Hello World 🪷🌎✨

Yay I'm finally doing this!

My many thoughts have finally escaped my thousands of notion databases. Welcome to Lily's Valley!

I can't tell you how many times I started a blog and deleted it. However, I'm hopeful that this will be a consistent little corner of the internet rather than a "url not found" corpse later on.

Today I am rescuing my scrapped post from the depths of the dumpster and putting them out on the web!

(This is your sign to do the same)

As a raging perfectionist, I’ve found that trying to make everything perfectly presentable has been the most limiting obstacle yet.

I realized that this fear has only resulted in the loss of any output at all.

I was too afraid of criticism, but criticism is the only thing that could bring any of my work closer to perfect.

(And that’s on being a sensitive child)

So what is Lily’s Valley?

- Lily’s Valley is a digital space where I document my journey understanding science, health, and humans with an open mind and open heart

- One of my goals is to create a time capsule of my journey for my kids, but also for young students wanting to find a safe place to connect and learn about the world!

- I am passionate about both living local and understanding the vast interconnected global world that we live in today ✨🌎 as an Iowa girly, I’ve come to appreciate how beautiful both small towns and large cities are, and I believe you can find beauty wherever you travel to (even if it is the middle of nowhere)

There are a vast number of issues that I am very passionate about; here are just a few!

- Public health and thriving communities 🩺🌎

- Healthy living and mindfulness 🥑🍎🍋

- Human rights and women’s rights ✍️📜

- Science communication and advocacy 🔬🧬

- Public policy and misinformation mitigation 🏛️📚

I have conducted research in public health and nutrition, generational nutrition, human trafficking, and molecular biology, and I’m hoping to use my next two years as an undergraduate to narrow my path and learn more!