Founder of Bishop Life Reveals How to Heal Trauma and Rebuild Your Life

Summary

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Living Your Legacy

Host: Rudy Mawer
Guest: Michelle Bishop, Founder of Bishop Life
Episode: Founder of Bishop Life Reveals How to Heal Trauma and Rebuild Your Life
Release Date: March 31, 2026

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Overview

In this powerful episode, Rudy Mawer sits down with Michelle Bishop, founder of Bishop Life and purpose-driven life coach, to explore her remarkable journey through trauma, healing, and transformation. Michelle shares candid insights from her life—surviving childhood abuse, breast cancer, grief, and the ongoing process of rebuilding herself—and explains how her philosophy and methods empower others to reclaim their self-worth and rewrite their life story. The conversation dives deep into the mechanics of true behavior change, the reality of internal battles, and the importance of choosing yourself—with practical advice and heartfelt stories that will resonate with anyone seeking personal growth.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Foundation of Bishop Life: Real Experience Meets Authentic Coaching

• Michelle’s Approach:

  • Michelle distinguishes her coaching from typical life coaching by rooting it in her "lived experience as well as professional education," emphasizing authenticity and credible, research-backed methods.
    • “I'm not gonna come from a place anything less than authenticity and have knowledge behind it, because you can really sidestep someone's life.” (Michelle, 03:56)

• Why the Right Education Matters:

  • The United States lacks regulation for life coaches, making expertise and integrity vital.
  • “If you're not educated and trained, maybe a negative way.” (Rudy, 04:24)

2. Trauma, Recovery, and Choosing Yourself

• Michelle's Life Story:

  • Michelle shares her history:
    • Severely damaging childhood—mental, physical, and emotional abuse.
    • Survivor of breast cancer and long COVID (ICU hospitalization).
    • Grief: loss of her husband, a journey through failed and abusive relationships, and ultimately becoming a proud, resilient mother of two.
    • Ongoing struggle with anorexia as a child and body dysmorphia.
    • Major weight loss transformation (from 212 lbs to 99 lbs).
  • “I've been through a lot of Life… And I get the opportunity to share my story with empathy and understanding.” (Michelle, 05:07)

• The Power of Self-Choice and Accountability:

  • True change requires personal ownership—others cannot make decisions for you.
    • “You can't change anyone... You have to choose it for yourself.” (Michelle, 07:06)
  • On sustainable transformation: Inside-out shifts are what stick.
    • “It was about inside first for me. Taking care of what I needed to know that were the obstacles and shedding the armor, shedding the weight and being the best me I could be from a health perspective.” (Michelle, 07:49)

3. The Process of Change: Awareness, Failure, and Consistency

• Awareness as the First Step:
  • Recognizing one’s own patterns and blocks before lasting transformation can occur.
    • “Being aware of it is the most important thing for me. And as a coach... your first step is to be aware of it.” (Michelle, 09:10)
• The Iterative Journey:
  • Change often comes after repeated attempts and failures—something “clicks” eventually.
    • “You probably didn't maybe do it on the first swing. You maybe tried stuff, dabbled around. And one time something changed or some decision was made internally.” (Rudy, 08:39)

4. Breaking the Silence: The Courage to Talk about Inner Battles

• Owning the Conversation:

  • Michelle highlights the importance of speaking openly about struggles—removing shame.
    • “It doesn't get better if you don't talk about it. I am not ashamed at any path that I've taken through my life because it has created the woman that you see right before me.” (Michelle, 11:36)

• Universality of Internal Battles:

  • Everyone has struggles—body, mind, relationships, money, or more.
    • “As a human species, we have all that in common pretty much... it will show up in every aspect of your life.” (Rudy, 11:12)

