Julie, Julia and Jenny

We decided to catch a Sunday matinee and picked Julie and Julia as our movie-to-splurge-$-on for the month. I had only seen a short trailer of the movie on TV and even though we hadn't had the chance to read the movie reviews, we decided to go with the pick anyways since the other movies just didn't sound interesting.

Oh,the movie was God-sent!

It was as though someone took a page out of my life....
my life as it currently is....and made it into a film! I started crying less than 10 minutes into the movie and by the end of the show, my eyes were bulging red from all the tears! It's not even a tragic movie. It's not a sad story. It's actually a light-hearted comedy. But it's just strikingly so, so, so similar to my life - the life I'm going through now that watching it unfold was just overwhelming. It just hit home!

In the movie, Julie was a woman entering her 30s; a wannabe-writer who attempted a novel but didn't see it through completion. She held a dead-end job at a government agency, was stuck in a rut and wanted to find an escape, an outlet, a channel to unleash whatever potential she had. The only comfort and certainty in her world was food. She wasn't even a cook, but cooking gave her the opportunity - that outlet to channel her creativity and see something through completion and with very tangible (edible) results. With encouragement from her sweet husband, she decided to start a blog; a blog about her quest to try every single recipe in her idol - Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking book. 524 recipes in 365 days. That was Julie's project. It was her obsession for an entire year. She breathed, ate, drank, slept, blogged - LIVED it for an entire year.

I could so resonate with Julie right now. Right now at this point in my life. The Julie in me..... the Julie in Jenny.

I just knew that I didn't want to be stuck in a rut, continuing on a job that didn't feed my soul. A job that didn't allow me to express my creativity, exercise my passion nor empower my individuality. I quit my 6-figure income job and walked away from senior executive position without having a clue as to what I'll be doing next. I know I am capable of something greater, something larger, bolder, more exciting that what I've been doing all this while. I know there's something better out there; something more meaningful that I should be doing - something that will bring out that life, that spark and vibrance in me. But I didn't know what it'll be. No clue at all. But I'm adamant to continue this search, to discover what drives me, what energizes and sparks me. My Passion. And I'll blog about my journey as I discover what my calling is.

Can you not see the similarities? Do you?

True, I'm no longer 30. I'm well into my thirties but age aside, that desire to find an escape, a way to discover what I enjoy doing and then focus on driving that toward completion, reconnecting with who I really am along the way.....that, to me is, powerful.

It's a strong validation of the decision to follow my heart. Thank you God! I feel validated. Encouraged. Hugged. It'll be fine. It'll turn out well. All things will work for good.....

I feel elated! I have this new burst of energy, excitement and motivation to pursue my passion!! My dream!

Go for it
Julie Jenny!

P.S: Julia Childs discovered her passion - cooking - only at the age of 37. :-)