25 Things I Learned in 2025

 

Today’s episode is a look back at the lessons that shaped me this year. 2025 stretched me, softened me, and taught me so much about motherhood, faith, strength, and what it means to care for my body in a season that looked nothing like the old rhythm I was used to. If this year felt messy, refining, or slower than you expected, this conversation will remind you that every season has purpose and every step counts.

Whether you’re rebuilding routines, learning to trust your body again, navigating motherhood, or stepping into a new chapter, these 25 lessons are shared to encourage you, ground you, and help you see how much growth is happening beneath the surface.

Here’s what you will learn:

• Why quiet seasons can be the most transformative
• How slowing down strengthens your body and mind
• The power of fueling your body with intention
• How faith, rest, and boundaries support your growth
• Why small steps and evolving goals still move you forward
• Ways to honor your body in every season
• What truly sustains consistency when motivation fades

This episode is your reminder that you’re not behind and nothing about your journey needs to look perfect to be meaningful. You are growing in more ways than you realize, and it deserves to be celebrated.

If you loved this episode, you may also enjoy: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your New Year’s Resolution

If you want more from me, be sure to check out… 

Transcript

 Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I dish you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self.

Stay tuned. If you're ready to embrace your real, let's get it. Let's go.

Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace Your Podcast. I cannot believe that we are already wrapping up another year. 2025 has honestly stretched me. It's refined me and it has changed how I see just about everything in my life, motherhood, my body, my routines, my faith. It was truly a year for me of slowing down rebuilding rhythms, learning how to trust that every season has and serves a purpose.

And so today I thought that I would share 25 things that I personally learned in 2025, and these lessons have come from my workouts from my late night rocking sessions with Blake. Just from my business, wins from my mom, fails from my mom, wins from my setbacks, from just quiet prayers that I've whispered in the middle of chaos.

And my hope and prayer is that as I share these, you hear something that just gives you permission to rest, to breathe and to be proud of where you are right now. But first I wanna share this review. Um, she gave a five star view and said, you need this podcast. Stop everything that you're doing and listen, this is such a nice dose of reality and motivation.

I've been doing movement with Julie for seven months now and have never felt so empowered and strong. Julie, girl, you're changing the world. One podcast at a time. Oh my goodness. This is so incredible and so inspiring. I am so grateful that movement with Julie has. Empowered you like that is one of my goals is to just empower you with movement, right?

My saying is, honor your body with movement. And when I truly believe when you start to honor your body with movement, with consistency, you just feel so much more empowered. You feel empowered in your body, you feel empowered in your life, you feel empowered in your choices. And your motivation and your confidence, and I really truly believe that the habits and the disciplines that you create in your workouts really carry throughout the rest of your day.

So, so proud of you. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to send in this review. And if you guys could scooch over to Apple Podcast and leave a rating and review, that would mean the absolute world to me and our team. Just kind of know how the podcast is helping you. Maybe it's. One specific episode, or just the podcast in general.

So thank you again for doing that. All right, let's get right into it. Number one, every season has a purpose. Even the quiet ones this year truly reminded me that growth doesn't always look like visible progress sometimes. It's the unseen transformation that is happening underneath the surface, like the kind that truly requires patience.

There were months in this year where my business wasn't expanding, and that was for a purpose, right? I purposely, intentionally took a step back from my business. I'm so grateful that I have a business that runs. I don't wanna say completely on its own, but pretty much, and still able to serve, you know, thousands of women in my workouts is incredible.

But I definitely took a huge step back in my business because I really wanted to take a step forward in my motherhood and being present. There were times where my body was not changing. You guys, like I breastfed Blake. About 13 and a half months before, uh, he just decided like, Nope, I'm done. And I was like, okay, we are done with this.

And it was kind of a like gradually and then suddenly, like he started gradually dropping feeds and then suddenly was just like, Nope, I'm done. And was totally fine just switching over to cow's milk 100%. And so in that season though, of me breastfeeding, like my body does not like to lose fat when I'm breastfeeding, and that's.

Totally fine. I just kept reminding myself like, this is a season where I am able to produce, literally, you know, at, at the time it was a hundred percent for many, many months of Blake's intake. And then it slowly started to, you know, go, go down to 90% and then 80% and 70%. And the fact that I'm still, my body was the one that was producing all of that intake for him was in and of itself incredible.

Like God's design is incredible. There were months and, and so many months you guys, where I had to just remind myself, okay, this is not a season where my body is going to be changing. This is a season where I am purposely being selfless in this and allowing my body to do what God has designed it to do so that I can feed Blake.

