We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jordann Murphy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jordann, 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 comes from my past of fighting tooth and nail for what I know is right and what I know I need and deserve. I have been in a place where I felt fully buried by the burden of my ill health. And I clawed my way out of it with my bare hands, seemingly alone and found my way back ot the surface. I had no choice but to be resilient. Be resilient or be buried by the weight of my diagnosis. I spent the better part of my 20’s being so sick I could barely function. Feeling fully ignored by the western medical system, I was struggling with intense symptoms related to my GI tract that were being labelled as a simple IBS. For over 8 years, I was tossed back and forth from GI doctors to Gynecological doctors with absolutely no answers. It wasn’t until I did my own research, at the end of my proverbial rope, that I even heard the term Endometriosis. I immediately knew that this was what I was dealing with, but it took me putting my foot down and advocating for myself harder than I ever had before to get an appointment with a surgeon. Endometriosis has to be diagnosed via surgery, so I was “officially” diagnosed in June 2017 after suffering from debilitating symptoms for almost a decade. Between 2017 and 2019, I was so sick constantly that I was unable to do most things. I was functionally bed-bound. My pain and GI symptoms were so intense that even going out to eat was an anxiety fueled misadventure every time. After again, doing my own research and connecting with other women via social media who were in similar positions around the world, I found the surgeon who would end up saving my life. In 2019 I underwent an intensely invasive surgery that took me over a year to heal from. But it gave me my life back. I worked hard for the years since to cultivate a collection of tools and techniques that have helped me transform the way I live my life in order to integrate my illness into how I function on a daily basis.
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 have been an artist for as long as I can remember, creating things and capturing images. My own story of chronic illness helped me to foster a very unique way of working with and relating to my clients. Specifically when I shoot boudoir, it becomes a practice in self-love and actualization. Coming from a place of strife in my own relationship with my body, I understand what it feels like to be disconnected from your body, to want to be separate and escape it. With my boudoir clients, I strive to create a space where not only we are having fun and building a genuine connection, but also allowing for moments of stillness to anchor yourself within your vessel. Your body is the most permanent ‘home’ you will have in this lifetime, my goal is to help you come to a place of feeling fully at home in your ‘home’. My boudoir practice is not simple about being sexy and feeling powerful, it about reconnecting you with the inner shadows, embracing and integrating them as a part of you, praising them for what they truly are. I want my clients to walk away feeling like they are a piece of art, and that they are the one who has been honored to carry this vessel in this lifetime.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
—My way may be different but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong— It took me years to learn that my solution for something may be different form someone elses’. And that is normal and healthy. I have had to adapt basically everything in my life. Because of my chronic pain and illness, I have had to come up with more creative ways of doing things. Something as simple as going out to dinner, I have learned that I need to make sure that I have my tools on me at all times. If I have to break out my portable heating pad mid-meal, so be it. I bring extra changes of clothes with me when I am going to an event, just in case I need to change for my comfort.
—-Comparison is the thief of joy— Along with having to embrace creative solutions, I have also had to accept that my way of doing things may be different than others. It took me YEARS to stop comparing myself to others who do not have my illness and difficulties. I used to get very upset seeing others not having to worry about normal everyday things like being able to work an 8 hour day on their feet. But I simply don’t have the ability to do that like others do. Being comfortable with having to be different took me a long time, but I have come to place now where I am proud of how far I have come and how many coping skills I have developed over the past decade. Be unashamed about what you know you need.
—-Always speak your truth—-Speaking your truth is one of the most powerful things you can do if you’re in a space of growth and change. If you do not tell others how you feel in a situation, you’re essentially denying yourself your truth. Pushing down your discomfort for the comfort of others around you only make things more painful. It takes courage to speak up and say that you’re not okay with the way something is going. But nothing will veer change if you don’t declare that you want and need it to change. No matter the time or place, if you feel in your bones that it isn’t right, you have a moral and personal imperative to address the changes you see fit. Don’t ever be afraid to speak up and tell others your truth. If they have a problem with it, they are not someone who is willing to learn and grow with you.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
My ideal client is someone who is ready to invest in themselves in many ways. Not just financially ready to invest in the work of Boudoir, but those who are enthused about self improvement. I want to work with people who are already on their journey of improving their relationships with themselves and their body. The body is a vessel that we are permanently placed in for this lifetime. If we can dedicate real time and energy into strengthening the relationship that we have to our vessels, maybe we will remain better friends with our vessels.
Everyone has difficulties with accepting and living their body, whether they feel like they are too large, too small, too weak, etc. I would love to work with people who are not worried about fitting into he ‘mold’ but rather interested in molding themselves into something of their own making, guided by their gaze, not and outside opinion or ‘mold’ made by society. I want to work with people who know they are different, who embrace their differences and want to celebrate how they are unlike any other. If we look deep enough, I think we all can fit into that description if we choose to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jandjstudioco.com
- Instagram: @j.and.j.studio
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/j-and-j-studio-westminster
Image Credits
Images by Jordann Murphy at J and J Studio, and Crystal Rojas at Creators Collective
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