5. Rewriting Your Story and Escaping Victimhood

• Perspective Shift and Acceptance:
  • Michelle reframes past struggles as material for growth rather than reasons for victimhood.
    • “You can be the author of your own story... if you do try to just like wipe things out and start all over fresh, is that really smart? Or how about if you say, what got me here? Why do I have this roadblock?” (Michelle, 14:16)
• Addressing Victim Mentality:
  • Rudy and Michelle agree: those who accept responsibility move forward, those who blame remain stuck.
    • “Unsuccessful people generally will blame someone else for an external factor. Right. Whereas if you sit down logically, and some things are sad, random acts of fate, but most things are like...they all reverse back to you...” (Rudy, 15:27)

6. The Book: Choose You First

• About the Book:
  • Title: Choose You First
  • Availability: Amazon, Ingram Spark
  • Unfiltered storytelling about trauma, resilience, and practical healing.
    • “I didn't want people to come be part of my community and go, oh, she's 60, but she looked 29. I'm like, I worked hard for all that. I mean, so I was like, so what you see is what you get.” (Michelle, 13:03)
• Lessons from the Book:
  • The first half details Michelle's personal hardships; the second half provides frameworks and exercises for rewriting one’s story.
    • “How do you rewrite your own story? You can be the author of your own story. And where do you want to start?” (Michelle, 14:16)
• Core Philosophy:
  • Self-care is selfless, not selfish—an essential shift for both survivors and givers.
    • “Choose you first, feed yourself spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, so that you can be the best. So you get to live your best. You.” (Michelle, 17:37)

7. Practical Strategies: Breathwork and Kindness

• Breaking Anxiety with Breath:
  • Michelle’s go-to tool for managing stress and anxiety is mindful breathing.
    • “I say, inhale all that is good and then release all that is bad, and then move forward. It chemically will change the brain set.” (Michelle, 21:10)
  • Making time for the “breath” can disrupt anxiety cycles, even in the toughest moments.
• The Ripple Effect of Kindness:
  • Advocating for children and small acts of kindness have played pivotal roles in Michelle’s healing and purpose.
    • “It just takes that moment of kindness, not just for children, but for all people. And giving that, I receive so much more and it just fills my life.” (Michelle, 18:58)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "There's a lot of Michelle Bishop, but there's only one the Michelle Bishop. Because I've lived a lot of life and ultimately I think it's important to communicate with others, to shine the light in the darkness for hope."
  — Michelle Bishop [02:00]

• "You can't change anyone... You have to choose it for yourself."
  — Michelle Bishop [07:06]

• "I am not ashamed at any path that I've taken through my life because it has created the woman that you see right before me."
  — Michelle Bishop [11:36]

• "You can be the author of your own story... what got me here? Why do I have this roadblock? Because if you don't, it will continue to hold you back."
  — Michelle Bishop [14:16]

• "Choose you first. Feed yourself spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally so that you can be the best."
  — Michelle Bishop [17:37]

• "I say, inhale all that is good and then release all that is bad, and then move forward. It chemically will change the brain set."
  — Michelle Bishop [21:10]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Michelle’s Origin Story & Approach: [01:45] – [05:07]
• Surviving Trauma & Personal Transformation: [05:07] – [10:21]
• Overcoming Failure, Building Consistency: [07:06] – [10:21]
• Body Image and Internal Struggles: [10:21] – [12:26]
• Writing & Unfiltered Reality in Choose You First: [13:03] – [17:37]
• Victimhood vs. Ownership: [15:09] – [18:30]
• Advocacy, Kindness & Children: [18:58] – [19:41]
• Breathwork and Anxiety Management: [20:29] – [21:39]

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Resources

• Book: Choose You First (available on Amazon and Ingram Spark)
• Website: michellebishoplife.com
• Socials: Instagram & Facebook @michellebishoplife

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Final Takeaways

Michelle’s journey and coaching philosophy come down to one essential message: healing begins the moment you choose yourself, confront your past without shame, and honor the small acts of self-care that enable you to support others. Her story is not just one of survival, but of ownership, radical honesty, and proof that anyone can rebuild their life—one breath, one choice at a time.