And there this isn't going to be forever. Right. You know, at some point it's going to change. You don't know when, but at some point it did change. Right. And for me that was about 13 and a half months. And then there was also so many times throughout this past year that my workouts felt uninspired, but everything in me wanted to push harder.

I wanted to make something happen. I wanted to try to fix it. Like I personally just have this go, go, go mentality. But instead, I just honestly kept hearing God say. Stay planted. Trust me. Keep going. Trust the process. And so I did. And what I learned in that time is that quiet seasons are where your roots deepen.

They're where you learn how to show up without needing applause. They're where your identity really does get strengthened. And who God is and not in what you're producing. And one thing that helped me during that time was simply just naming what was still growing. Even if I couldn't see it right, my peace was growing.

My trust was growing, my stability was growing, my capacity was growing my motherhood, the confidence that I had in that was growing. And so when I started to acknowledge that the quiet didn't really feel like failure anymore, it felt like preparation. And so if you're here right now, please, please, please.

I want you to know that you are not falling behind. You are currently being formed and there's so much power in that. Number two, there is strength and slowness. Personally, as someone who naturally just moves fast, slowing down did not come easily to me. I am wired to get things done, to check the boxes, to move the next thing, but when I started slowly, intentionally slowing down my mornings, my workouts, even the pace of my breath, I realized how much my life.

Had been speeding past, and you guys, I'm gonna be completely transparent. There was months and months in my postpartum journey where my physical body was not allowing me to move like I was. I really had never experienced chronic pain like I have in postpartum. And my body was just, you know, it was not wanting to produce estrogen.

It was not wanting to heal, uh, down there. And it was, it was hard. It was not easy. And so for me, I really had to take a huge step back and part of it like my mind, and I was like, I wanna go, go, go, go, go. But my body was literally not letting me do that. And so I learned that slowness does not mean laziness.

It does not mean lack of drive. It means that you can actually be present for your life while you're living it. And so for me, I truly tried to stop. Trying to make everything productive. Like I tried so hard to not intentionally plan things out in a sense that I have in the past, and I just really started to notice things that I hadn't noticed in years.

And part of that was because I was in such a rigid routine prior to even having Blake, where I was like, I do this, this, this, and this. Every single day I do this, this, this, and this. And it was like just, you know. Constant go mode. And when I was forced to for a part of that, forced to literally take a step back, I was able to just start noticing things like even like the sun when I'm on a walk or the air or just the rhythm of certain things throughout my day.

And the, that one thing alone of just me slowing down and realizing that I noticed that that actually calmed my nervous system and it really gave me more than any try to, you know, self-care routine than I have tried in the past while still trying to go a million miles an hour ever did for me. And the irony is when I personally moved slower, I actually felt stronger.

Like I had more patience, I had more clarity. I had more capacity, and most importantly, I had more purpose. Like I truly feel in this season of my life that I have so much purpose. My, the most important purpose in my life right now is being a present mom to Blake, being an intentional wife to Joshua. And really just stewarding my household.

Like that's how I feel like I'm, that's exactly what I feel like I'm supposed to be doing right now in this season of life. And I just realized that slowness didn't take progress away. It actually gave me the space to feel it. And sometimes the most powerful thing that you can do is really stop rushing and just start realizing that.

Everything around you has a purpose and there is a season for everything that you're going through. Number three, fueling your body well is a form of self-respect. I think a lot of us out here are doing our best to take care of everyone else and keep life moving, and somehow taking care of ourselves ends up.

The bottom of that list. And it's not because we don't care, but it's just because we're tired, we're busy, we are stretched thin, and sometimes the thought of planning meals or just trying to eat right just feels like one more thing. I was in that place for a long time. I wasn't binging, I wasn't overeating.

I was actually undereating, you know, for a decade of my life I was there just grabbing bites here and there. Running on caffeine and willpower and then wondering why I left feeling exhausted and irritable, and why my workouts just felt so much harder, and not only my workouts, but just my day-to-day life.

But what really shifted for me was learning how to fuel my life. For my life, not a diet, not a phase for my actual day-to-day energy needs. And honestly, it was such a relief and it took the pressure out, it took the guessing out, and it made food feel like support instead of something that I had to manage or stress about.

What helped me even more was giving myself like a simple system, something that I could use in the moment without overthinking it, and that's really the heartbeat behind the macro Ketamine simple online academy. It's not a diet, it's not rigid. It's really based on understanding how your body needs and what your body needs so that you can feel good living your real life.

