Stepping into a New Chapter

Welcome to a new chapter of Thriving on the Journey.

In this episode, Julia reintroduces herself and reflects on what it means to keep becoming—especially when your life, identity, priorities, and vision have evolved.

“Becoming” explores alignment, personal growth, and gratitude without pretending that we ever reach a perfectly finished version of ourselves. It is a conversation about recognizing how far you have come, being honest about what no longer feels aligned, and giving yourself permission to step into the next version of your life intentionally.

This episode also marks the beginning of a more intentional season for Thriving on the Journey: a space created to help women move from surviving to thriving, one intentional step at a time.

Julia is not sharing from the finish line. She is walking alongside you while learning, reflecting, questioning, practising, and becoming too.

This episode is for the woman who feels herself changing, knows she is ready for something more, or simply needs a reminder that she does not have to transform her entire life overnight.

Sometimes becoming begins with one honest reflection, one intentional decision, and one next step.

Listen, reflect, and consider:

Who are you becoming in this season of your life?

Follow Thriving on the Journey on Instagram and share this episode with a woman who may need the reminder that she is allowed to grow, change, and begin again.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of Thriving on the Journey. My name is Julia Holcrow, your podcast host, and I'm so happy that you're here today. Thank you for being here in this space, in my space where I open up, I'm vulnerable, and I'm just honestly being myself and trying to thrive on the journey, live my best life. And today's episode is going to be a little bit different. I've taken a bit of a break from podcasting, and during that time, a lot has changed. Not necessarily on paper, but internally. I've been reflecting on who I'm becoming, what matters to me, and the season of life that I'm currently in. And this isn't really a life update. It's more of a conversation about growth, balance, healing, and honestly, what I've been learning as I continue building a life with intention. The first thing I want to talk about is the value of time. The mindset that has shifted within me over the past year has been insane. Now I was working three jobs for nine months. I was constantly busy. I was feeling like life was flying by so quickly. I cannot believe it's been a year. And also, once I quit my third job, I now work more than I did, but I feel so much more alignment with my purpose, and I'm just so happy that I'm on this path. And it feels so right. I've decided this new business journey with Arbon that aligns perfectly with my values and exactly what I want to be doing in my life. And yeah, I realize that the older that I get, the more time is our most valuable resource. What's interesting is that when I had so little time, I was going, going, going, I had to be super intentional with where I decided to put my energy. I feel I do more than I used to. When it comes to spending time traveling and being with my family, being with my friends, doing what makes me happy, being there for myself. I am way more intentional because now I don't look at the day and think, three hours? Okay, I can't do anything. I'm just gonna watch a movie, scroll on my phone a little. I have to be at work in three hours. Now I have an hour between tasks, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I have a full hour where I don't really have anything planned. Let me get my podcast done. I've been putting it off because I've been wanting to do this revamping series of this new aligned Julia. I feel this next level, this next chapter, and some of the things that have gotten me to this point is my journaling highlight of the day and daily gratitude practice. Because I feel as if I've been doing so much more, and I seek the goodness and the happiness in my life, and it feels so good to look back on every single day and think about what the highlights were, to think about the good moments, moments that made me happy. I no longer think about one thing that ruined my day and let it take over and think about it constantly. Think about how I could have done it differently and how I could have done this, and like, well, what if this person said that? And just rerunning that same negative loop over and over again and telling everybody about it. Usually I tell one person, kind of get it off my chest, reflect on it quickly about how that could have, how I could have changed in that situation, how I could have improved, and then I move on my with my day. Like, don't get me wrong, I work at an airport. I deal with all kinds of people. I have a lot of situations that happen that put into perspective the kind of person that I am and the kind of person that I want to be. Am I perfect? No. Am I growing? Yes. I feel the gratitude that I have in my life allows me to live with more intention and with less fear of judgment. Because at the end of the day, this is my life. I get to do what I want. And I hope you listen to this and feel inspired to know that you can live your life. Why are you holding on to this fear of becoming your best self? Why are you holding on to the negative energy in your day? What are you doing right now to live in alignment with who you want to