Hey, I’m Lily, 18 years old and from Glastonbury CT (quite the uneventful area). It is quiet and nice, but I have to admit it’s incredibly easy to get bored here, which is partly why I’m so thirsting for adventure! It helps to have hobbies — that is my primary boredom cure. I love making jewelry for friends, home movies with my brother, cooking, photography, editing, music, artsy stuff and tons more. I also love to write: creatively, journalistically, ranting randomly, poetry or whatever comes to mind. I have trouble condensing though as you may notice. It’s safe to say I’m very eclectic. I just want to try everything, and I encourage myself not to be afraid to, no matter what the new thing may be.
I feel like life should be richly full of experience, meaning stepping outside of your comfort zone at least now and then. You need stories to tell and new frontiers to explore. And this can only happen by taking a leap in a new direction, or at least a small step to start. I chose to dive head first into something new, and I am ecstatic to be a part of Global Citizen Year this year. In CT I hike and bike, roller blade, rock climb, camp, all that usual outdoorsy stuff. But being one who has never traveled outside the country EVER, I am growing restless in this small town scenario. I can’t wait for life to begin! You should also know that I am in love with nature. We have a long standing relationship dating back to before I could tie my shoes. Barefoot is always more fun. Over the years there have been so many threats, old and new, tearing us apart. And I’ve learned, to my dismay, how many others do not share my apparently less popular view of the earth. Since I was young I understood how we have a simple, fundamentally moral obligation to give back to the world for all it gives to us. And when I discovered that most others do not agree with this idea, I made it my mission to change their minds. How exactly I would go about this I didn’t know, I just knew it needed to be done at any cost. Ah, the naively ambitious nature of youth. Now, of course, I see realistically the comical magnitude of what feat I chose. But still my mind was, and is, set. I still don’t know quite exactly how, though I have some theoretical ideas, but somehow I need to change the way people see and treat this little old planet we call home. For now I just need to get out of my bubble and explore. I want to see the world not in pages of National Geographic but up close and personal. I can’t even begin to imagine what amazing experiences lay ahead for us all, but I know they will be life changing. And that is enough positive promise to make me smile all summer long. 😉
