Five words in the car
Julia was driving her daughter when five words arrived: Potential, Courage, Bold, Power and Grace. She typed them into her phone, and the book began there.
About
About Julia
Geologist, author and host of Choose Life Boldly, based in Calgary, Alberta.
P.Geo., M.Sc.Geology, University of Calgary
MBAHaskayne School of Business
Her story
A geologist's instinct to look beneath the surface
- Geologist
- Founder
- Author
- Host
Julia McElgunn, P.Geo., M.Sc., MBA, is a geologist, a founder, and the author of A Life Chosen — a book born from the real work of choosing self-worth over self-loathing. She has a passion for people and for helping them see the best in life while stepping into their own sense of self with confidence.
With degrees in geology from the University of Calgary and an MBA from the Haskayne School of Business, she has spent her career studying what sits beneath the surface: mapping, pressure, and what time does to buried things. Then she turned that same training on herself.
What if we examined ourselves with the same curiosity we bring to the world around us?
Her work draws on personal memoir, the science of self, and spiritual wisdom — written from the inside out. She writes, speaks, and teaches for anyone who is done waiting for permission to live the bigger life they already know is possible.
She lives in Calgary, Alberta, with her husband and four children.
Julia McElgunn
The stories behind the book
Where A Life Chosen began
From Germany to northern B.C.
She moved from Germany to rural northern British Columbia before she was three. In the book she is honest about the parts of herself that aren't flattering: jealousy, perfectionism, wanting attention, and the early link between accomplishment and approval.
Stepping away from security
The real turning point was a choice: Julia stepped away from the security of her job to start her own company, and to build a life on her own terms.
Bold does not require explanation. Bold does not require justification. Bold does not require convincing. True boldness is confident, self-assured, grounded, and quietly sovereign.
The idea at the centre
Buried does not mean gone.
Something happened. It was buried. Time passed. What was preserved down there keeps telling the story of what happened before, long after the surface looks calm.
Julia calls these emotional fossils: old experiences that keep shaping the surface of our lives. Coming from a geologist, the metaphor is completely natural.
Watch on YouTube
The podcast
Choose Life Boldly
Real conversations with people who stopped waiting and started choosing.
If you want more, and you already know you do, this is your podcast.
Julia talks with guests who chose boldly. Not loudly. Just decided.