Scott DeLuzio: 00:00:00 Thanks for tuning into the Drive On Podcast, where we’re focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community, whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or family member, on this podcast we’ll share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show today. My guest is Lila Holley. Lila is a combat veteran and retired US Army Warrant Officer. She’s a multiple award-winning Amazon best-selling author, who partners with other greatest military women and women veterans to share their stories of success in the military, despite facing challenges along their journey. So welcome to the show. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Lila Holley: 00:00:47 Well, thank you so much for having me Scott, like you said, my name is Lila Holley. I am an army veteran. I served 22 years active duty and traveled the globe. That was my objective and I succeeded. And in those 22 years I had a great career and I was ready to retire. It was time to retire. But you know, I think I learned some of the biggest lessons in that transition out of the military. Like a lot of veterans, it was a very emotional process. I felt like I wasn’t really prepared for, I wasn’t even kind of forewarned about it, so I learned a lot during that time. And that’s where this next career came from. I guess, becoming an author and sharing my story and just creating this platform for so many other women to share their amazing stories as well.
Scott DeLuzio: 00:01:43 That’s great. And so your transition out of the military-led you to what you’re doing now. And so tell us a little bit about that transition and what that was like, and how that led you to where you are now.
Lila Holley: 00:01:59 Yeah. You know, at 22 years, I mean, you kinda know when it’s time to retire, you kind of get that feeling. So, it was definitely time. My career has run the course. I felt like I had achieved success in my eyes and that’s really all that really matters when you’re at that stage in your career. Like, what does success look like for you? And so make sure it’s identified by you. Like not anybody else, don’t let them force you to push you to stay longer. Obviously, I could have stayed longer, but nope. It was time to transition. And so like I said, it was you know, I should have known having lived life and gone through a lot of transitions myself already that every transitional moment in life comes with a lot of emotions.
Lila Holley: 00:02:45 And so I wasn’t even thinking about that. I was just like, it’s time to retire. It’s kind of a go, let’s go, let’s get on up out of here and go to the next chapter. But those emotions really got me hung up. I felt things that I couldn’t properly explain to my family to help me through. I hit a lot of my emotions. I felt like I beat myself up a lot thinking you should be able to push through this thing. They shouldn’t have you hung up like this was going on. I really humbled myself and tapped into the resources that are available to us as veterans that I had never, ever used in my career. And as for mental health services, you know I was military intelligence, so I held a top-secret clearance.
Lila Holley: 00:03:30 And so, you gotta protect that class at all costs. You gotta protect your career at all costs. And so it’s just some things that you figure out along the way in your military career because the mission comes first and everything else comes second. So you kind of figure out those emotion...