Inside that online academy, I show you how to build meals. To keep your energy steady, how to support your strength, and then also just how to feel confident in your body again, without overthinking on food all day when your body's actually nourished. Trust me when I say everything else actually gets easier and workouts feel completely different when you're fueled.

And I noticed that even postpartum, there were, there were parts and months this year postpartum where I wasn't intentionally feeling my body. I was so, I had so much on our plate just in terms of like finishing up our build for our house. And then also I had so much going on health wise and then, you know, running my business, being a mom to Blake, there were so many things that I was just like, man, there was a couple months there where I really got off track and.

I cannot tell you the difference, like it has now been consistent since July of this year was when I really put my foot down and I was like, I am going to finish this year strong and I wanna commit to strength for, for being a mom and strength for Blake, and strength for Joshua and strength for myself.

And man, it feels so, so good. And I forgot honestly how good my workouts felt when I feel my body properly and optimally. And also how. Deep. I sleep when I am fueling my body and hydrating my body enough. And then just going throughout the day, just having that sustained energy. Like I, I just will never, ever, ever stop talking about the importance of eating enough protein because that was my one thing.

And that's honestly a lot of people's one thing when they, that, that's what goes out the window is when they stop optimally fueling their body. Pretty much the first thing to go is protein. And man protein is such a game changer. Number four, faith isn't just belief, it's obedience in the in-between. Oh man, this year was not easy, but I just wanna remind you guys that faith isn't passive.

It's not sitting back and wishing that things would work out. It's choosing to show up when you don't have proof yet, right? It's choosing to trust God before you feel confident. It's obed. That is the part of the journey where nothing looks certain, and this year truly stretched me more than I expected, especially in the tension of motherhood and work.

I kept wanting a clear plan. I kept wanting this predictable routine and this guarantee that if I gave X amount then I'd get this result. But God really kept inviting me to release my grip. To take the next step, even when I didn't have any idea what that next step would come after, like what would come after that next step.

And I personally had to just trust God and stop measuring success again by visible progress and start measuring it by obedience. And what I've learned is that obedience oftentimes looks like doing the small things consistently. It's opening up the Bible, it's sending that email, it's honoring the workout window that you have.

It's resting if you need rest. Even when none of that looks impressive. The in-between is where faith is formed, and you don't have to see the whole staircase. Your job is to just take the step right in front of you. You're not waiting for clarity to arrive. You are trusting God in that, and you are building clarity and you're building trust in God by taking step by step, by step by step, trusting God every step of the way.

Number five, being a mom doesn't mean losing yourself. It means finding new parts of you. Truly you guys. Motherhood this year cracked me open in ways I didn't know that I needed. Honestly, it stripped away so many parts of me that were rooted in hustle and identity and proving something to the world, and I had to let go of the version of myself who really thought her worth was in how much she could produce or control.

And in those quiet hours, you know. Rocking a sick baby in the dark or folding tiny clothes or managing a household and learning how to cook and learning how to clean. Like I know that, that's so silly. But those are things that I previously like never really took time to do, and I felt this calling to really start stewarding my household.

And that meant moving at a pace so much slower than before. And I personally meant parts of myself that I had literally never slowed down enough to meet. And I realized that the old version of me couldn't have handled this season. Like she didn't have the capacity, she didn't have the softness, she didn't have the strength.

And so the change wasn't losing myself, it was growing, it was becoming motherhood. Didn't take away my ambition. It literally refined it and clarified it. It made me fiercely protective of what actually matters in my life, and it really, really, really has made me say yes more intentionally and no more confidently the goals that I have.

They didn't disappear, they just became more aligned. I just wanna remind you that you don't disappear in motherhood. You just meet a deeper, steadier, stronger version of you than you've ever known before. And that's a beautiful, beautiful thing. I truly believe that that's how God intended it to be. And I tell people this all the time, like I did not know that I wanted to be a mom for years.

You guys, like we didn't, we were still so unsure. I mean, we had been, we've been married for 10 years. And we were married for, you know, eight and, and we still didn't know. We're like, I don't know if we wanna have kids. I don't know. And part of me was just so terrified of the change that would happen. And yes, absolutely my life has changed like 110%.

It has changed in every single way, but. It has been the most beautiful thing that I never knew that I needed, and I cannot lit, literally imagine my life without being a mom. And I just feel so honored and I truly feel such a privilege that I have this title. In my life and I have gotten to experience this and I'm gonna continue to experience being a mom and just all that comes with that.

The good, the bad, the hard, the messy. It's, it's so beautiful, but it's all so incredibly what God designed. Like there's nothing more to say than other than like, God has designed this and I just feel so honored. Number six, the bounce back mindset needs to go. We have to let go of the idea that our worth is tied to getting our old body back.

