Who am I?
One of my dearest friends wrote a poem for me last year, when I turned 24. It is such a wonderful, gentle reminder that I have been favored with people who really see me. Who recognize my potential even when I don't see it myself. And I think it's the perfect intro to this space.I often think to myself, "I do too much. I just wish I would present myself like xyz. I know people remember when I was 15 and I tripped up the stairs but tried to play it off. I'm literally such a klutz like omg Jazmine why can't you be like the girls in the books?! Why can't you do, say, be just enough? Instead of spilling over and clumsily giving people everything to the point of overwhelm (either you or them)?! It's just..... I'M just.... either too much, or not enough. NEVER just right." I drown myself in shoulda/coulda/ wouldas and drive myself into this miry pit of shutting down, closing off, hiding, depriving the world of my light in fear that it might burn.But I don't want to live my life that way anymore. I'm taking the first terrifying steps to freeing myself from this shell of a person I find myself hiding behind. With that, here are some excerpts of the poem that was written for me and about me:
She, a masterpiece of vibrant color, color that paints a picture of freedom in its freeist form
She, silently commands a classroom teaching to be uniquely you all of the unapologetic time
She, the party of a good 90s oldie buh’ goodie in the middle of the summer
She, the warmth of an adorable baby’s laughter
She, all the thrills of Kings Island but none of the headache,
all of the smooth of both Michaels but only the Disney Raven and can’t forget all the skills of Stevie
and all of the timelessness
She, a song of fierce meets heart etched in the pavement
She lives inspiration
She endures beautiful
She exists a pronoun all her own
Yes, she is a Jazmine that blooms in the warmest of emotions bursting with passionate fragrance
She occurs more than the words laid here or that can be
Yes, she is a Jazmine that soars by the most immaculate carpet full of magic
Yes, she is my Jazmine that dazzles brighter than any diamond ever could.
Short saga time: I've been going back and forth for over a year now about writing and launching a brand and I've gone back and forth about names and bought numerous domains, and the one that I had picked out was comfortable but it didn't feel 100% right. So that was one of a million reasons why I never actually moved with my vision. But then, another name came to me. One that is unbelievably appropriate, fitting and RIGHT. Jazmine is Blooming. It's a cute play on my name and all of that, but more importantly, it is a declaration to myself and to the world that I am committed to evolving, FOREVER. By definition, bloom means to produce, to thrive, to flourish, to be in or achieve a state of healthful beauty and vigor, to glow with warmth or with a warm color. All things I want to latch onto and pursue until the good Lord calls me home.
So, if you didn't catch it, my name is Jazmine. And here I am. :)