be? But something that's really important to me that that grounds me when I'm in this busy, chaotic lifestyle is looking for those small moments that bring me joy. Whether it's a sunrise, the flowers are all blooming, everything is turning green right now. I love my energy fizz. It brings me so much joy just to know that I'm nourishing my body with healthy things rather than going and reaching for a cup of coffee at four in the morning. Because I am at work and sometimes I'm tired because I only got five or six hours of sleep the night before. And I need that energy and that shift of switching it. It's a small shift, but super intentional that's way more in alignment with who I am. And it feels so good. Anyways, I've just stopped waiting for these big moments to make me happy. I've learned how to find joy in the ordinary Tuesdays. When I have a few minutes of time and I get to do something for myself, it brings me excitement, and I'm just so grateful for the moments that I have in my life. So, one of the biggest changes recently, in which I have definitely put a hold on this podcast and certain aspects of where I know I need to be. Don't get me wrong, I'm still being consistent with where I tell myself I'm going to be when it comes to posting on my stories, sharing my journey, building that side of my business. I'm proud of what I've done because before I would fall off for weeks and it felt like I was a complete failure, and then I didn't want to go post on anything because I was like, oh, well, I haven't been doing anything and it just feels like I want to give up. But I I haven't been in that mindset. I've been in the mindset of, hey, I haven't been filming my podcast. I'm not gonna beat myself up because I haven't been doing something. I'm gonna celebrate the fact that I've been building my career, I've been stepping into this ownership. I want to say that again. The power of stepping into ownership when it comes to one of my jobs, I got promoted into the events coordinator role. And the way that has changed my identity, it's it's insane. I don't even know how to explain it, but I'm obviously going to try. But I leaned into this version that I trusted myself. I've spent years doing so many different jobs, so many different paths of life. I've run my own business, I've done HVAC sales over the phone all across Canada. I've done door knocking, selling. I've been in the service industry for I don't know, seven, eight years at this point. I've done so many things and I've got my university degree and I have this life experience. Have I ever been an events coordinator? Absolutely not. Do I feel like I'm doing a great job? Yes. Because I'm feeling as if I'm living in alignment with who I am meant to be because of this identity. I'm learning leadership. I'm learning so many things every single day. My organizational skills are pretty impeccable, I will not lie. Did I always used to be like this? No. When I think about this, five years ago, I am so proud of myself. I'm not gonna lie, today I had a moment in the shower where I just I had actually cried some tears of joy. I don't know if I've ever done that in my life, but I was just so proud of myself. I was like, why are you kidding me? And something that kind of sparked that in me is five years ago, I was struggling with the worst acne in my life. I didn't know my purpose, I didn't know what I was doing, I was lost with my family. I was totally running in this place of letting my emotions control the outcome of my life. And I feel the biggest change. I mean, there's so many changes, but something that I've been really working on as of lately is emotional regulation. And it's tough. It's not easy to go from this place of letting your emotions control you to taking a step back, getting out of your monkey mind and being present. When I was reflecting in the shower and I went on my old Snapchat account, the one that I haven't been on in years, because when I moved to BC, I created this whole new identity for myself. I'm like, I'm releasing my past and I am going to this next version. And to see that that was five years ago and where I was, I went back and looked at these photos, and I'm still unsure if I want to share them. I think I might, as a way to be open and vulnerable, that this has been a journey, and so many people who are I'm surrounded with don't even know the kind of struggles that I've been through and how I've gotten to be this confident woman that I am now. It didn't just come overnight. This honestly, I started my self-growth journey and becoming I really decided to make a change five years ago where I was no longer happy with my life. So looking back and reflecting where I was, I couldn't even go in public without feeling embarrassed. It was so bad. I had a horrible cystic acne and it hurt. I would not go out without makeup. And now my skin, I'm on this next journey of my skincare where I want to be using natural, clean products. I want to invest on my gut health so that my insides reflect my outside, if that makes sense. And it's crazy to think how I'm on this next path. So I took these photos, fresh, clean face, completely natural, natural lighting, and I've been worried about my skin lately. However, when I think about what it was like five years ago, it's the world of a difference. I'm really proud that I'm on this next level though, where I'm taking care of myself in a different way. And yeah, I'm just really proud