.

Around 2016, I was playing with the idea of starting a blog. I didn’t quite know what I’d write about, however, since I have trouble sticking to one topic. So there wasn’t much that came from it. Until I eventually decided that it didn’t matter what I’d write about, as long as I enjoyed doing it. And thus, I created Wittyvegan. On this blog, you can read about a variety of topics. But mainly hiking (or travelling in general), veganism and mental health.

I’m no stranger to depression and it has played a big part in shaping me into who I am. Even though some people have warned me that I shouldn’t be too open about my struggles, I find it very important to break the stigma surrounding mental illness. If there’s even one person I can help by sharing my experiences, that is worth it to me.

When I was about sixteen, I made a promise to myself to put myself first. I’d make sure that once I had turned eighteen, I would take take all the time I needed so that I could start to heal some of the parts that I could barely keep together then, by doing what made me happiest; hiking. So that’s what I did: I went on an epic adventure and walked nearly 2000 kilometres from the Netherlands to Spain on the Camino de Santiago. For the very first time, I understood what it meant to be alive and what a gift that was. It quite literally brought me back to life.

And although the pandemic caused some major disturbances, it provided me with a lot of time to think and heal outside of traveling — which had essentially turned into trying to recreate that same experience and running away from my feelings by then. It has taken me a lot of time and it certainly hasn’t been easy, but I’m slowly but surely starting to figure out who I am and learning to love me for me. I’m starting to learn to let go of outside expectations and figuring out what it is that I actually want to do with my life. (While healing from Long Covid).

I want to tell stories through my photos and my writing and show everyone how beautiful the world actually is. Because if there is anything that motivates me not to stay in bed all day, it’s to keep showing up for myself like I did when I decided to hike the Camino. When I proved to myself how breathtakingly beautiful life can be.

I think realising that I can do whatever I want is really healing. If trying to adhere to society’s standards makes it so that I cannot possibly get up, I need my own system. I’m no longer going to try and colour between the lines. Right now, I’m figuring out what works for me, how I can stay upright and still add some colour to this often grey world. Whilst creating something I can be proud of. And it brings me such joy to figure it all out.

So whether you’re looking for a recipe, a good story or a review or recommendation of some kind: there’s something for everyone. I hope you like my blog! If so, please follow me on here and on social media, I hope to see you around 😉

I believe that together, we can make the world a better place.

Cheers!
Iris