Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jazzmyne Taylor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jazzmyne, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
When asking me “what is the biggest risk you have ever taken” ; a lot of examples pop into my head. I could tell you about the risk I took moving to Florida with a new born in a failed attempt to fall in love, I can talk about how after that I enrolled back in school to pursue a degree I actually wanted, as opposed to settling for the degree I had. I can most certainly talk about my independent decision to move again on my own to Texas for a fresh start at life, but all those stories are rooted in sorrow and I am no longer a “sob story”. Don’t get me wrong, all of those tales contributed to my present day character , and I wouldn’t replace those experiences for anything. All three of those tales would make amazing stories for you, but I honestly feel like the biggest risk I’ve ever taken that needs to be noted is the risk I took to give my life to God and trust his plan for me even when things looked like they would never turn around. Growing up in a Christian household, God was always front in center for my family, but as a child I found myself extremely inquisitive and a lot of my questions surrounding religion went unanswered. For most people saying “don’t question God” is a very easy concept to adopt and follow, but for me, that was not good enough. I have never been the type of person who would blindly follow or believe something just because I was told to. I have always had to find understanding and accept the logic that comes along with things before I jump on board. With religion, there was too many unturned stones for me to be too “faithful”- and so I wasn’t . While earning my first degree from Ball State, I enrolled in a course titled “Race and religion”, and that was the rabbit hole to wonderland for me. Everything was explained so clearly and academically proven that I had no choice but to change my current way of thinking. One thing I found so intriguing, was that although the religions went by different names, and they had different practices; the main goal was the same across all religions. Treat people well, love yourself and the earth, and dont be so hard on yourself because your creator loves you. After I finished that course, I jumped head first into continuing to learn about other cultures and religions. I became fascinated with the Buddhist faith and using yoga to pray, meditate, and heal emotionally as well as gain physical strength. As I began to fall more in love with being alone and learning about others, I subconsciously learned to fall in love with myself and forgive myself unconditionally just as I forgive others unconditionally so effortlessly. Since I have learned to slow down and appreciate life and the ride it takes you on, I have gained the ability to trust my intuition without a doubt. I clearly see the path God has laid out for me, and I have noticed through actual experimentation that if I follow his plan, blessings rain down to encourage me to keep heading in that direction. If I choose to do things that do not align with Gods plan for me, things usually get pretty dramatic extremely fast. Taking the risk to listen to an unidentified voice in your head or an unexplained feeling in your stomach to make all the major decisions in your life may sound crazy, but with my current track record with listing to that voice and my intuition- or as many people would call it, “the voice of God” I have been showered with peace, joy, and the opportunity to succeed far beyond my current level of success. If it’s one thing I did take from my childhood church services it’s this famous statement
“If it’s not broken, dont fix it, and if God brought it in your life- best believe its not gone break you”
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
Well at this point I feel as if I am an open book. But for anyone new to the crew- I am a behavioral therapist pending behavioral analyst May 2023. I am a certified meditation instructor which is a hobby I turned into a stream of income. When im not doing homework, trying to be mommy of the year, or chasing my wonderful clients around, I make some time to still pursue my self care activity of modeling. Although I do not model as much since making the decision to part ways with one of my agencies; I have replaced that with increasing my yoga and meditation instruction and it was honestly a fair trade in my book, but if you’re looking to shoot- I can still be booked okayyy.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
If im being honest, I already got back the surveys from my peers and apparently my whole life has been example after example of resilience. From me actually graduating college despite me getting kicked out after my freshman year and dropping out independently my junior year due to complications with postpartum depression- to me still displaying true love and affection as if I have never been hurt a day in my life. For me, I personally think im very cool for my academic career’s and my heart’s ability to bounce back from what it’s been through so far. I see nothing but growth and success in my future, as long as I am able to keep my eye on my goals.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
There is certainly a goal driving me to keep going on this journey to finding myself, my place in the world, and my peace. Waking up to my son, and seeing how much joy he has from the moment he wakes up to the moment he falls asleep is more than enough motivation to push me to keep getting better. I realize my son is looking up to me just as I looked up to my mother. Everything he sees me doing is subconsciously being engraved in his thought process due to him learning how to live life by watching me live life. After you realize something that important, you began to intentionally display skills and character that you would like your child to grow up and display. If you do not like the actions your child is picking up from you, then its time to change your actions. Leading by example for my son has been the biggest driving factor for me. I know looking back to my own childhood, I would not have ever thought I could come close to doing what I am doing now, if I have not seen my mom successfully do it herself when I was younger. My mother did not raise us to attend church every Sunday like my grandmother did as I stated previously. Instead, she practiced her faith daily in the home by singing the gospel when she was both happy and sad, and praying with tears in her eyes when she thought we weren’t watching. I watched her speak to and highly of God and his works on days other than Sundays. She showed me how to put God first all the time, not just when things are hard. Most importantly, my mother showed me how possible it was to still be your authentic radiant self, while still living a life full of values that serve God. So major shout out to her.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Allll_that_jaz
Image Credits
@ajj360photography