of that. And getting back to taking on this ownership role of the events and why I've been a little bit MIA for years. I've been collecting these skills basically: serving, sales, the university, the painting, working the airlines, and I feel like for the first time in my life, all these pieces are just coming together, and I'm living in alignment with truth. My truth and my purpose. And it it I didn't think I would ever understand what this felt like. I know that there's so many so much more potential, and I think that this is definitely um the start of the next chapter. And something that I've been working on is letting go of control and letting myself just be, and just not having to try to control the outcome of every single situation, because life is gonna be what it's gonna be, people are gonna be who they're gonna be. All that I can control is how I show up. And I ask myself, who do I want to be today? Who? And I ask you, take a moment, reflect. Have you thought about who you want to be? Have you thought about the intentional choices that you're making in your life? Have you taken accountability for the fact that maybe you're overweight, maybe you hate your job, maybe you wish you traveled more, all these things that are eating at your soul and tearing you weigh bit by bit. Have you thought for a second and stopped? Maybe I'm the problem. But with that accountability comes, I can be the solution. I can be that person who chooses a different life. You can do it. I believe in you. If I can do it, you can do it. I'm nobody special. Actually, that's a lie. I don't want to say that. I am someone special, okay? But so are you. So are you. We are all special. We have something unique to offer to the world. And I encourage you to start figuring out what living in alignment with your purpose looks like. And I know it's hard. It's so hard. I don't exactly know how I ended up getting to this point. It's just been this intentional lifestyle, slowly, bit by bit, and waking up early in the mornings have changed my perspective. Saying no to certain things and yes to others, really taking a hard look and reflecting on your life and your future life, your current life, and living presently in the moment is huge. You can live your life having goals. I think you should. You have to have a an a vision of where you want to go, otherwise you'll be lost. If you don't have anything you're working towards, you're gonna lose a sense of purpose. But with that, stay present because if you're too much focusing on what you don't have, you'll forget to embrace the moments of the now and what you do have. And that's why my gratitude practice has been insane for me. Daily gratitude habits, daily highlights, and I've been doing it for a year now, consistently. Are there a few times I fell off for a little bit? Yes. But I can tell you right now, you can look at my journal, and I can go to every single day this year pretty much, and I can tell you what the highlight of my day was. And that's pretty magical. And it's actually weird because when I forget to do it for two or three days, I actually think to myself, What did I do two days ago? Because I'm constantly on the go. I'm constantly doing something new. So it's wild that if I'm forgetting something that happened two days ago, what about if you're never paying attention to the highlights? I bet you you have no idea what you did three weeks ago. Are you living the same day over and over again? Do you feel as if life is passing you by and you're kind of just watching on the sidelines? Like you're not feeling presently connected with your soul. You're just watching life happen. I used to feel that way. I didn't know I felt that way until I reflect back and look. I'm like, yeah, I kind of was just letting my emotions take over, and I was just fucking going with it. I don't want to say that. I don't want to swear in my podcast. Do I want to? And maybe, maybe a little. Dialing it back in here. I'm just feeling really passionate and I have so much to share. This one is definitely the podcast where I'm just freeing, going with whatever is coming from my soul outwards, and then I want to get back into a little bit more of a flow with everything that's going on. Um, but yeah, the biggest thing now is that I focus on controlling my effort, my attitude, my actions, and letting go of the rest. Just letting it go. Taking a moment, feeling connected to who I am. It feels so good. And you know what's the most exciting thing is as I join this Arbon community, I'm surrounding myself with other women who understand what I say, and it doesn't sound like I'm living in this weird delusional world. They actually get it as well, and it's super validating the fact that for so long I kept being like, haha, it's me living my delusional little world, and whatever, whatever. But then I'm actually seeing the outcomes and the results of these opportunities that have come my way because I've stepped into this purpose and this alignment, and I've really been really been focusing on gratitude and people around me, they're it's changing. My environment's changing, and I'm stepping into this new mindset, this new world of opportunity, and it's wonderful and magical. And I encourage you to start taking those steps because it starts with you. What are you doing? Are you choosing an easy life? Are you choosing an intentional life? Are you choosing the life that you want? Or are you just