We were lucky to catch up with Pervis Taylor, III recently and have shared our conversation below.
Pervis, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My resilience is a result of the grace of God. I’ve had to be resilient with the blows I’ve received from life. There were points in my journey that if I hadn’t been resilient I would’ve caved in and perished. I teach clients, no matter their background, that you must be able to identify 5 things that make you amazing and dope and has to be beyond the shadow of a doubt. I’m certain that one of my five is that I’m resilient. It’s not up for debate. Being molested as a child, being bullied and severely rejected to losing my parents and being homeless have all been ways in which I know that my resiliency is my superpower. God knew what he was doing when he created me. He knew that in order to see the other side, I’d have to undergo a great deal of adversity. So my mind is made up no matter what I face, I’m going to bounce back! It’s God’s gift to me
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m CEO of Averent Wellness, a place where all your mental wellness and flourishing needs are met. In my work I get to work with people from all walks of life and various backgrounds. My work is so exciting because I get to tap into all the aspects of who I am. Whether its doing a television interview talking about the importance of navigation mental health during these interesting times, to giving a lecture to college students on the importance of developing emotional intelligence and how to apply it to life or giving a fireside chat to major corporations on the importance of emotional and mental wellness in the workplace; it is so much fun! I’ve been doing this work for 14 years now and I’m still am hungry and eager to impact and connect with more lives. My books on black men’s mental health Surthrival Mode and Heal Forward are use as apart of therapy with fellow therapists. It’s so rewarding to have every extension of my work touch the lives of others. To tease it down: I help people to flourish, which means to grow and expand luxuriously.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Imagination, Resiliency, self awareness are the qualities that I feel everyone needs to have these qualities in order to thrive. The foundation is to know yourself spend time with yourself so that you understand what you possess. We need to be grounded in the truth that we are amazing and invaluable. However, we only arrive there when we get to spend time with ourselves. Next, imagination. As we mature our culture teaches us to let go of the child, but imagination comes from our child. To envision without limits is so needed for the journey. Cause if you are limitless in your imagination, you will go further in your journey. You will achieve way more than you anticipated. Also be clear if you can imagine it then it’s possible. Our job is to bring that thing from the spiritual to the natural. Lastly, you’re going to need to be resilient. Set in your mind that challenges are gonna come, but you have what it takes to triumph over it. I like to use the illustration of a beach ball being pushed down in the water and when it’s release it bounces back to the top. Be the beachball.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
I recently lost my mother unexpectedly. Navigating through that has been the BIGGEST challenge of my life. However, I’ve learned to not be afraid of my emotions no matter how extreme or severe they may be. I allow myself to be fragile and I’m not ashamed of it. So my challenge which i gladly accept, is orienting this world as an expert in wellness and flourishing while grieving the loss of my best friend.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pervistaylor.com
- Instagram: @pervistaylor
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pervis-taylor-iii-m-a-3b86309/
Image Credits
All Photos by me
