36. Following Your Intuition and Embracing Change with Janice Hoult
Mar 08, 2024
Heidi Sawyer
Janice Hoult found herself feeling misaligned after a long-term career in working in corporate marketing for Big Food. This feeling of misalignment grew and she decided to make a life-altering switch to being a holistic nutritionist and life coach. We discuss how aligning your career with your core values can spark profound transformation. She shares the key moments that propelled her from pushing products that conflicted with her beliefs to fostering a career pulsating with her passion for wellness. For anyone standing at the crossroads of change, Janice's journey is a beacon of hope and a testament to the power residing within our intuition. So, if you're curious about how to navigate life’s challenges with grace and want to learn about the beauty of surrendering to a higher plan, this episode is an invitation to join a conversation that could very well redefine the trajectory of your life journey.
Janice Hoult found herself feeling misaligned after a long-term career in working in corporate marketing for Big Food. This feeling of misalignment grew and she decided to make a life-altering switch to being a holistic nutritionist and life coach. We discuss how aligning your career with your core values can spark profound transformation. She shares the key moments that propelled her from pushing products that conflicted with her beliefs to fostering a career pulsating with her passion for wellness. For anyone standing at the crossroads of change, Janice's journey is a beacon of hope and a testament to the power residing within our intuition. So, if you're curious about how to navigate life’s challenges with grace and want to learn about the beauty of surrendering to a higher plan, this episode is an invitation to join a conversation that could very well redefine the trajectory of your life journey.
As you listen to my interview with Janice Holt, you'll hear us talk a lot about following your intuition and trusting your inner guidance for your next steps. A question to keep in mind as you're listening along is is there something in your life that has begun to feel misaligned and, if so, what would it look like if you were following your intuition and trusting your inner knowing for your next steps? I hope you enjoy my conversation with Janice. Janice, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:
I'm excited to dive into this conversation, but before we get started, will you just give our listeners just a quick about you?
Speaker 2:
Sure, so I'm Janice Holt. I'm a certified holistic nutritionist and life coach, and I help women feel their best inside and out.
Speaker 1:
I'd love for you just to share with us that moment that you decided in your life something needs to change. What was that catalyst for reinvention for you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:
So, as I said, I'm a holistic nutritionist, but that wasn't always my career.
Speaker 2:
I used to work in corporate for some of the largest global food brands, and I remember specifically the moment when I called my husband, driving home from my hour and a half long commute from my job, feeling like what I was doing in the world was contributing for the worse instead of for the better, and the words that I literally said was I feel like this job is ripping my soul out of my body Because, as you can imagine, at this point, being a holistic nutritionist, that was my focus was health and wellbeing for myself, but my job was to promote the over consumption of these foods that I knew were harming people, not to say that we don't eat those foods sometimes, but my job was, again, the over consumption and really using strategic marketing tactics to promote foods that were unhealthy, as if they were okay for you or even better for you than they really were.
Speaker 2:
And so there was a complete misalignment and it had been a path I was going down for a really long time, but that particular moment like in tears, crying, saying I just can't do it anymore was the pivotal moment for me.
Speaker 1:
I can see how that would feel misaligned, especially with doing what you're doing today, and you were probably knowledgeable about a lot of these things back then, but even more so knowing what you know now. Looking back, it's probably shocking to you.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, like when I started my career in marketing and advertising, it was great, I loved it. I was like fresh out of college. I really wanted to have this type of career and the focus of the marketing that I was doing, as these foods are delicious and they're very convenient and it was all very like honest and forthright. And then I noticed, as times changed you know, over many years I was in the industry for 15 years that near the end it really did shift from the focus to then being healthier foods and I felt like now it's becoming deceptive marketing and not when I'm about and not when I'm aligned to.
Speaker 2:
And as I got older personally, my health became more of a focus for me. You know, when you're in your early 20s you're invincible and it doesn't really matter because the future is so far away. But then when I was starting to think about my own family and getting pregnant and what my future looked like, I started looking at my own health habits and realizing that what I was doing wasn't supportive and I started going down this journey for myself and then I connected the dots and realized, okay, what I'm doing in my career is kind of the opposite of what I'm doing in my personal life and then there was definitely this feeling of unease for me and what I was doing for my job.
