The Joy Project With Julia

Life can be overwhelming, and lately, I’ve found myself struggling to protect my peace—to stay afloat amidst the chaos. But the other day, I made a simple yet powerful decision: to step outside and just be. As I soaked in the warmth of the sun and felt the breeze brush past me, I reconnected with the beauty of the world around me. In that moment, I was reminded of how incredibly lucky I am—to be alive, to be challenged by classes that push me to grow, to be part of organizations with such strong communities, and to immerse myself in a campus overflowing with opportunities.

That experience led me to a profound realization: perspective is everything. The way we choose to see the world shapes our ability to find joy. In this episode, I reflect on the importance of grounding yourself, extending yourself grace, embracing laughter through life’s challenges, and surrounding yourself with people who uplift your mindset.

This week, I invite you to take a deep breath, be unapologetically yourself, and open your heart to the stories of those around you. Let yourself be inspired. You have the power to shape the way you and others experience the world. I can’t wait to see the impact you create and hear the incredible stories you have to share.

Wow, life has been a whirlwind lately..can anyone else relate? With the chaos that comes at the start of every semester, I hope you're all managing to stay afloat. Personally, I've been buried under meetings, events, workshops, classes, and assignments (cue internal scream). But amidst the fast pace, I’ve made a conscious effort to prioritize scheduling—and let me tell you, it’s been a game-changer!

In this episode, I share my favorite tips for living a balanced lifestyle every day. Plus, I dive into 4+ scheduling resources that have made a huge difference for me. Be sure to check them out and let me know which ones you try!

And here’s the exciting news: drumroll please—this podcast episode has a video component! I’ll be sharing clips on my social platforms and plan to do this for future episodes too. I hope you enjoy this episode and find it super helpful for whatever challenges you’re navigating right now!

Happy New Year and welcome to season THREE(eek so exciting) of The Joy Project with Julia! I hope you all have had a great start to 2025 and are super excited for all the opportunities, lessons, experiences, growth, and joy you are going to have this year! In order to make my bucket list items, resolutions, and goals more achievable...I find that creating an engaging visual always incentivizes me to get tasks done! This summer I found that creating BINGO cards were not only super silly & fun to create, but also extremely effective! Soooo, I created a 2025 Joy Edition Bingo! This episode talks about all of the fun tasks and offers other potential ideas for a year of growth and joy. I will be linking the filled out AND blank bingo card versions in my bio on insta @thejoyprojectwithjulia! Make sure to check it out & post updates throughout the year (please collab with me)!

As the year draws to a close, I've found myself spending more time reflecting on the lessons I've learned, the adventures I've experienced, and the wonderful people I've had the pleasure of meeting. I believe taking time to reflect at the end of the year is crucial because it allows us to appreciate our growth and set meaningful goals for our future selves. Journaling has been an invaluable tool in my journey of reflection and joy. This year has reminded me that "when one door closes, another door opens." I am incredibly grateful for the support systems and encouraging friends that have blessed me this year. Your positive comments and topic suggestions have inspired and motivated me.

With that being said, with much encouragement from my fellow journaling enthusiasts, I am thrilled to announce I have officially published the "365 Days of Joy Journal." This journal has helped me set goals, express gratitude, and seek and spread joy, and I hope it can do the same for you. Additionally, I am excited to share that I am now posting updates on my joy journey and podcast on Instagram @thejoyprojectwithjulia. I am beyond grateful for all of you and am thrilled to experience another year full of joy alongside you!

I hope you all have enjoyed your freedom post finals week & are getting excited to join me in finding joy in being home for break. This episode is mildly chaotic as I energetically describe the wholesome visit of my sweet friend Charlotte! Char was my freshman year roommate and is truly so unapologetically herself and incredibly kind! I am so lucky to have such an intentional friendship (eek so so sappy). Throughout this episode, I share some joyful highlights of how to romanticize your hometown/city, ways to change your perspective about what a break is, and experiences/platforms that are enhancing my winter break...shameless plug to download Letterboxd and follow me @juliascarton so we can collab over our movie antics! Anywho, I hope you enjoy the cutesy chaos of my chatter...2 surprises coming in the future so stay tuned! Happy Tuesday beautiful people!

If you are listening, I'm assuming you are officially done with your Fall 2024 semester! Congratulations on finishing your finals!! You are officially free...so sit back, take a deep breath, & get ready to relax. This episode is all about what I have been up to since Thanksgiving break, the things I learned about myself & life during finals week, and ways I am excited to grow during break. Please give yourself so much grace over your break and truly enjoy every interaction with friends & family, eat every sweet treat, embrace the holiday spirit, and get ready to grow! Use this time to start/restart some habits for the new year. I can't wait to see and hear how you find your freedom post finals!

Facing negative experiences in life can be incredibly challenging, but it's crucial to remember that you are never alone and possess the strength to overcome any obstacles. This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lindsay Hersh, a junior at the University of Florida, who has bravely navigated numerous mental battles during her transition to college. Lindsay describes a mental battle as "an internal struggle within yourself, where conflicting thoughts, emotions, or desires clash, and this can cause significant psychological distress and even impact your daily functioning; essentially, it's a fight against negative self-talk or overwhelming emotions that can feel like a constant battle within yourself, that may or may not be visible to others." Through this interview, Lindsay hopes to reassure others that they are not alone in their struggles and to provide a resource for those facing similar mental battles.

Happy Thanksgiving, beautiful people! This holiday is incredibly special because it allows us to spend cherished moments with loved ones and celebrate the wonderful experiences, memories, and lessons from the past year. This week, I want to share how expressing gratitude—not just on Thanksgiving, but every day—has changed my life for the better. Before filming this episode, I took some time to reflect and create my own definition of gratitude. To me, gratitude is "the act of acknowledging what is around you, considering how it has impacted your life… making you the person you are, and responding in a positive way to voice your thanks." I hope you will join me in making expressing gratitude a daily practice!

This week has been full of so many epic memories, loving moments, and silly smiles. So grateful to be alive and appreciate the world around me! This week I kept it SUPER conversational and casual (sorry it is low key chaotic my mic did break mid episode *moment of silence*). Butttt, I am super pumped to be talking about ways to protect your peace! The concept for this episode emerged when I was having a convo with my friend on our way back from a Yogalates class(shameless plug). We were talking about the competitive nature of involvement and academic performance at UF & how we are trying to stay afloat in this environment. After we parted ways, I thought more about what we talked about and decided I wanted to share some insights I gained from our conversation. I hope you guys find some of my tips to be helpful and can't wait for you guys to protect your peace so you can live the life that YOU want to live!

Happy World Kindness Day!! As Clare Pooley wisely said, "In a world where you can be anything, be kind." Today, let's embrace this powerful message and embody kindness in all our actions. In this special episode, we celebrate World Kindness Day by exploring the connection between joy and kindness. I want to highlight how simple acts of kindness can create ripples of happiness in our lives and the lives of others, and you can be part of this butterfly effect! Being kind makes us feel good, so let's make it a daily practice. I hope you will join me in discovering how spreading joy through kindness can make the world a brighter, more compassionate place.