Soft and intimate, Julia Sara Noëlle invites us into her world through tender self-portraits taken in the Italian mountains — images that carry the same sense of story and quiet vulnerability as her words.
“Four years ago, I opened myself to the world of healing. I stepped into therapy, sat in silence retreats, and began peeling back the layers I had unknowingly built around myself. For example, I had always been afraid of responsibility, because I couldn’t handle the guilt when something went wrong. I also found it hard to ask friends for help, because I wanted my life to appear good, so I acted as if everything was fine, even when it wasn’t. And as I started to see more clearly, something unexpected happened — my suitcase of feelings seemed to grow bigger and bigger. Because when I opened my eyes to old wounds, I began to uncover all the hidden emotions tucked into corners I didn’t even know existed. At times, it felt overwhelming.
We are such complex beings, carrying not just our own pain, but the inherited traumas and unspoken dreams of others, too.
For me, this inner reckoning sometimes shows up in moments of anxiety, in waves that take my breath away. But even through that chaos, I know I’m doing the work. Because every revelation feels like a breath of fresh air — freeing, expansive, light. Vulnerability, I’ve learned, is how we deepen our lives. It’s how we clear a path for others to follow.
“I am becoming an embodied woman. One who can, or at least tries to, carry it all. But the journey is not linear. It never is.”
And last year, just when I thought I was beginning to understand myself, that I was building something solid, something safe, life pulled the rug from under me. I was thrown back into the battlefield of growing up, forced once again to meet the parts of myself I hadn’t yet faced. I lived in New York City for three months, not feeling responsible for anyone but myself, and focusing fully on my own needs. It was a rebellious period, a time when I allowed myself to explore everything I had long forbidden.
And yet, there is such beauty in the contradiction. Because I like to feel free, but I also crave routine. I like being anonymous in a big city, but I come alive in nature. I long for the certainty of home, yet I ache to travel. I love to play, and I like to sit and philosophize. Now, as I slowly move toward thirty, I find myself unraveling these truths, these profound, layered parts of my personality that are finally asking to be seen, to be heard, to be held. I am becoming an embodied woman. One who can, or at least tries to, carry it all.
But the journey is not linear. It never is. Healing loops back on itself. Growth demands our discomfort. And yet still, I walk forward with eyes open and a tender heart.
One step at the time.”
Jules
all photos by @juliasaranoelle