I don't want the body that I had before pregnancy back because that was before growth and before everything that I've learned. I want the body that I have now, the one that has carried me through sleepless nights, the one that literally gave birth to a baby, that fed a baby, that healed from pregnancy and postpartum, that learned that stretch and strengthened.

That body has lived this year. I personally stopped chasing aesthetics honestly, for one of the first times in my entire life. And I really started paying attention to ability, like, can I truly lift heavier? Can I move with more ease? Do I feel grounded and connected? Am I showing up and showing, uh, up for the people in my life, my son, my husband, my.

Self, what it looks like to treat my body with respect instead of judgment. I want Blake to look at his mom and be like, man, my mom knows that she's treating her body like royalty, and I want him to see that I'm truly living out the mantra that I talk about all the time, which is honoring my body with movement.

And those questions in and of itself has really, truly shifted my entire relationship with fitness. And the most surprising part is when I stopped trying to shrink myself, I actually felt stronger, more confident, and more present in my skin. So if you are stuck in this bounce back trap, I just want to say this to you gently, like you don't need to go backwards.

Forward is where your strength is, is where your self-respect is. And where your exp expansion lives, your body is not a problem to solve. It's a story to honor, and I personally just felt this so much you guys. Like I told you, there were months in my postpartum journey this year where I just physically could not lift.

I could not even walk longer than like half a mile. And if you guys know me, I love walking. Love my walking pad. I love going outside, walking. I love my weighted incline walks like I just love walking so much. I walked so much during pregnancy. I walked quite a bit like freshly postpartum. And then there was a period there in my postpartum journey where my body was just like struggling a lot and I was just having so much pain in my body and I was not able to walk the way that I.

You know, do now and did prior to postpartum. And man, I just feel so grateful for that. And I feel like that time where I had this idea and I was just following all these other people that had babies around the same time that I did and I'm like, man, they're able to work out and they're, you know, they already look the way that they did pre-pregnancy.

And here I am like just feeling so like gross in my own body. But once I really. Really started to shift my mindset and say, okay, this is not about aesthetics. I need to really like dig deeper than that. And that's truly, I truly believe that's when it all clicked for me. Like that's when I just started to have.

Pure joy and excitement and you know, part of my, my healing process was slowly weaning, breastfeeding. I just think that me and breastfeeding, we have a complicated relationship when it comes to like, my body just does not like to heal when I'm breastfeeding. And so once I started to slowly wean, and that was like Blake completely taking the reins, you know, I didn't even know what weaning looked like.

And so I was like, okay, I'm just gonna try. See if I can like drop one feed and you know, try and feed him more food. And that's like how it started. And then Blake kind of just took the reins and kind of just told me what he wanted when he wanted it. And um, that just slowly started to decrease my feeds.

And when I started to decrease my breastfeeding is when I really started to feel more healing in my body. And again, once I stopped fully breast. Feeding is when I really feel like my body was able to start at like a, a baseline and start completely healing. Um, but in that time, prior to that, it was really my mindset.

I think that had to get right first because if I wouldn't have still had the right mindset. Going into that weaning process, I really do think that I would have such a hard time, even if my body was healing, I would still have so much mindset, guilt of just like wanting to bounce back and wanting to be at my pre-pregnancy and not appreciating my body for what it is and what it's done.

And um, and so during that time where I was, you know, not healing and just in so much chronic pain, again, I just am so grateful for that mentality that was built and that perseverance that was built during that time. Number seven, God is always working even when I can't see it. Some of the biggest blessings this year came disguised as disappointments, like the things I thought that I needed to work out a certain way.

The timeline that I had in my head, the opportunities I were sure were met for me, the plans that I felt so attached to. Some of those things fell apart, and in the moment it felt frustrating. It felt confusing, but looking back, I can see it so clearly. God wasn't withholding. He was redirecting those doors that closed, so I couldn't walk through the ones he closed those so that I could actually walk through.

Ones that were actually aligned to where I need to be, and there were delays that created the margin that I didn't even know that I needed. There were pauses that protected me from rushing into something too early. The things that felt like setbacks were actually safeguards and. That taught me something, that faith isn't just trusting God in the outcome, it's trusting him in timing.

And so if you're in a waiting season right now, I just wanna encourage you to keep walking, like not striving, not forcing, just faithfully taking the next step in front of you. And this detour might be, define number eight. Progress in motherhood looks different. Oh my goodness. Can I please say that again?

