Jayson Aaron’s life changed one fateful night. He came home to find a burglar ransacking his apartment and ended up with a bullet one-inch from his heart. The last thing he heard before he slipped away was, “Oh God, we lost him.” Yet somehow, Aaron miraculously pulled through. When he woke up, he decided to change his life — by becoming the artist he’d always dreamt of being.
In this installment of Lifted from Under Armour, Jayson Aaron walks us through how went from a hospital bed to become one the most interesting young artists working today.
“I was determined to live my life on my terms,” Aaron tells Uproxx. “I was determined to execute all these ideas I’d been sleeping on.”
Aaron started making visual art to fulfill his art dreams and embraced running to refill his strength. Today, for Aaron, running is a form of exercise that comes with a side of therapy. As he runs, he repeats affirmations — what Aaron calls “regimented words” — to himself to keep grinding in life and art — focused and on the track.
“I am great, I am powerful, I am love,” is Aaron’s mantra as he winds his way around the race track again and again. And, as his life reveals, these affirmations change you. Aaron tells us, “Your posture starts to change. Your breathing starts to change. Your thoughts are directed towards something positive.”
Jayson Aaron’s positive reinforcement on the track translates to a positive attitude in his life and art, where anything becomes possible.
