Name: Bre

Social Media Handle/Username: reinebr3

Introduce Yourself/Tell About Yourself: Hi! My name is Breonna but a lot of my friends and family call me Bre. I’m a 20-year-old student living in Nashville, Tennessee. I am a Visual Arts major, a big sister to three, and a little sister to five.

What Inspires You Every day? : I would say my community inspires me every day. A lot of my close friends after high school (and during the pandemic) moved away for school while I stayed, but we keep in contact every single day. My friends and I always bounce our ideas from each other, near and far, to make sure that we are successful as we can be. My mom inspires me as well, experiencing where we came from, and how she picked herself up and made changes within her life, for us and for herself. The sacrifices she made, with the little resources she had, inspires me to do and be more.

What is some words of wisdom you live by?: Surprisingly, optimism goes a long way. Even if you have to fake it at times. There would be times when life may be falling apart for me, but knowing that there’s always a solution, or a bigger agenda, I somehow always have faith in myself and God. Eventually, the “delusion” becomes a reality. Some call it blind faith.. I think they’re right.

I am not the type to hold grudges or be angry at a person or a situation forever. That’s not something I simply believe in. Everyone has their own world they live in, which results in their own actions and mannerisms. Once you realize nothing is personal, you just don’t take anything personally.

What is your ultimate goal in life? : My ultimate goal in life is peace. I don’t ask for much, but that is one thing I would love for myself and the people I care about to experience, whether with me or without. I want to somehow make an impact on those I love.

In a perfect world, I would like to still live in my hometown, since it’s growing into a beautiful city. I would like to travel internationally, bringing my family, especially my mother, with me. I believe she deserves to see the world, since she fought so much for me to have a life in this crazy system of things. I would also love to display and sell my art through museums, as well as through social media. I even would like to make graphic art and design, especially for musical artists’ albums and song covers. I want my abundance of money and income to be grown beautifully through this.

Life changes in a blink of an eye, so I wouldn’t be too worked up if this isn’t the life I’m destined to live, but I definitely would love to live it. Hopefully through God, I will be able to.

What was a challenging moment in your life, and how did you overcome it? : This is a tough one, but I would say the entirety of 2021. I personally believe in nonphysical death and rebirths throughout life, and I think that year was definitely one of those times. I lost my grandfather and one of my best friends in March and April 2021, as well as going through toxic cycles from people who simply didn’t care for me the way I thought. My best friend and my grandfather were two majorly outspoken supporters in my life, either challenging my way of thinking or sticking by me when I had a disagreeable opinion.

At a time when contact was limited, as well as my communication skills already being terrible, losing them was detrimental to my overall mental and spiritual health. I depended on all the wrong people to “fix” me, and not seeking the people, or God, who both cared for me the most. Understandably, you tend to self-destruct when going through things like this, and I’m not shy of saying that I have. I’m not shy of saying that I’ve done lots of stupid things and said a lot of stupid words, either. That’s life. Those disasters of mine were, surprisingly, the beginning of something beautiful for me. It opened my eyes to a perspective that I’ve never seen before, with myself and with those around me. I realized that, with people as outspoken as they were, their opinions and their feelings held power, even beyond life. Even being a Gemini, I have a hard time communicating how I feel and where I stand on things. With this, I work a lot harder to feel seen and heard, so people can understand and love me, and eventually trust me enough to understand and love them. In a way, I still do what they’ve always gotten onto me about, knowing that somewhere they’re proud of me for sticking up for what I believe in, or declaring the love for people I care for that I usually keep hidden. With this I find constant clarity.

How would you help people around the world who are going through mental health problems? : There is absolutely no right or wrong way to heal. There is no time limit. Healing has its days when you don’t feel like getting up in the morning. When you cry over things you thought you’ve gotten over. When some days you feel nothing but anger, and during others, nothing but bliss. There is no right or wrong way, ever. Your life is yours, and as much advice you can take from others and their own experiences, what works for you is what is for you. Some people need solitude and time. Some people need a sense of community. Lot of the times, it could be both.

At the end of the day, progression is still progression, whether you take 5 steps forward and 3 steps back. I think the worst thing a person can do is to compare their healing journey to others, or work themselves up on why they haven’t gotten over a certain challenge yet. I believe that worrying about progression, instead of letting feelings come and go the way they should, affect people’s journeys more than the situation that caused it.In the end, there’s always someone, either in the physical world or beyond, rooting for you and your journey. I think people deserve to have that never ending support, and I believe that people deserve to root for themselves just as they root for others. No one isn’t deserving of the love that comes from themselves. It’s the purest love of them all.

How would you describe a better world for us all? : I would like a world where people didn’t care about everything so much. Which doesn’t mean people’s feelings aren’t invalid, of course, but I wish people would have the same understanding that I do about situations: that everything has a purpose. I feel that way of thinking could save many people from disappointment. Eventually, as time goes on, I believe many start to adopt this way of thinking as well, and I find that to be a beautiful thing.

One person who inspires my dream of a better world is a philosopher named Lao-Tzu, who believed that a world ridden of exceptions and desires is a beautiful one, and that all desire is detrimental to the progression of a peaceful life. He believed in embracing what comes naturally, and that there is no actual “bad” or “good” thing in life. He believed in seeing things for what they are as spontaneously as they come. With this, I take every experience now as a way to learn and to progress, and I feel like if everyone did the same (in their own ways of course), life would be a little more peaceful.

What else would you like to tell others about you or your life?: My life isn’t too interesting, but hopefully this brought clarity to anyone who needs it. I think that’s something that I would like the most: to help anyone in any way I can.

Fun Fact: I can lick my nose and my elbow, lol.