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Transcript

[Michelle Bishop]

Feed yourself spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally. It's not a selfish act, it's a selfless act. Because if we're not feeding ourselves, we can't give the best to others that we want to help or be part of their lives.

[Narrator]

Michelle Bishop is a true survivor, purpose driven life coach and the founder of Bishop Life. Drawing from her own journey, she inspires individuals to reclaim their worth, heal from trauma, and live boldly in their truth.

[Rudy]

Why is it even for yourself and people you work with, a lot of times they try and fail. Try, fail, try, fail, and then eventually something happens and then they actually do it.

[Michelle Bishop]

Being aware of it is the most important thing for me. And as a coach in anything of life, your first step is to be aware of it. What's the next step?

[Podcast Intro/Outro Voice]

It spans the globe like a super high cold Internet. Elvis Presley. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over until I win. The Living youg Legacy podcast. For those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible has happened. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan, open Chicago with the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.

[Rudy]

Hello and welcome back to another episode. Sat with me today is Michelle and we're going to dive into her story, her life and how she's helping a lot of people, doing some amazing work and she's doing it online so all of you can take part. Welcome to the show.

[Michelle Bishop]

Thank you, Rudy. I'm glad to be here.

[Rudy]

So, like, I know you're an author, you're doing all, you know, these online classes and your coaching, doing all these great things, but for someone who maybe doesn't know who you are, they just, you know, read the podcast style. Can you start with a bit of an overview of who you are and what you do?

[Michelle Bishop]

Well, that's a great question. That's why I'm here. There's a lot of Michelle Bishop, but there's only one the Michelle Bishop. Because I've lived a lot of life and ultimately I think it's important to communicate with others, to shine the light in the darkness for hope.

[Rudy]

I like that. And clients come to you. Just break it down for the audience. They come to you in what position and how do you help change their life?

[Michelle Bishop]

Well, something that's really important to me is that I want everyone to have the opportunity to live their best you. My best me is not your best you, of course. And so by identifying some of those things that you want to address to incorporate change in your life or enhancement Then we go ahead and we kind of work through that path, that journey. And I've always said that it's important to make small pivots of change. The worst thing that happens is it doesn't work out. And guess what? You get the opportunity to do it again. And then when you make these small pivots of change in your life, it becomes a lifestyle and it becomes hugely part of who you are.

[Rudy]

I like that. And you know, obviously you've been doing this a long time, big track record, well known for what you do or for all of these great things. Just if someone's listening, they don't know who you are. How's this different to a everyday life coach that does a bit of coaching?

[Michelle Bishop]

Well, first of all, I really thought it was important to get education behind it. In the United States. You're not required to call yourself a life coach with having a life.

[Rudy]

It's the same in the fitness space. Pretty much everyone's. When I, you know, I got a master's degree but everyone was at a fitness training.

[Michelle Bishop]

Right.

[Rudy]

And there's variance there.

[Michelle Bishop]

Yeah. So I had the same like, same thought process. I'm like, I'm not gonna come from a place anything less than authenticity and have knowledge behind it because you can really sidestep someone's life.

[Rudy]

Same in fitness. Yeah. You give them bad nutrition and fitness and get injured or every hormone problems. Yeah, it's the same. Same industry that's poorly regulated, I guess is a good way to. Right. And as you also enforce it's you, you're. You're having a massive impact in hopefully a positive way. But if you're not educated and trained, maybe a negative way.

[Michelle Bishop]

Right. Well, and that messaging is so important. And that's why for 2026, I'm looking so forward to, to being in the speaking network and sharing the message more. And I've spent a lot of time branding because like you said, who is Michelle Bishop?

[Rudy]

Yeah, yeah. And let's go back to that question. So a regular life coach is going to sit with someone. You know, I'm going to summarize here, but sit with someone, talk about their goals, dreams, those sort of things, give them some input, maybe a bit of coaching. How is it what you do different to that?

