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Taylor Ford

@taylorrford

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ucla beach vb #26
bay area & los angeles
@ucla_engineering

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snippets of the week🧜‍♀️🪼🫧 by @taylorrford

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a year ago

Still in awe of this moment. No words for how much this team means to me. 🤍

I’m not usually someone who shares vulnerable parts of my life online, but I felt like this was important to talk about.

As our beach season wraps up, I want to bring light to something I’ve struggled with throughout life & athletics, especially this season.

I was diagnosed with dysautonomia at 16 after symptoms came on randomly, leading to 9 months of testing and doctor’s appointments that took me away from volleyball and school at the time. Returning to exercise and volleyball was a battle I’m still navigating today, and it often felt overwhelming learning how to manage an array of constant symptoms, plus drastic heart rate and blood pressure fluctuations.

Living with dysautonomia is not something I talk about often, especially in D1 athletics, out of fear it could affect how people viewed my ability to perform or be seen as an excuse. During my three years at UCLA, I rarely brought it up unless there were dire circumstances.

However, this past season my symptoms worsened considerably, and I dug myself into a hole. Trying to navigate everything alone stopped working, and being forced to open up more to teammates and staff ultimately helped me more than I expected. I’m incredibly grateful for Ruthy, Rivas, Gabby, Chris, and my teammates who supported me through the tough days and weeks, even when they didn’t know what I was feeling at the time.

Most importantly, I want to share this because there are so many people quietly fighting invisible illnesses every single day, battles most people never see or acknowledge. Living with something invisible can be exhausting, isolating, and discouraging. Especially when no one fully sees or understands the extra strength it takes to complete basic tasks, or just to get through the day.

And as corny as it sounds, I still think it’s important to remind anyone navigating an invisible illness, or anything others can’t immediately see, that your effort matters. It’s something I’ve tried to remind myself, that continuing to live your life the way you want to, even on the harder days, is something to be proud of.

Enough said, natty champs baby🤍 by @taylorrford

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5 months ago

switching things up this year ;) #26 by @taylorrford

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20 hours ago

summer you’ve outdone yourself 💃 by @taylorrford

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16 days ago

in @vuoriclothing always #vuoripartner by @taylorrford

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17 days ago

3 more weeks of this 😉 by @taylorrford

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a month ago

gno by @taylorrford

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2 months ago

Enjoying summer walks with @drinkspindrift #spindriftpartner by @taylorrford

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2 months ago

the weekend of sunshine and rainbows @hardfest @teamllb6er by @taylorrford

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2 months ago

the west coast tour by @taylorrford

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3 months ago

Got it done in 3 🥂😛
Linguistics & Computer Science
Excited to continue at UCLA with a Master’s in Engineering! @ucla_engineering by @taylorrford

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4 months ago

calm vegas weekend 🧘‍♀️ taken in Las Vegas, Nevada by @taylorrford

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5 months ago