Nature to me is connection to the Earth and the forces that are greater than human beings. As humans, we can be selfish, deceitful, and draining. In times when I do not want to be around people, I go outside and spend time alone with the trees and the natural world around us. I love the things that our planet created before we industrialized it. The animals, the millions of plant and tree species, and the occurences that we admire like the Grand Canyon, miraculous waterfalls, mountains and more. There is so much to love about nature and appreciating the life around us and how much the Earth gives us should be a larger part of all of our lives. I show my gratitude to nature and Earth by recycling and reusing as much as I can, spread awareness about the things that harm the Earth, and admiring natural places without changing them. By treating the planet that protects us with care and respecting the things that live in nature alongside us, we can all appreciate nature and the amazing world we were born in. Your body is healthy because of the fruits, herbs, and vegetables that are grown in nature. We cannot live without water or air, which we have in abundance because of trees and flowers. Nature impacts every aspect of our life and survival. I love it because it gives us our life, and allows us to connect to forces that are exponentially bigger than us. We can look at things thousands of times larger than us. We can use the Earth to grow things that taste and look beautiful. Nature is my best friend, and I treat it with love and respect for all that it does for us.

An adversity I’ve faced recently that I’m enduring is the sudden death of my cousin, Tiara Goldsberry on May 6, 2021. She was a beautiful girl who was born in Colorado, but lived in Virginia most of her life. She was full of compassion and ambition. She was talented, writing and free styling her own raps which were celebrated and promoted on social media. She was focused and hardworking and positive, which is part of why I miss her so deeply and why she was loved by so many. She passed a week away from graduating high school and one month from her 18th birthday. This was so difficult for me to comprehend as it happened so suddenly. A late night, car accident, text messages and Instagram posts. I looked up to her because she was so pretty, nice to everyone, immensely intelligent, and forward thinking. She focused on growth and growing herself to be successful. Her life was cut short, and I’ve had to improve myself in order to grieve and heal. I’ve overcome it by living through it. When it first happened, I was preparing for graduation and my senior week vacation, both of which she was going to attend. Finishing up my final year of high school, bright-eyed and ready to go to college, her death shattered me. Running on autopilot for the celebrations and early summertime, I attended her funeral and laid her to rest. After, I stepped back from the world and reassessed myself and who I was. I wanted to be something different. I saw life for what it was. I even asked myself did I still want to be here, did I even have the desire to go on. These thoughts allowed depression to come into my life, and become a large part of it. I saw darkness. I saw dread, and I saw sadness. I felt it everyday, from the time I woke up to when I laid down to sleep. I brought myself out of this state by realizing what my cousin would want for me and what the world was offering me. A new opportunity to appreciate all of life and all it has to offer. From lessons learned, to birth and death, to the small blessings we receive. All parts of life are exciting and dangerous and sad and hopeful. My cousin would want me to love full heartedly and live everyday with gratitude and appreciation. She was nothing if not grateful. For what we had and didn’t have. This resonates with me as I had to shift my mind from the glass half full mindset to a more positive outlook. Instead of remaining in sadness diving into all the things I didn’t have and why, I could look at all the things I do have and love it. My strength in this situation and my resilience to continue moving forward despite all the feelings of doubt and emptiness I had will help me move mountains in the future. As I doubted if I could stand everyday and if I could truly get through, I pushed until the reality I saw for myself was real. I pulled myself out of a dark stage with the help of my mind, and Tiara’s support through spirit. I’ve reached places I never thought I would after her passing, and I know that I can achieve everything I desire with appreciation for the positive and perseverance. I am still overcoming, but I will push everyday to obtain the things I want and my set goals, now and in future. Tiara would be proud.