[Michelle Bishop]

Well, I've been through a lot of Life. I'm approaching 60 years of age and so I have been through a severely damaging child of mental, physical and emotional abuse. That being said, I also am a breast cancer survivor. I have had long term Covid. I was in ICU during the pandemic for weeks. I know a lot about grief because the love of my life after messing up over and over again in my own personal life of being in a domestically abused relationship and marriage to rebounding right to my children's father. Which I'm grateful because they're two beautifully wonderful, powerful women. Yep. 25 and 27. And I get the opportunity to share my story with empathy and understanding with the tools that we have that are available that many people don't even realize are so I get to be that conduit of information with someone that really cares.

[Rudy]

And how are you, you know to dive a bit deeper into it how you are listening and helping with behavior change because big part of achieving any goal in life health, fitness, business, etc. It's easy for someone to sit down and say okay, what do you want to achieve? Okay, great, we'll just do these things. But we all know, you know I know as a coach for 16 years I've coached people. The hardest part is the gap there after you set the goals. It's the behavior change and the discipline and the consistency. Right. So how do you help people listening or what advice would you have? Because we all set goals and dreams. The disconnects and then staying consistent on

[Michelle Bishop]

is first and foremost it's has to be their choice. Somebody has to. You can't change anyone. I used to think oh I can do that. No, that's you know, take the superwoman complex out of this equation. You have to choose it for yourself. And so I want to be part of facilitating accountability. But I also recognize you have to be accountable to yourself and really drive that home. And again I am a fine five foot tall and I was £212 and I am now £199 and I'm in the best shape I've ever been in. And that did not just come from a crash diet. It was about inside first for me. Taking care of what I needed to know that were the obstacles and shedding the armor, shedding the weight and being the best me I could be from a health perspective and. And I love it but it's sustainable. It's my lifestyle. I've been this way for two years. I was born a little person but.

[Rudy]

But even within that using you as an example, I'm guessing so I may be wrong but I think it's also important to understand you lost half your body weight, right?

[Michelle Bishop]

More than half, yes.

[Rudy]

But you probably didn't maybe do it on the first swing. You maybe tried stuff, dabbled around. And one time something changed or some decision was made internally. Maybe that's most times, maybe I'm wrong for. But most of the times I came from that industry. There's a final time where you actually go and do it. Right.

[Michelle Bishop]

Right.

[Rudy]

So. So why is it even for yourself and people you work with? A lot of times they try and fail. Try fail, try fail. Then eventually there's something happens and then they actually do it.

[Michelle Bishop]

Absolutely. I was my whole life. I've suffered from anorexia as a child. I have until today, always. I live with body dysmorphia. And so I'm very. But being aware of it is the most important thing for me. And as a coach, I think that in anything of life, your first step is to be aware of it. That being said, the death of my husband and not knowing, like, what's the next step? Take that breath. It was like I needed to figure out who I was and what I wanted. And so in that determination, I was like, I don't want to be on medication. I don't want to be struggling for my health. I want to be who I was born to be on this earth. And ultimately, a 212 pound, five foot woman that is out of shape cannot walk down a hallway without having to catch a breath, was not who I really was.

[Rudy]

For yourself. Yeah.

[Michelle Bishop]

No. And so in that determination, just like in life, in those choices that you make, there was a pivotal point there that I said, this is me and I'm okay with it. I mean, I hear often, even now, you need to eat or you need to do that. I'm like, hold on just a second. I get to choose.

[Rudy]

Yeah, sure.

[Michelle Bishop]

And so that's very empowering. And you can do that, even with how you quiet the voices in your head. And as I mentioned earlier about body dysmorphia, I always share with people, those voices are not gonna go away.

[Rudy]

Yeah. I mean, life, whether you have any sort of dysmorphia or even less aggressive, everyone has battles in their head with everything, right?

[Michelle Bishop]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Rudy]

You're all. I think, you know, people don't often talk about it, but as a human species, we have all that in common pretty much. I know it's constant. And it will show up in every aspect of your life too. Sometimes relationships, sometimes money, sometimes health, sometimes your eyebrows, how your hair looks.