surviving? That really hits deep for me. Um, I think for so long I was just surviving. I was in this mode of survival. Living paycheck to paycheck. I mean, I still have certain aspects financially that I want to improve. I don't want to say that I'm suddenly magically all great and all things. However, I know that I am on a different path. And for me, it was this mode of survival where something would happen and it would totally set me off. I'd spiral. I'd spiral and think my world is ending, and I would cry and I would speak so I would stop doing anything in productive and I would literally have breakdowns because I couldn't keep going. I thought the world was ending. Which is so dramatic. But I am I'm I'm a dramatic person, okay? I've just learned to turn that drama in a different way. But something that's changed for me is just totally living authentically to myself. Posting online, just being myself. I don't really care what people think. I don't I don't care who's viewing my story. I don't care if someone's gonna not agree with what I think. I am just being myself. And with that, I found amazing people who understand me. And I love inspiring others to live in their truth, to live authentically to what that means. I love sharing my story in hopes that it helps somebody else. And I don't need everybody to be my best friend anymore. I used to think that I wanted everybody like me, and I think that I I tried so hard to to to be somebody that everyone wanted to like. Now I feel like I don't need to convince everyone that I'm a good person. I just need to be one. Be myself. If you do follow me on Instagram, you will understand that recently I've been in a car accident, I was rear-ended, and I I'm a little delicate flower, so and I got hit by a truck, so I'm in a little bit of pain, I got whiplash, and that really has forced me to slow down a bit. I've been having to prioritize physio recovery and also appreciating the fact that my body is able to continue to go. In the past, an injury would just completely stop me from doing everything, really. And now, moving forward, I'm giving myself grace to slow down a minute, prioritize my body because if I don't, I won't be able to live this lifestyle that I feel aligned with. And I think it's kind of funny. Because it's something that I preach and I've I learned so long ago from the Mindset Mentor. This example of the universe will give you signs. Are you listening? Starts with a feather, it's just slowly, gently brushing you. It's kind of there, but maybe you push it off. This could be things like I don't know. I'm feeling really connected with my body lately. So as soon as, for example, my knee pain that I had for 10 years, as soon as I stop lifting weights, I notice it and I can feel that mind-body connection where I know that my muscles are weakening. So there's little things like that, and other things. But if you ever want to reach out and talk to me about some of these signs, let me know. But I'll finish my point of the feather. If you don't listen to the small signs, life will throw you a brick. It'll throw a brick at you, basically. That's when major drastic things happen that force you to change. For example, if you're not taking care of your health and you're treating your body like shit, there'll be subtle signs. And then it'll get worse. And then something will happen. And then boom, you're forced to have to take care of your house because there's no other option. Um, other things. If you hate your job, but you just keep going and you just keep showing up, and slowly, you know, that builds into resentment. Like your co-workers, you won't get along with them. Maybe you come home and you start complaining about your job every day, and there's all these different things that's telling you maybe you should choose a different path for yourself. And then, boom, one day you get fired. This is me. I got fired. I got fired from my job at Earl a year ago. I'm seeing that at first, yeah, it sucked, didn't make sense because I was good at my job. However, looking back, I am so grateful that that happened. It forced me to get out and go find something new. And I wouldn't be here today if that didn't happen. Was it unfortunate? Yes. Did it push me to do something more with my life? Absolutely. And that was a brick in my face because I kept putting it off. I knew I got this job at the airport, and that was gonna start up in two weeks. So I happened to get fired and then three days later start a new job, and so everything was fine at the end of the day. But yeah, it's these life situations that happen because it's life is there forcing you to make a change. The universe and its timing, everything happens for a reason, but you can also be proactive instead of reactive. I also just want to say priorities shift when you're in pain. We often take our health for granted until something happens. I feel like I've been talking for a while because I've been so passionate about this bit of a revamp in a way, still obviously in alignment, and I definitely didn't think that the episode was gonna go this way. I totally just have been speaking from the heart. Usually I have a very strict outline of okay, I want it to go this way so I don't end up yapping too much about something that doesn't make sense. I want to talk about right now the season that I'm currently in. My podcast, Arbon, events, working at the airport, healing, growing. Everything right now is a