The Phoenix Was Never Afraid of Fire
- Julie Quizon
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
The Phoenix Was Never Afraid of Fire
Looking Back at the Evidence
For a long time, I believed I was afraid.
Afraid of failure.
Afraid of being seen.
Afraid of starting over.
Afraid of launching my ideas.
Afraid of pursuing my dreams.
But lately I have been reviewing the evidence.
And the evidence tells a different story.
The evidence says I keep rising.
Again.
And again.
And again.
This realization came after revisiting a chapter of my life I rarely talk about.
Back in 2013, I experienced one of the most painful professional betrayals of my career.
I was a new nurse.
Excited.
Hopeful.
Building my future.
Trusting people who I believed were mentors.
Then suddenly that trust was broken.
At the time, it felt devastating.
Not because I lost a job.
Because I lost confidence.
Because someone I trusted turned into a lesson.
For years I thought that experience made me afraid.
But now, looking back, I realize something.
What did I do after 2013?
Did I quit?
Did I stop dreaming?
Did I stop creating?
No.
I went back to school.
Again.
I redirected my career.
Again.
I reinvented myself.
Again.
I pursued advanced education in medical aesthetics nursing.
I completed my training.
I built my own clinic.
Pearl Medical Skincare.
I created a new path.
A path that belonged to me.
And I loved it.
For the first time, I wasn't just helping people heal.
I was helping people feel beautiful.
Confident.
Radiant.
Seen.
That journey introduced me to a whole new world.
Skin health.
Wellness.
Beauty.
Natural healing.
Organic ingredients.
Formulation.
Creation.
And somewhere along that journey I discovered another passion.
Organic skincare.
I became fascinated by what nature could offer.
Not just for appearance.
But for healing.
Then life happened again.
In 2014, another chapter arrived.
One I wasn't prepared for.
A miscarriage.
At the time, I was busy.
Building my business.
Working as a nurse.
Serving my community.
Trying to create a future.
And I didn't even know I was pregnant.
The loss hit differently because my husband and I had been trying to conceive for almost ten years.
Ten years of hoping.
Ten years of praying.
Ten years of wondering if motherhood would ever happen.
The grief was profound.
Not only because of the loss itself.
But because it represented a dream.
A possibility.
A future that disappeared before I could hold it.
Looking back now, I realize something.
I carried that grief much longer than I admitted.
Not because I was weak.
Because some losses don't have funerals.
Some losses live quietly inside your heart.
Yet somehow, even then, I kept moving forward.
Years later, during the pandemic, another transformation emerged.
The world stopped.
Everything changed.
Many businesses struggled.
Many dreams paused.
And somehow, in the middle of uncertainty, another creative chapter was born.
Vela Yodeha Organics.
Face Leaf Organics.
My own skincare formulations.
My own wellness vision.
My own creations.
Products inspired by everything I had learned through nursing, aesthetics, wellness, motherhood, and healing.
The dream was alive.
It simply looked different.
And now as I sit here in 2026 reviewing my life, my projects, my websites, my music, my therapy practice, my wellness work, and all the beautiful unfinished things waiting for their moment, I realize something that surprises me.
I was never afraid of fire.
Because every major chapter of my life began after something burned.
After heartbreak.
After disappointment.
After betrayal.
After grief.
After uncertainty.
Every single time.
Something new emerged.
Maybe that's why I have so many unfinished ideas.
Not because I don't finish things.
Because I am always becoming something new.
The nurse became a skin therapist.
The skin therapist became a creator.
The creator became a mother.
The mother became a healer.
The healer became a musician.
The musician became a writer.
And perhaps none of those versions disappeared.
Perhaps they are all still here.
Living under one roof.
Waiting to be introduced to one another.
For years I thought I was carrying too much.
Now I wonder if I was simply carrying many versions of myself.
And perhaps that is the real work of this season.
Not creating a new version of Julie.
But gathering all the old ones together.
The nurse.
The entrepreneur.
The SKINIOLOGIST.
The mother.
The therapist.
The musician.
The dreamer.
The sensitive heart.
The little girl.
The woman.
Maybe they have been waiting for a family reunion.
And maybe that reunion is finally beginning.
Because there is one question I cannot stop asking myself now.
If every fire in my life created a new version of me...
Who am I becoming next?
To be continued...
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