[Michelle Bishop]

Rudy, you nailed it on that, though, about how we don't talk about it.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Michelle Bishop]

And so I was taking that leap of faith to go, okay, I'm talking about it. It doesn't get better if you don't talk about it. I am not ashamed at any path that I've taken through my life because it has created the woman that you see right before me.

[Rudy]

Yeah, Yeah. I think. Yeah. I look at life like the, you know, the old statues, you know, that would. Were carved in Rome and stuff. Right. You start as a rock and you're just constantly chipping away. And, yeah, it's never perfect, but it gets closer and closer and closer. As sadly as you age, you know, it's like you wish you could have all of it polished by 20 and then enjoy it forever. Right. You know, even though I'm pretty successful at a young age, I know in 15 years, I'll look back at myself today and go, how naive I was about certain things. Right.

[Podcast Intro/Outro Voice]

Well.

[Michelle Bishop]

And you were just sharing with us earlier about that. Your hometown, you know, it was not, you know, you come from humble beginnings. And so, you know, okay, you can't. We all have had our moments. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's. It's not about getting down, it's getting up.

[Rudy]

Yes. Yeah. And just constantly moving forward. That's all life is, constantly moving forward.

[Michelle Bishop]

I'm not looking in the rearview mirror.

[Rudy]

Yeah. So let's talk a bit. Just because I want to cover a bit of everything, the book and all the other things you're doing, tell everyone so they can at least know where to find you and what you do. Tell us about the book. Let's start there.

[Michelle Bishop]

Okay. So the book is on Amazon. It's also on Ingram Sparks, and it is choose you first. One of the other things that in my authenticity of what with my book, I was like, okay, don't, like, filter me. I'm like, this is who I am. Yeah. I was like, no, this is me. And so I was like, I didn't want people to come be part of my community and go, oh, she's 60, but she looked 29. I'm like, I worked hard for all that. I mean, so I was like, so what you see is what you get.

[Rudy]

And I like that. So one woman's journey through pain, resilience, and hard one healing. So someone reads the book. What are some lessons they're going to learn from this?

[Michelle Bishop]

They're going to learn, first of all about the multitude of life experiences that I've had. I mean, when you talk about child abuse, domestic abuse, you know, anorexia, body dysmorphia, weight loss, grief, cancer, and all

[Rudy]

those stories are going to help them. I'm sure they're learning through your story. Right?

[Michelle Bishop]

Absolutely. And then the second half takes those stories and it rewrites it so that you can see how not everything can be perceived in a bad way. It's what goes on in your life, your life's perception. Yes. And so it's so important for that. It's like, how do you rewrite your own story? You can be the author of your own story. And where do you want to start? Because if you do try to just like wipe things out and start all over fresh, you know, is that really smart? Or how about if you say, what got me here? Why do I have this roadblock? Because if you don't, see will continue to hold you back.

[Rudy]

Well, and that's why a lot of people aren't successful in life because they're also in denial and they don't want to accept that, you know, that's where the whole victim mentality comes from. Right. The successful people admit and accept that those things happen because of them in some way. Even the random things that shouldn't have maybe happened to them.

[Michelle Bishop]

And. Right.

[Rudy]

Unsuccessful people generally will blame someone else for an external factor. Right. Whereas if you sit down logically, and some things are sad, random acts of fate, but most things are like, well, you got in the car crash because you were up till 3am and you were tired, then you were checking your cell phone and, and you also forgot to pay your insurance because you were spending too much money last month on clothes. So they all reverse back to you now, being in a car crash with no car insurance, Right. Saying to the sky, why me? Why me?

[Michelle Bishop]

Right. Well, there are like certain things. Like it's interesting that you said, why me? Why me? When I was 10 years old, I was, it was a really bad day of chaos and the closed doors of my family life with my mother. And I remember, you know, crying endlessly, soulfully, like, why me? Why me? When you're a child, you know, a lot of times you don't have those choices. No, no. And so that's why at this point, I understand choose you first. It's not a selfish act, it's a selfless act. Because if we're not feeding ourselves, we can't give the to others that we want to help or be part of their lives.