part of this picture of my life. And right now, this season isn't about trying to find the next thing anymore. I have ADHD and it's constantly finding something to fill that need for something else, I guess. In a way, I don't know how to explain it. But right now, this season isn't about doing anymore, it's about doing the right things consistently, and I do feel as if I'm so in alignment with that, and I just want to keep being consistent, keep showing up, keep doing what I need to do, keep my organization, follow my calendar, continue prioritizing my health, just show up for myself because at the end of the day, I need to make sure that yes, my jobs are important, but my life, who I'm living as is the most important. And lately I've been feeling really peaceful, grounded, healthy, present, and open to opportunities, whatever that looks like. And I hope that in this season of your life you're feeling that way. And if you're not, I would love to talk to you. Send a message on Instagram, Facebook, text me if you have my number, and let's figure out why you're not feeling this way if that's the case. Or let's talk about why you do feel like you're living in alignment. I love talking about people living their best life and just authentically being themselves. Seeing people just thrive and be happy is what brings me the most joy. I love seeing my friends and family smile and talk about the good things, and it just makes me feel so good. So good. Now, you don't have to figure everything out today, but you do need to take action on something today because the choices that you make consistently will shape the reality of your future. Thriving on the journey has never been about having everything figured out, it's about continuing to move forward while you're figuring it out. This season I've taken a pause on things. In the past, I would have gotten mad at myself and quit altogether because I've quote unquote failed. I haven't. I have a podcast, I've done 17 episodes, 18 episodes at this point. I don't know. I'm almost at 20. That's that's an achievement. And is it where I want to be now? But I've been focusing on being grateful for what I have done, grateful for what I am doing, and just picking up and going, understanding that life will happen, and I'm on this journey, and yeah, I've taken a pause of certain things, but I've also advanced my career. I've taken this opportunity and I've really, really been working to proving to myself that I can and I will, and I'm smart, and I'm confident. The smart one hits differently because I that was the biggest one that I have struggled with in my head calling myself stupid, like oh, you're so stupid. Oh, I'm so dumb. Like, oh, I'm an idiot. Like, all of those little things that you say to yourself that I used to say to myself, that's not true. I'm actually so smart. I have a biology degree, which I mean, did I do great? No, but I didn't. I think very presently, like I have a good mindset, like I'm a very smart person, I can figure anything out, I can get my hands dirty, I can do something, like I'm intelligent, and it took me a long time to really own that. Every time that someone said, Wow, you're you're you're in biology or why you have a biology degree, oh you're smart. And I was like, nah, nah, trust me, I'm not. Like, I'm barely making it. Like, I'm not smart. Like, I would brush everything off. I could never just be like, Yeah, you know what? I am. So that's anyways. That's a bit of a that is the one thing I'm super most proud of myself. I mean, I'm always proud of myself for so many things, as I always say, but I'm so happy that I can confidently say that I am a smart person, and that's huge for me. Okay, ending this episode, I've yapped for a little bit longer than I wanted to, but I will ask for today your journal prompt is who am I becoming, and what small action can I take this week that aligns with that version of myself. Remember, you don't have to have everything figured out. You don't need the perfect plan, the perfect timing, or all of the answers. Most of the life you're building is created through small choices you make every single day. If there's one thing I'm continuing to learn, it's that growth isn't always loud. Sometimes growth looks like resting your body when you need it. Sometimes it looks like having a difficult conversation. And sometimes it looks like showing up for yourself when nobody else is watching. The life you want isn't built overnight. It's built in the ordinary moments, the habits, the decisions, and the mindset shifts, and the courage to keep moving forward, even when you can't see the whole path ahead. Thank you for spending this time with me. Whether this is your first episode or you've been here since the beginning, I am so grateful that you're a part of this journey. As always, keep building a life with intention, keep trusting yourself, and keep taking that next step forward, even if it's small. Because you don't have to have it all figured out to be thriving on the journey. And if you've listened this far, please go follow me on Instagram. That's where I share the most real and authentic version of myself, where I inspire you and others to grow. And I'm just sharing my journey, and I would love to be a part of your journey as well. It's at Thriving on the Journey. Give this podcast a rating and review. It means a lot more to you know because I'm creating this, and I will see you in the next episode.