Life has been passing by rapidly, and this speed has been felt by the collective. We are working diligently to get through a global pandemic. We are also trying to find the best solutions to problems that are large and have long been set aside, such as racial tension and the illegitimacy of the justice system, as well as climate change and environmental issues. These issues stacked next to the numerous other problems that are both seen and unseen, make odds for the human race rather bleak. I felt afraid for a long period of what the future would look like, what would happen to my family and I. I tried my very hardest to protect my family members from illness and those around me from the other circumstances the world had given us, but my efforts proved futile. I knew that although I couldn’t stop my loved ones from being affected from the tribulations of the world in which we live, I could work my hardest to make sure the future is the brightest it can be for them, myself, and the other people in the world who coexist alongside me. My source of hope in this and the future is the revolution that we are currently in and the generations of teens, young adults, and children who will grow up during the most unpredictable time of human history. There are people in this world who are selfish, ready to see the demise of others and inherently themselves. This is a minority, as there are more people in the world who are fighting for what is right in addition to standing up for themselves and others than those who only want to gain personally. There is much more compassion and empathy present in the world than ever before, because many of the issues we are facing do not discriminate in the way people do. Climate change, corruption in our governments, the continuation of the pandemic, and more are problems that every human will feel the affects of if we do not help each other to eliminate them. Through social media, people across the globe are connected to each other. From scientists to influencers to creators and more, the power of awareness and the new theme of prosperity and togetherness brought by the younger generations bring the possibility of a new, more compassionate Earth to the horizon. From interactions in the comment section of a TikTok to thousands of dollars donated on a random GoFundMe, people today are giving and aware of the problems that others face, even those they might not resonate with their own lives. As I observe all ages on social medias, I see that we are sensitive and can work together to accomplish common goals. I am hopeful because there are people in the world trying to make it better for all, and I am not the only one. We are all working toward a better world and I see hope for our future.

I decided shortly before my freshman year of college began to major in Psychology. It was a major risk for me because I knew there would be great obstacles finding employment in the future and the extensive education the degree involves. I came to this decision after the year I had lived through with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. I realized that there was so much more to life than we had previously taken time to appreciate, and we were forced by a very persistent infectious disease to do just that. Before the pandemic and eventually the state-issued shutdown, I rarely took time to myself. I excelled through high school while working and maintaining clubs and extracurriculars, as well as my social life and time with family. My schedule was packed. Things were very hectic, especially during my junior/senior year as I graduated early. Once schools and businesses were closed, I was compelled to take a step back from all the planning and all the stress, even in a time when I didn’t feel I wanted to. I wanted to keep busy and keep my mind feeling like there was a goal, there was something we had to do and it was going to get done. I was being told to relax. For months I sat at home wondering like the rest of the country, what was going to happen. I asked so many times, “why did things take such a sharp turn?”, “when will things blow over, or go back to normal?”, to no one in particular. I was so confused because all the things I did to keep me going, were suddenly and completely gone. No meetings, no school, no assignments for a time. The weeks between March 13th, my last day of school before it was announced that schools would be closed and when virtual instruction began in the form of asynchronous learning were filled with anger and sadness that was misdirected, and even past that time struggling with the new rules and mandates. This developed into depression as months went by and I couldn’t shake the unmotivated, clinging to comfort, anxious feeling I felt since the first news casts on a virus in England that had U.S. scientists concerned. I coped with all these emotions by writing, and using knowledge gained from books and experience to heal myself and my unhealthy thought patterns. Poetry allowed me to express my feelings in a way that was constructive and personal to me. As the pandemic continues unpredictably, I’ve begun sharing my pieces in hopes that other people can relate to the struggle of finding yourself in both a pivotal time in your life and the world’s history. In my future, I will assist people with finding healthy ways to expel the emotions that we all hold inside and embrace all experiences as chances to grow through my Bachelors’ (and hopefully masters’) degree in Psychology. This love and growth for yourself only extends as you interact with others and become a positive force in the lives of the people around you. I hope to use my journey of growth to help other teenagers, Black girls and women, and those who cope with mental illness grow into their best selves. With the proper support and information, we can shift not only our minds but our lives when we examine why we feel the way we do, and how we can use those feelings to do and be better every day. These to me, are the best people to be around and what I hope to inspire in my career.