About Me — Julie Chan
A Perpetual Thinker, Learner, & Doer: Healing & Inspiring The World One Idea At A Time
You, the reader: “Who are you?”
Background:
Hello and happy timezone! My name is Julie, and I was born and raised in southern California all my life. I am a Chinese American, a first-generation American, and the first person in my immediate family to obtain a college education. I graduated from CSULB during the middle of the pandemic, something you can read some more about below.
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in human developmental psychology and on the side, I’m an avid reader of personal growth, psychology, and personal development books! I believe learning keeps the mind young, something that’s crucial to my writing style on this platform. After all, it’s hard to write articles in those areas without being an avid reader and applying that knowledge in your life first! (Otherwise, that’s the literal definition of being a hypocrite.)
I started working when I was only 17 and throughout the many years I’ve been working, I’ve accrued experience in the healthcare, sales, and marketing industries, as well as in entrepreneurship. I’m also currently, (re)learning programming languages and will earn a full-stack software development certificate at the end of July this year if things go according to plan, and by that, I mean passing each unit so retaking any unit isn’t necessary.
Being the oldest child in the family comes with a lot of responsibilities and expectations, which is why I ensure my schedule is packed, by making sure I’m either learning something or working, whether that be towards my main job, content creation, or my online business. I grew up seeing my parents living paycheck to paycheck and I just want to be able to create a life of abundance for myself and for future generations to come.
How I got into writing:
I’ve always kept diaries and journals growing up since that was the only way I felt I was free to express what and why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I’ll never forget the first ever journal I got in the first grade for turning in a reading log with all of the days filled in! It was the red journal that kickstarted a habit that would last for several years, which I then fell out of around my freshman/sophomore year in high school.
I have written digital journal entries here and there on my Notion, but usually only when I feel overwhelmed.
I also remember always wishing people would learn how to put themselves in other people’s shoes, that people would be more understanding, rather than harshly judging someone they don’t even know. I feel like even though I have improved my communication skills throughout the years, when it comes to iterating my thoughts out on paper — or in this case, a screen, that’s when I feel like I think the clearest.
Thus, my love for writing bloomed; to inspire people and help others gain a broader perspective on what life is all about, that life isn’t just black and white but a spectrum, a plethora of colors. (Y’all thought I was gonna say shades of grey huh? Be honest ok 😂🤣)
What I like to write about & why:
I like to consider myself a multi-dimensional person, which is why I like to write about different topics and ideas. These topics include:
- Philosophy, which may include politics, religion, and pretty much other controversial topics you can think about — I feel like a lot of the times we form opinions on something, we base it off not only our upbringings but also on what the media portrays. I enjoy writing articles to help see both sides of the argument, such as when I wrote about gun control & gun violence, which you can take a look at below.
- Lifestyle/productivity — People always peg me as someone who “has their life together” when in reality all I got really good at was just organization and really managing my schedule well. I want to be able to help others achieve that too.
- Personal development/growth tips & reflections — I want to be able to share some of the things I’ve been reading as well as my reflections since I want to be able to share my perspective and hopefully be able to help you too.
- The occasional poem or two — Sometimes I just want to express appreciation but don’t know exactly how to form those thoughts so I figured why not dabble in this since this part will be the artistic part of my blog here.
Goals on Medium:
To be honest, writing is just a fun hobby to me, a way for me to redirect strong, negative emotions into something that can not only be productive and creative but also freeing as well. Since I just broke my 4-year long hiatus here (the first article I ever published here was back in 2019), my goal — for now — is to rejoin the Medium Partners Program since I lost that partnership after going into a hiatus and not fulfilling the requirements before the Dec 2021 deadline. I also want to be a better writer, so any comments or constructive feedback is greatly appreciated!
Still here?
Consider supporting my writing by either buying me a boba or following my Gumroad, where I create Notion templates and resources. A collection of my social media profiles can be found here as well. Let’s connect!