For those in the back progress and motherhood looks different. You don't get gold stars for clean laundry or perfect routines, or a day where everything goes according to plan. Motherhood truly has a way of humbling every version of productivity that we used to measure ourselves by. Like this season has showed me that progress is oftentimes invisible on the outside.

It's the tiny wins, showing up with patience when you're tired, choosing to laugh instead of snap. Taking a deep breath before responding and letting someone help you even when you want to do it all by yourself. I used to think that progress meant having everything under control, and that was my control.

But motherhood is teaching me that progress is actually being present in the lack of control. Literally, it's. It's just a lack of control. You can't control everything. You can't control hardly anything. Honestly. It's realizing that your worth isn't measured in how well you manage the chaos, but in how gently you move through it.

And some days will feel like literally survival, and then other days are gonna feel light and full. And both are allowed and both are enough. Motherhood is not measured in productivity. It's measured in presence and sometimes. Presence is literally sitting there on the floor with your child mess everywhere to-do list untouched, but your heart is truly anchored in the moment in front of you, and that is what counts more than you realize.

Number nine, my body is not a project. It is a partnership. I used to treat my body like something that I needed to personally control or fix. Like it was my job to sculpt it into what I thought would finally make me feel confident or proud. But that mindset really kept me in this constant tug of war with myself, like it made movement feel like a punishment.

And rest feel like failure. Honestly. Somewhere though along the way I started listening more. I noticed how my body responds when it's nourished. I noticed how good it feels to lift heavy when I'm energized, and how grounding slow movement can be on a tired day. I noticed that my body was communicating with me the whole entire time.

I had just been ignoring it in the name of discipline. And when I shifted from forcing my body to asking my body, everything softened personally. The resentment faded, the pressure dissolved. I realized that my body wasn't working against me. It was protecting me. It was guiding me. It was carrying me through everything I had asked of it.

And now I honor those cues. Some days I move in intensity. Some days I walk. Some days I stretch. Some days I simply rest. And because of that, I don't feel like I'm battling myself anymore. I'm collaborating. I'm in relationship with my body and that's where peace and real lasting progress finally started to grow.

And personally, that's also why I created my MO with Julie Community and my MO with Julie at my Dumbo only workouts for women. That has always been a supportive tool for me. In this season, it truly became something different. Like I needed a way of moving that could hold both of the days, the days that I felt strong, and also the days that I felt tender.

And these workouts have really allowed me to keep showing up without forcing anything. It has helped me stay connected to myself and really a gentle but powerful and strong way. Number 10, small steps still count, small steps. Done consistently, always beat the perfect plan that you never stick to, and there were days and honestly, weeks and months this year that I could only manage a 15 minute circuit while Blake napped.

And guess what? That still mattered. It reminded me that showing up in perfectly still builds momentum. Progress doesn't require perfection. It requires permission to be human. And creating a default movement day. This is, you know, the workout that you do when you have very low time, low energy, low motivation, not your ideal workout, but your baseline workout, for example.

That's, you know, two rounds of three simple exercises or a 15 minute quick fall along, or something that you already have like memorized in your head, or just like a quick lower body burner that you've been doing. You know, or you love, maybe you found one in one of the workouts and you're like, I love that.

And that's just like, those are your go-to movements. Those default movement days are powerful. If you can have a lower body one, an upper body one, a full body one, and not always use them, obviously, but on the days that you're just, you know, again, low time, low energy mode, low motivation, but. You can just get it done.

That is key. And the key is because you don't have to decide in the moment, like they are just default, right? You decide ahead of time because decision making, what I've learned is, is really does drain so much of your energy more than honestly the workout itself. Like when you eliminate the question, what should I do?

You make it almost effortless. And again, if you're wanting that in terms of your workouts and you're wanting your workouts to be very structured and intentional and progressively help you get stronger, that's exactly why I created the Movement of Julie Community. My Dumbo only workouts for women. Uh, you literally don't have to do any of the work in terms of guessing like what to do and what's next.

You literally just follow the workouts. And you don't have to scroll, you don't have to plan. You don't have to figure it out. Like if your capacity is super low, you can do the short version. And even if that's like a modified of the 30 minute, that's amazing, right? It still counts. It still moves you forward.

Consistency, just reminding you that consistency does get so much easier when the plan is already ready for you, you're literally stepping into it. Whatever your capacity is that you have that day. And so if you're looking for workouts this year or in this upcoming year, Dumbo knee workouts for women, five brandy workouts every single week.

