Reina Mentality 101: Balance Between Self-Love and Selflessness (and chess, apparently)

So, what is a “reina”? Who can be a “reina”? What is a “reina mentality”?

“Reina,” means “queen” in Spanish. Being a Latina growing up a loving, Spanish-speaking home, we are called “mi reina hermosa” on the daily. But was we get older, sometimes, those gestures become less often and we have to become our own endearing Abuelita. Like, “hechale ganas, mija” or “ponte las pilas” when you’re too tired to finish your homework, if you know what I mean…

Right before starting this blog entry I Googled “queen definition” for some inspiration. Needless to say, there were 108,000,000 results. However, two definitions stood out to me. The first being the verb, “behave in an unpleasant and superior way toward.” This is not an adequate definition of a queen, this definition would be most suitable for “full of herself.” *rolling eyes emoji* Anyways… As an avid chess player (like, I literally have an chess-playing app on my phone and I get notifications and the whole thing..), I liked this definition far more: “the most powerful chess piece that each player has, able to move any number of unobstructed squares in any direction along a rank, file, or diagonal on which it stands.” In chess, your goal is to attack the opponent’s king and protect one’s own queen at all times. The queen is powerful by herself – there are no limits to her reach and she can move to protect her pieces as necessary. Similarly, she should still be surrounded in protection. I realize I am painting somewhat of an abstract picture here.

Essentially, life is like a game of chess. If you are playing right, there will always be a lot of things going on at once, you will win some and lose some, but keep yourself number one, and be down for those who love you because they’re down for you. Over time and through practice, it becomes easier to understand how pieces fall apart to teach you something new or for something better to come together.

The truth is that we’re all queens. It’s a mindset and a lifestyle that anyone can adopt and update to their needs. With all of this said, I hope you enjoyed this little read. Follow my blog for more, thank you for your time. SIDE NOTE: I highly recommend playing chess as a mind-stimulating hobby! Let me know if you like chess as well.

 

Let’s chat. Email me! chantelmoreno2013@yahoo.com