What are your favorite emojis?
🫶🏼🥰🤍✨🙌🏼😘💖☀️🌙🐈⬛🧿🩵🌿🍃
What are your favorite emojis?
🫶🏼🥰🤍✨🙌🏼😘💖☀️🌙🐈⬛🧿🩵🌿🍃
When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out?
I’ve been leaning a lot more into signs, synchronicities and spiritual practices and I had been getting signs around 7s. I was leaning into it and happened to find some old scratch offs that my grandma gave me a while back, and the total winnings on the scratch offs equaled to $7. I knew that the next time we went to the gas station, I had to bring those.
A few more days go by and my fiancé needed to get gas before our breakfast date, so I brought along my $7 and was so excited to turn them in and play that $7. When we got there, I was informed that the $5 winning ticket I had was so old that it actually expired, but that my two $1 winners were still good.
Since I was still playing 7s, I grabbed a couple of the 7-11-21 games and got back in the car and started scratching. One won absolutely nothing, but the other one won $15! I was so shook and told my fiancé “I’m going back to get three of the lucky 7s, because they’re $5 each and I wanted one!” So of course I run my happy ass back inside and get three of those Lucky 7s and go on my way.
We decided to go to breakfast and the store first and that we’d scratch them once we got home. Once we were home we start scratching away and although none of the actual games one, there was a bonus scratch game on each card where if the two symbols in the bonus matched then you won the prize listed. I start scratching and see two symbols of grapes- they match!! I start scratching away and I see that we just won $77!
I am not a gambler as I usually lose, but this time I decided to play on the 7s and I am so happy that I did! I played $7 back in and only got a $1 winner (which I still have yet to cash in) and happily took my $70! That’s definitely the most I have ever won on a scratch off and I will always remember this story.

Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.
I fell in love my junior year of high school, and I went full send. I completely opened my heart to him; I was honest about my insecurities and also expressed what I was not willing to put up with. I said “I love you too” after only 11 days of us being together, and to this day, we are still in love.
In October we will celebrate our 13th anniversary together, and on that same day we will be eloping! We moved out together at 19, bought our townhome at 21, and this year at age 29 we will finally be husband and wife.
It’s insane for me to think about how much we have gone through together, and how we literally have grown together for over a decade. Our communication skills have improved immensely over the years, which has a lot to do with my own personal work in therapy.
It’s been so fun to see how we have grown together, but also how we have grown individually. I used to be extremely codependent, which could have resulted in some horrific situations, but I was truly blessed to find such a respectful, supportive life partner.
Falling in love is a risk, and doing so at such a young age is also terrifying, especially because we barely even know ourselves as teenagers. I am so happy that I trusted my gut and allowed myself to fall so deeply in love. Together we put in work to keep our relationship thriving, and I am so blessed to have him in my life. 🫶🏼
How do you unwind after a demanding day?
Let’s be honest, when I am not in a good headspace I am SCROOOLLLLINGG. I just scroll and scroll and waste my time knowing that this is not super helpful or healthy when it comes to relaxing.
What actually helps is when I put my phone away, get into comfortable clothes and just sit and stretch for a little bit. I do this sometimes with a podcast or music, or sometimes I just do it in silence. This helps to just get thoughts out and get back into my body.
My absolute favorite thing to do is go on a walk, preferably in some sunshine. I won’t go outside if it’s too chilly though.
What is your favorite restaurant?
This is the restaurant that my fiancé proposed to me at. It’s our regular breakfast place and the food is amazing, as well as the service! To me, the best part is that they give to-go cups for your coffee!

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
“When are you guys getting married?” “When is he gonna propose?” “What’s taking so long?”
In one way, I get it- we were together for 12 years before we got engaged, and in this society that is “not normal.” In another way, I am like fuck society and these fake timelines that we love to project onto everyone.
I personally am very happy with my fiancé and our relationship, and I was happy prior to having a ring. I also am a more private person and especially when it comes to things that I find to be very precious or intimate, so it can be easy to assume things when there aren’t a lot of details given. But we all know what happens when we make assumptions… lol.
I am happy with this timeline of my life, and I am excited to be able to tell our future children about our love story and show them how healthy, true love can look. I am happy to have this foundation built prior to jumping into marriage, as we are both so confident in our relationship and we know the best and worst parts of each other.
If we would have gotten married right at 18 or 19 before we moved out, we would have been judged for that. At the same time, we had judgment from family about us moving in together so young, and a couple years after that we even had judgment thrown at us when we decided to buy a house.
I have my own views, as does my fiancé, and considering we are the only people in our relationship, our opinions are the only relevant ones when it comes to us. In general, people are always going to have opinions, but what is important is that you stay true to your own beliefs and values, despite all of the outside noise.
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
“As an only child who was raised by functioning alcoholics, Jena was destined to be a healer.”
LOL not gonna lie, writing that sentence weirdly made me more motivated to pursue certain projects that I’ve been avoiding.
Thank you.
What experiences in life helped you grow the most?
Moving out with my significant other at 19 was a huge turning point for me. I was financially responsible and prepared, but my traumas and mental health caught up to me which started a long journey of healing and growing.
Going to therapy, having to advocate for myself when trying different medications for my anxiety, actually coming to a place in my mind where I didn’t hate myself and my brain… all of these experiences have helped me grow. I am blessed to be regulated off medications now, but like any other human, there are still things I continue to work through and will be doing for the rest of my life; the difference is that now I finally feel I’m worth it, and I’m healing out of love, not shame.
Do you believe in fate/destiny?
When you look up the definition of fate, Oxford dictionary defines it as “
the development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power.” When I read this I initially thought about the quote “everything happens for a reason,” which also happens to be the first tattoo I ever got. That is something I have always been told and something I have always believed.
I’d like to believe that there is a higher power that has a greater plan and everything is happening as it should. This is something I have been finding peace in and can completely understand why people are religious and/or spiritual. It’s much easier to let go when you trust that there is a positive source conducting your life in the best possible way. There isn’t any way to prove it, but our brain will automatically look for confirmation bias and it’s honestly more enjoyable to believe that than the chaotic, anxious thoughts that used to spin around in my brain.
Who are your favorite people to be around?
My fiancé is my favorite person to be around for an infinite number of reasons, but if I had to narrow it down to one it would probably be his nervous system. What I mean by that is he is always so calm and confident that whatever happens will be okay, and he seems so regulated. When I am having a stressful time, I can feel it all melt away when I am in his arms.
As far as the general idea of favorite people: I love the people who are real, who are direct and who are kind. I don’t appreciate lying and I’d much rather someone be honest about who they are and what they like, and fully embrace and express their true selves. I love people who laugh a lot and don’t take life too seriously, because in reality, none of us make it out alive.