[Rudy]

Yeah. And I love that. And I've always, you know, I was an only child, so I think naturally I'm, I, I admit I'm more selfish than the average person, but I do believe, you know, especially to be successful in business. I always say that it's the whole airplane analogy of put your mask on first. Right. And it's the same if you're a CEO and you're burnout, miserable, upset, in a bad thing, you're not going to lead. Well. Right. If you're a family dynamic, you put the kids and the wife or the husband first and you're miserable, you're not going to be able to show up the best you could for your kids and people energy and all these things.

[Michelle Bishop]

So you always literally things slip through the fingers and you think you're doing a great job and all those aspects.

[Rudy]

Yeah.

[Michelle Bishop]

And you're like, oh, crud, I totally miss that.

[Rudy]

So, so summarize the. Choose you first. If you had to summarize in one or two sentences, what does it mean to you?

[Michelle Bishop]

It means that through the adversity of life challenges that I have faced, I understand the analogy about the oxygen mask. Choose you first, feed yourself spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally so that you can be the best. So you get to live your best. You.

[Rudy]

I like that. And I think a good. Another example is, you know, I gave the example of the victim mentality where your decisions led up to the car crash and you're not having insurance. Right. And then you followed with the opposing example, which is a great example of a child that's in an abusive child, you know, parenting or a situation that is out of their control. Right. Because a child can't dictate their parents or where they live or if their dad's an alcoholic or whatever.

[Michelle Bishop]

Right.

[Rudy]

But the only thing they can do, which I'm sure is, you know, a bit part of what you cover and what we've discussed. There's no time machine. So your only choice going forward is to choose how you synthesize and process that trauma or that experience and then how you let it dictate you going forward because you can't go backwards. And that's, I think, what separates people that can move through and on as much as possible, at least through trauma and others that don't.

[Michelle Bishop]

Right. Well, in addition to that, we get the opportunity as adults and leaders to just make small impacts on those children's lives. So I'm really supportive of my children advocacy locally as well as around the world because it just takes that moment of kindness, not just for children, but for all people. And giving that, I receive so much more and it just fills my life. And you would think in that victim mentality, you can't do that. You are blocking yourself from that.

[Rudy]

Yeah, like that. Good. So, last couple of questions as we wrap someone wants, there's so much more of your story and what you do and how you help people. Where do they go and learn more about you and how you can help them and all the information and education you have out there.

[Michelle Bishop]

I would say the best way is to go to michellebishoplife.com and I look forward to it. I'll have all my blogs and all my information and webinars so you can click through it as well as follow me on Instagram and as well as Facebook. And I keep it very updated and very real.

[Rudy]

Love it. And last question. What is something else we've not talked about or your story or some lessons you have that they'll take away from your episode?

[Michelle Bishop]

What we haven't talked about is the importance of breath and the reality. We all experience anxiety, different pressures in our life. And so one of the things that I have really utilized as a resource is the use of breath and just inhaling, holding it. And I say, inhale all that is good and then release all that is bad, and then move forward.

[Rudy]

I like it.

[Michelle Bishop]

And so it really does. It chemically will change the brain set. And I do it so naturally as just part of my routine when I'm running into, like, those stressful moments, as we all do. But sometimes it happens right away and sometimes I got to step out of the room.

[Rudy]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Michelle Bishop]

So, yep, you do what you got to do.

[Rudy]

I mean, it's never ending. Right. And it depends, you know, how bad the stressful moment is or the trigger.

[Michelle Bishop]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Rudy]

Like, there's different levels to it. Sometimes you can squat a little bug, sometimes a big bug sort of thing. So. But I enjoyed, you know, this discussion, excited for your episode, and I know we only scratched the surface of what you cover in here online and everything you do. So, guys, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Of course, go and check out the website, socials, and of course, the full episode to learn more, to control your life and remember, choose you first. I'll see you soon. Take care.