Uh, you get a lower body and upper body, a cardio and core shoulders and glutes, and full body 30 minute workout, 60 minute workout for e for every single workout. So you have a 30 minute alternate. It's a shortened, condensed version of the workout or the full, which is, you know, it takes anywhere from. 45 to 65 minutes, depending on how slow or fast you go through those workouts, but so, so important that you really do have either those default movement days or you have some sort of AAV or program that you can literally open up and it takes the guesswork out of it for you.

Number 11, patience isn't passive. I used to think that patients met waiting around for things to change, like. Stepping to the side and hoping that progress would find me. But patience isn't passive at all. Patience is choosing to stay faithful in the in between. It's really continuing to do the small thing, showing up for your workout window, nourishing your body, sending the email, praying even when you don't feel anything yet.

It's really trusting that roots are forming even when you can't see the growth above the surface. Postpartum has really taught me that in such a deep way, like I wanted my strength back so quickly and I thought that it would come so easily. I wanted my energy back. I wanted to feel like life felt familiar again.

But the real growth personally happened in the slow rebuilding, in the listening and the honoring the gradual return, right? And surrendering my timeline for Gods. And I used to pray for past faster progress. And honestly, you guys, I still have days where I'm like, oh, can it just go faster? But now. I truly believe that the prayer of my heart and the prayer that I should be praying consistently is just praying for deeper roots, because roots really can hold you when the next season gets heavy, and that's the kind of strength and faith that lasts.

Number 12, boundaries protect blessings. Saying no used to feel so selfish to me. I worried that I would disappoint people. I would miss opportunities if I didn't keep pushing or saying yes. Keep stretching myself. But every yes, caused something like your energy, your peace, your presence, and I started noticing that when I said yes to everything, I was actually saying no to the things that mattered most, my family, my health, my faith, my sanity, protecting time for workouts, prayer, rest, and just being with my people didn't make my life smaller.

It made it fuller like I became more grounded, less resentful, more available emotionally. Because I wasn't running on empty anymore. Boundaries are not walls, they're gates. They really do help you decide what gets access to your heart, your time, your energy. You can't steward what God has given you if you're stretched too thin to hold it.

And sometimes the holiest thing that you can say is No, that doesn't serve me right now, and so I'm gonna pass on it. Number 13, you're allowed to change your mind. The programs, the habits, the goals that worked before. Motherhood don't always fit the season that you're in, and that's okay. I personally had to reevaluate my own workouts, like shorter sessions, more recovery, more flexibility.

I used to think that changing direction meant failure, but now it just means alignment personally, and I think that that is so, so important. And I think. We just need to constantly remember that we're allowed to change our mind. We're allowed to change things, whether that's your career path or the things that you used to wear, or the things that you to like, it's okay to change.

It's okay. You are growing and you're ever evolving and your season of life is growing and the things around you and the people around you, they matter and, uh, they'll understand when that growth is there. Number 14, there's no trophy for doing it all alone. I truly used to wear this, like I can do it all like a badge of honor.

And then I'm truly telling you that motherhood humbled me and it humbled me fast, letting my husband handle certain things in just the baby routine, really asking for help, leaning on community, leaning on God more than ever, and those choices allowed me and gave me breathing room. You're not failing by asking for help, you're really giving yourself a chance to thrive.

And I still struggle with this, you guys, like, I struggle with it so much and part of it is because I truly have fomo. Like, I'm like, I don't wanna miss out on bedtime routine. I don't wanna miss out on that. Like I have. We'll have so much FOMO and um, and that's okay to have fomo. It's also okay to ask for help and, um, know that you can't do it alone.

Number 15, the best days are the simplest ones. I truly, you guys used to crave. Like these big accomplishments. And now my favorite moments are like reading books to Blake on the couch or making breakfast together, laughing over stupid, silly things like imaginary games that I make up. Simplicity doesn't mean small.

It means sacred. And those moments are the ones that matter. Those are the ones that truly you are going to look back and be like, man, those are the days, right? Those are the days. And make them count. Make them count more than ever because you will look back one day and wish that you would've not just breezed through that season.

Number 16, your capacity changes. And that's not weakness, it's wisdom. There was a time, personally, again, pre-baby, where I could juggle, you know, 10 projects and still squeeze in a workout. And these days I'm lucky if I can do one or two things well that's a win, right? Recognizing your capacity isn't lowering the bar.

It's just redefining success. Like what used to be easy or come effortless, might feel heavier now because you're carrying more that matters, and I think that that's important to remember. Again, just in, in my personal experience, motherhood transformed me in a way that I never knew that I needed. And it redefined everything in my life.