Speaker 1:
And did that intuitive knowing, did that come as just like a thunderbolt that hit you one day, or were there a lot of little kind of whispers along the way until you got to that point where you're in tears and you're saying I can't do this anymore?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, there were definitely whispers. Probably it wasn't as in tune with them as I am now and it was just, like, I think, the universe just trying to give it to me and I wasn't listening and I wasn't hearing it, and so it would serve up different situations that were more difficult, maybe problems at work with different employees and coworkers, and those kind of challenges that then actually caused me just to move companies instead of moving careers. And getting into a career then that was actually in a job that was perfect Like, the people were amazing, the size of the company was great, commute was better, all of these things started working out perfectly, but the clients were pretty much the same and the job that I was doing was the same. I realized, okay, well, I changed one thing and that wasn't it. Now I can really see what is the problem.
Speaker 2:
Then there were definitely the last two campaigns that I worked on were the most health-focused in terms of the marketing strategy that I was working on and the most obvious to me that it was deceptive. I remember getting the pitch for my very last campaign and it was to promote something to the diabetic market that I knew full well. It was probably one of the reasons that caused diabetes in the first place and they changed a few ingredients and they're like there now it's healthy for you. I knew that was going to be my last job. After that I said no, I can't do this again, I'm out. I made a plan to move forward and exit it. What?
Speaker 1:
did that plan look like? What did you do after that, when you finally left? I'm sure you didn't just walk out the door one day. I mean you had to line things up. Then what happened? Where did you go from there?
Speaker 2:
I already knew before this campaign that I was going to be moving out of this career and starting my practice full time. Of course, talking with my husband, what does this look like? Kind of daydreaming, like in the future, this is what's going to be. Then, when I got this last campaign, I said, okay, that future is going to have to be changed or the timeline is going to have to be increased. For sure, the way that it looked like it actually for us, I think the stars aligned, which is the way that I think the universe works was the area that we were living in.
Speaker 2:
Real estate started booming like crazy. We ended up being able to sell our house. We moved to another town. We knew this was going to be a complete lifestyle change. This is just how it worked out for us. But we ended up making a good financial outcome from selling our home, moving to another area where houses were less expensive. That gave us a lot of leeway in terms of time to not necessarily make the plan, but start to reap the benefits of that replace that income. I was working remotely, so I did not need to commute anywhere specific. We were flexible in that area. Then, living there and working in my business, we also realized I have the flexibility to actually live anywhere.
Speaker 2:
We decided to move our family of three young kids to Columbia, south America, and ran my business from there. My husband is Canadian, but also Colombian. He's first-generation Canadian, so he still has family there in Columbia. We thought you know what? Let's give this a try. It wasn't just that I changed careers, we also changed towns, and then we ended up changing countries. This whole lifestyle shift was not something that I was expecting, of course, but along the way just was guided like this is the right next step. This is the right next step. Listening to that intuition and being open and available to taking it was obviously very transformative for who I am now that if you had asked me when I started in my 20s in this marketing career, I would never would have pictured.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I imagine then in your 20s you probably were dreaming about getting to where you eventually got to thinking that's it, that's where I want to go, that's the goal. Then you got there and times had changed and you're like, okay, this is not aligned. I've evolved as a person. I know different information. I think when we know better, we do better. Hopefully we listen to your voice and we say, okay, it's time to move on. When you got to Columbia, what did you notice about the way people were eating there? Were there a lot of cultural differences in diet and what you were seeing there versus being in the States?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, definitely what I noticed there. And there's different classes there. Right, there's either extreme poverty or extreme wealth and there really isn't a lot of middle class. I would say it was quite extreme, but definitely, you see, a lot more fresh food. I mean, columbia is the second most diverse country in the world. The types of foods there are amazing. They are affordable. Also organic opportunities.
Speaker 2:
We lived on a farm where we actually had a garden and the groundskeeper kept it up, so we had fresh food. We also had, you know, chickens and eggs and all of those things, which was really amazing for us to experience, and definitely a lot less trips to the grocery store buying pre-packaged foods. Everything was, you know, mainly fresh and made for us. But then a lot of people there also who are in more difficult situations. I would say for them it's a lot of fried foods, it's a lot of bread, soul, homemade and stuff, but not, I would say, the best diet, although the foods are there and available for them. So I think there is a different mindset in terms of health, because that group of people is more like in survival mode, like they're busy, they have to work, they have to make money. They don't have the same abilities as, say, someone like us coming in saying like, hey, health is a priority for us and we have the ability to put our time and attention and money towards that, although not like it's very expensive there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Here. Organic food does cost a lot more there. It's just more about sourcing and finding it, and then it's plentiful.
