“Life has taught me to prioritize myself and well-being at all costs. When I was married, I was so caught up in being an us that I really forgot about being me. Going through that process helped me realize just how much I wasn’t paying attention to myself and prioritizing my own needs and thoughts. I’ve been divorced for three years, and life is free. It’s a lot of work too, just learning how to take care of yourself. It’s important to me. It makes me more confident. One thing I like to do now is get my nails done at least once a month, but typically every two weeks, simply because when I get my nails done, I feel like I’ve got my life together. It doesn’t matter if anyone else feels that way. This is what I like, so it’s what I do.” – Jasmine Shaw of Birmingham.

Hiking has been therapeutic to Shaw the past few years.

Embracing change and having faith have helped Jasmine Shaw enjoy life. (Tamika Moore / People of Alabama)

“When you go through a breakup, you’re not just leaving the physical companionship of your person, you’re also leaving the hope for everything that you thought that your life was going to be. I had to face the fear of what is this new unknown path. For me, my grounding is in faith. Behold, I am doing a new thing. I had to embrace the fear of going through the wilderness because as scary as it was, it wasn’t more painful than staying in the situation I was in.”

Shaw is the Internal Operations manager at Ruffner Mountain Nature Coalition, a podcast producer of “The Jasmine Tea” and a campaign manager for Share the Mic Alabama.

These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.