Number 17, progress might look slower now, but slow progress is still progress. Some seasons just don't look like heavy lifting and hitting personal bests. Some seasons look like doing what you can with the time and energy that you have. And here's something personally that has helped me this year. Like instead of measuring progress by how much I got done, I started measuring it by how often I returned.

And that shift really changed everything because progress isn't lost when you have an off day. Progress has reinforced every single time you decide to show up again and again. Again, the next day and again the next day, and again, this is where my movement with Julie Dumbbell only workouts has truly been such a supportive tool for me and so many women, like the workouts are already structured for you, so you don't have to figure out what to do when your capacity is low or your week feels unpredictable.

You literally just open up the app and you move in a way. That you can that day, and that's enough. It's designed to truly meet you where you're at, because consistency is built by returning, not by being perfect. Number 18, comparison is the quickest way to lose sight of your blessings. Oh my goodness. If I could scream this from the rooftops, I would, but scrolling through some fitness pages postpartum, literally.

Nearly stole my joy, like complete and utter joy. I had to remind myself so many times this year that someone else's highlight reel doesn't show their struggles. You can admire someone's strength without questioning your own, like stay focused on your reps, your macros, your progress, your season of life, and that's where peace truly lives.

Number 19, you are not behind this one. Again, hit so hard. Whether it's rebuilding your strength, it's finding your rhythm and motherhood. It's getting back on track with your nutrition like you're not late. You're right on time for the life that God has designed you in this season that you're in. Number 20, you can love your body and still want to improve it.

I talked about this before on the podcast, but self-love and self-improvement aren't opposites. They're actually what works best together. Like loving your body doesn't mean staying exactly where you're at, and it doesn't mean ignoring your goals. It just means that you're caring and, uh, caring enough about your self to move forward.

With what supports you while also being kind to yourself along the way. And when your goal comes from respect instead of pressure, the whole journey does truly feel different. It creates space to choose what feels nourishing rather than feeling like right or wrong. And it truly has allowed me to make movement and food feel like care and not control.

And again, that's really kind of the core and heartbeat behind the Macro Academy Simple. Paul Online Academy is that it's not about restriction or about micromanaging what you eat, but it's about learning how to fuel your body in a way that aligns with your goals and feels good to live with. When you understand what your body needs, you really do stop second guessing yourself.

You stop swinging between extremes and you can start building a lifestyle that actually supports your energy, your strength, and your long-term health. It's not a diet, it's a framework that honors both who you are right now and also who you're becoming. Number 21, motivation fades, but structure sustains.

There were plenty of days this year where I did not feel like working out or choosing the nourishing option. What helped, wasn't forcing motivation. It was having something to fall back on. And here's one thing that makes a huge difference. I need you to pick your movement time before the day even starts.

Like even if it's flexible, just decide sometime after breakfast or during nap time or right after work, not what you'll do, but when. And when the moment comes, you don't debate it, you don't negotiate. You just show up in a capacity that you have for that day. And that's how consistency is built. Not through hype or motivation, but through gentle structure that supports you when you're tired.

When you're tired, when you just don't wanna do it, when you don't have it in you, that is what will help you. Number 22, your goals need room to evolve. In my twenties, my goal, literally my number one goal was to have visible abs in my thirties. My number one goal is to be strong enough to carry my toddler without back pain and still have energy for date night, and still have energy to show up for Joshua.

And show up for myself and show up for the people that I love. Right? Your goals should grow as you do so you need to give yourself permission to pivot and redefine what success looks like in every season. Number 23 rest days make you stronger. This used to be the hardest lesson for me. I'd feel guilty resting like I was lo losing progress.

But rest is where your body repairs and your mind resets. And this year I took more intentional rest days and I truly did see better results, especially once I started to really commit myself and my body started to heal postpartum. Like my lifts improve my mood stabilized my cre. Creativity returned.

Rest isn't weakness. It's simply wisdom. Number 24 movement is medicine for your mind. Even 10 minutes of intentional movement that can shift your mood, it can calm your anxiety, it can reset your patience. Just remember, it's not about perfection. It's about reminding your body what it's capable of.

Something that really helped me this year was understanding why movement changes. How we feel like when you move your body releases tension, that your mind has been carrying your breath deepens, your nervous system shifts out of this. Go, go, go into I'm unsafe again. It's not just physical, it's emotional regulation, it's grounding, it's coming home to yourself.

And so if you wanna try something simple, when you notice if you're overwhelmed or if you're spiraling, I want you to stop and take two minutes to move your body in a way that just feels doable. Roll your shoulders, stretch your chest, walk outside for a minute, do a few squats. You're not trying to work out, you're just trying to interrupt that stress cycle.