Speaker 1:
So what changed for you when you started to, you know, have chickens and fresh food and your I mean it sounds like your lifestyle changed quite drastically from King and corporate America to being in a different country and having all of this access to really things that you're raising yourself and living off the land, so to speak. What changed for you and your health during that time?
Speaker 2:
For me, the first and, I would say, biggest change would be the mindset shift when I was talking about people living in stress mode. While that might be true for people in developed countries who are struggling, the same does seem to be true for a lot of my clients who are just in the hustle of life and just really in it and also feel very stuck, like they don't see a way out. The first shift for me, once I changed careers not that I wasn't, it wasn't busy and I wasn't stressed it's a different kind of stress, one that before I would say really drained me, whereas when I started my new career I was energized by it, I was expanded by it. It's a different type of stress. It's a stress that actually gives you energy rather than drains you of energy.
Speaker 2:
Being open to new opportunities was also really different, because when you're in the hustle, the way that I look at it is like you have a very small perception and depth of field. You don't see the world around you, you're just so focused on getting the things done. That seems so important, because that is survival mode, right Focus and survive. But once you have more, I think you open it up and you have more peripheral vision, you see, like opportunity here, opportunity here oh, never thought about it this way. Let's explore that way of thinking which I think changes everything. So the way you look at the world changes, and then how you feel about it and how you respond to it changes.
Speaker 1:
Sounds like what you're talking about, almost like a nervous system reset, because when people are in fight or flight, they have, like this, really, as you describe tunnel vision. I can only see six inches in front of my face and that's it. And then, when you made this move and you followed your intuition, it sounds like everything did, and this is from a neuroscience perspective. It is what happens the peripheral opens up Anybody who's done meditation and breath work, you sit and you do a session and you look around afterwards and actually does look different what you're looking at. So it sounds like you almost had a nervous system reset when you went and made this change.
Speaker 2:
Yes, definitely when you were talking about the breath work and the meditation. You feel a certain way after it's done, but then you go back to your regular life. In this instance, because I was in a different life, it allowed me to be able to consciously decide what I wanted to focus on next or what opportunities I wanted to take advantage of and make it more of a longer lasting experience than just shortly after one of these inner working life lives type of practices. If you don't keep it up right, you just fall back into your old habits.
Speaker 2:
So, yeah, that was really beneficial to be in a different environment to be able to implement those things. And I was able to start implementing that in my nutrition practice, which was amazing because I was working with clients and they would be getting like the protocols and this is how how to do it, and they were having problems complying. Because of my experience and really starting to dive into the neuroscience of things mindset, habit formation I was able to then give them even more tools. So this is how you do it and then this is how you stick to it and build consistency and determination and trust in yourself to change your habits, rather than getting a plan that you don't ever do.
Speaker 1:
And that could be such a vicious cycle for people because if you don't change the mindset component of it, if you don't do that inner work, you're constantly running into that invisible brick wall and then feeling frustrated and shameful and all of the things that come with us like why can't I change? And I think that's the experience a lot of people have had trying to make health changes and unfortunately it causes some people to just throw the towel in and say this isn't for me. So what would you say to someone who has been in that cycle?
Speaker 2:
What I would say is there is an external factor, like something outside of you, that could be helpful, but until you address what's going on inside, then following that outside plan so talking like a nutrition plan, for example, that would be something very common People are like what's the diet, what's the plan, what's the protocol that I have to follow? But then you get that and yet you're still not following it. It makes it very clear in the older that we get, like in my 20s. It's like, of course I can follow the plan and it's no big deal, and then you get on this yo-yo diet roller coaster because you follow the plan until the plan is done and then you fall back into your own habits, the older that we get. What I find is people get the plan and they don't even really stick to it for very long. If they even start, they notice that those barriers, those walls, come up a lot sooner. It's not in just the plan. The plan is just one thing. What we need to work on first is what are those blocks that are coming up for us? Why is that getting in the way? What story are we telling ourselves that makes it hard for us to follow the plan.
Speaker 2:
That's the work that I do when I work with my clients. It's definitely a holistic health approach. So, mind, body, spirit, addressing what is going on in the brain habits, routines, blocks, subconscious things that are holding us back. How do we clear that away? Maybe it is nervous system, maybe it's past traumas, Maybe it is stories that you're telling yourself that just aren't true or supportive of you getting to your goal.
Speaker 2:
Working on that, along with the plan that will get you to the results, is, I think, what is most important to get there and stay there and then create the lifestyle. A lot of people come in and say I need a lifestyle change. Well, if you come in with I need a lifestyle change, your brain is going to give you so much resistance because it doesn't want change. At the end, it turns out to be a lifestyle change, but we do it in a way that seems sustainable and easy, and then you create these new habits and you create this new identity that makes maintaining it easy, as opposed to coming in with this big goal. That then becomes too much to sustain from the beginning because it's just too much change.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I see that too. People want to have the external results and they think that having the result is going to change what's going on inside. But it's actually the opposite. We've got to change what's going on inside and then getting up in the morning to work out and doing the things that you need to do and staying consistent, it gets easier because you're coming from this place of wholeness. You're coming from this place of having a sense of meaning and purpose behind what you're doing, instead of just doing it because you think it's going to make you feel better.
Speaker 2:
Exactly.
Speaker 1:
So tell me what's the biggest takeaway or lesson that you had through your reinvention your experience of going from feeling really misaligned in what you were doing to now having this alignment. Obviously, you're really passionate about what you're doing today. What was the big takeaway for you, and was there something that surprised you in the journey?
Speaker 2:
Hmm. So I would say, listen to your intuition, listen to those messages that are coming up for you and really embrace the fact that you are being guided. If you can stop and tune in and have faith that if you follow that guidance, that you will be supported along the way. And I would say the biggest surprise for me would be what you thought it would look like in the end is not exactly what it is that you were planning. But to be open to that and something better for you, because if you're not, then you become very rigid in an outcome, as opposed to being able to tune in to that guidance to lead you to the place that you're going, than forcing it, as opposed to flowing with it as opposed to letting it guide you, so that you end up at perhaps even a better destination than you even planned for yourself.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that is something that I am constantly working on for myself and my business as well. It's always looking to that guidance and, whether it's universe or the divine or God or whatever that is, for an individual it's like, yeah, your will be done, not mine, not mine. Who am I to think four billion years of this world being here and being on this planet at this exact time? Who the heck are we to think that we know exactly how things are supposed to unfold? We just have to listen to those little whispers and take that next step and recognize that we're just always exactly where we need to be. And that is so much easier said than done because it takes a constant, moment by moment surrender.
Speaker 2:
Yeah it's a co-creation is the way that I like to think about it, and I do my part and the universe does its part, and we get to where we're going and you never know. I feel like a lot of people or at least for me, and I've heard other people say the same thing when we're younger, we have this goal, we create that goal for ourselves, and then we're like now, what, right, what now? I only had this vision for myself. I created it. And now what? I'm stuck? Now I have to stay there. What I ended up doing? I felt very stuck and I was like well, this is exactly what I wanted and I got it. And now do I have to maintain it, or is there something more? And so, being open to that something more?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's okay to walk away from, and that's something I'm learning a lot listening to. There's different stories of women that I've interviewed on this show so far is so many of them have walked away from things that they thought they wanted in their life because they realized this is not me anymore, and it's okay to walk away from that, because what's waiting for you on other side can be so much greater than you could ever imagine, and you're living that out now. I'd love to hear from you what is one piece of advice that you would give to your younger self?
Speaker 2:
That's a good one. So many things that I would want to say. Yeah, I would say tune in to yourself, listen to yourself. Especially when we're young, there's just so many influence and we have such little trust in our own divine wisdom. So, yeah, I would say, just listen to yourself and trust yourself.
Speaker 1:
And what are you? I wouldn't let that guide you. And what are you reinventing now?
Speaker 2:
I am reinventing. I don't know if I would say that in the moment that I am reinventing, I would say I'm contemplating my reinvention. I don't fully know what that looks like yet. I feel like we are always constantly evolving and striving, and in different phases and chapters of our lives, and right now I think I am open to whatever that reinvention, guidance or path is for me to receive. Yeah, beautiful.
Speaker 1:
Where can people find you if they want to connect with you online and want to work with you?
Speaker 2:
My company is called High Vibe Ways and that is my website, that is my socials, and I also have a podcast called High Vibe Weight Loss as well. Thank you so much for coming on today.
Speaker 1:
I really enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much for having me and thank you for the work that you do. I feel like as many people can be inspired as possible to reinvention, to get unstuck whatever it is that they need. I hope that this resonates with them and thank you for letting me have the opportunity to share.