And this is also like again, where my MO with Julie Structured workouts can help you show up in whatever capacity you have that day. Whether it's 10 minutes, it's 30 minutes, it's 60 minutes, it can really, truly help you feel like yourself again. And last but not least, number 25, the woman I am becoming deserves celebration, not critique.

I'm honestly done apologizing for evolving like the woman I was five years ago prayed for this version of me stronger, softer, wiser, more grounded, and I'm learning to celebrate her progress today. Not once she hits a new goal. Not once she's, you know, at X, Y, and Z, but wherever you are, I want you to pause and celebrate how far you've come because you deserve that.

Let's quickly recap a few truths that I want you to carry into 2026 that I learned in 2025. Every season serves a purpose, even the slow ones. Fueling your body is an act of self-respect. Progress is progress no matter how small boundaries protect what matters most, and faith and consistency always beat perfection.

Now, I know it's easy to listen to something like this and be like, okay, I'm so inspired, but where do I even start? Everything I shared in this episode, the patience, the slowing down, the rebuilding, the learning to trust in God's timing. Truly, none of that has happened overnight and honestly, none of that has just completely happened in 2025.

But it wasn't just like one mindset shift. It truly has come in showing up in the small, in the practical ways every single day, and you can't pour into your family, your work, your faith, your community if you're constantly running on empty. For me, that structure came from two things. My moment with Julie Community, which is my dumb only workouts for women.

And my Macro Academy is simple Online academy, not because they're programs, but because they really did become my anchors when everything else in my life felt unpredictable. Nap schedules, work projects, my own energy, just everything changing in my life, these gave me something steady to come back to my mood with Julie Dumbbell workouts really has helped me to rebuild my strength in a way that actually fits my season.

And I am, you know, sharing this now in December of 2025, which. If you were talking to February of 2025 version of Julie, you would've like, you would've been like, there's no way. But I'm sitting here in December feeling stronger than I was, uh, pre-pregnancy. Like I am stronger now than I was prior to even getting pregnant with Blake.

That feels like such a win for me. But the coolest thing about that is that it's actually maintainable in the season of life because I do it during nap time. I don't have a nanny that that helps me out with Blake, and I'm not saying that's good or bad. If you have someone that helps you out on a regular basis, that's amazing, take advantage of that.

If you don't, I want you to know that you can absolutely make these workouts fit your life. And, uh, you know, Blake has, uh, his nap morning nap and I'm like, okay, that's the time that I move. Like that is designated for my movement and it has just allowed me so much freedom and it, it has just reminded me that I didn't need a perfect workout routine.

I just needed consistency and I needed to just follow through. And that my macro kind means simple. Online academy is what has finally helped me feel peace again with food, especially postpartum. And it helped me understand what my body actually needs again, like. Coming back postpartum. I am so grateful with where I am right now, but I remember there is even a time in like September of this year, so just a couple months ago where I was like, man, I'm working out consistently, but I'm still not seeing like exactly, you know, I'm not seeing the results that I, I know I should be seeing with the work that I'm putting in my workouts.

And I share that with Josh and of course, you know, Josh being the man that he is, and, um, just knowing that nutrition is such a key role of this. He's like, so what are you doing in terms of your protein? And I'm like, Hmm, well, yeah, I'm not where I should be in terms of eating enough protein. He's like, all right, start there.

Like start with just, you know, focusing on protein. And then from there, got consistent with that. And then really headed back into like making sure that I'm consistent with my protein, carbs, and fats in. Man, it truly does make such a difference. And so if you need that motivation or just the education and learning how to eat enough, how to balance your meals, how to stop labeling food as good or bad, this program is for you.

These are why I created these tools. Like I want you to have the freedom that I feel and the freedom of flexibility that I feel in both my workouts and my nutrition because that is priceless. If you love this episode, I know you'll also love episode 95. Five questions to Ask yourself about your New Year's resolution.

So I'll go ahead and link that in the show notes below. That was from a a few years ago, but. I know it will definitely still be relevant going into this new year. And so as we head into 2026, I just wanna leave you with this and I want you to remember that you are allowed to take up space. You are allowed to slow down.

You are allowed to rebuild at your own pace. And no matter what season of life that you're in, you're never behind. You've got this and I'm rooting for you. I love you so dang much. I mean it, and I'll talk to you in the next one.

All right, sister. That's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie, a Ledbetter. Yes, it's with an A in the middle for that daily post-workout, real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check.

The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves.

Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface, so go out there and embrace your real. Because you're worth it.

 
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