The Bite Size Podcast with Lorayne Michaels
A podcast for anyone wanting to become a better human! We'll discuss everything from faith, to life, to business, mental health and healing. Everyone has a story and a journey. I have created this space for you to come and learn. Hear from other amazing humans and how their mess became their message! We all go through trials and tests but only some surrender and let it be their TESTimony! Welcome to the BITE SIZE Podcast Friends!
The Bite Size Podcast with Lorayne Michaels
From Healing Hands to Healing Hearts
Can a 20-Year Medical Career Unlock a New Purpose?
Spending 20 years in medicine, I thought I would continue to climb the ladder and retire doing what I thought I loved! Then the COVID-19 pandemic shook me to my core, making me realize just how misaligned I felt. It was a wake-up call that led me on a journey far beyond the hospital walls—transforming me into a speaker, coach, and podcast host dedicated to empowering ambitious women. In this episode, I open up about my personal battles with alcohol abuse, unhealthy relationships, and struggles with self-worth. I’ll share how programs like Celebrate Recovery, rooted in biblical principles, guided me through my healing journey and helped me discover that our past doesn’t have to define our future.
I’ll dive deep into the role of faith and wellness in overcoming life’s toughest challenges. My relationship with Jesus became my anchor, providing the guidance I needed, and I’ll recount some powerful moments of unexpected encouragement that solidified my new path as a coach and speaker. I also discuss the importance of aligning mind, body, and spirit through spiritual practices like prayer, meditation, and journaling.
This episode is all about embracing change, finding the courage to break through excuses, and discovering the abundant possibilities that await when you take control of your story. Join me as I share the lessons I’ve learned along the way and the hope I found in transforming pain into purpose. If you’re ready to rewrite your narrative and step into the life you were created for, this episode is for you.
Where you can find me:
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Email Me: LorayneMichaels22@gmail.com
Welcome to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, lorraine Michaels, former EMT and nursing assistant, now business owner and wild entrepreneur. I walked away from over 15 years in medicine to pursue my passion and my God-given talents. Now I get the honor of helping other women discover their passions and purpose. If you're feeling stuck in life, unsure where to go or what to do, welcome. If you're exactly where you want to be great, you're welcome here too. If you have faced any kind of hardship or setback, you have found a safe place here. In other words, no matter who you are or what you've been through or what you're going through, this is the space for you. On the Bite Size podcast, we'll discuss life, business and faith. There's something for everyone. So grab a cup of coffee and something to take notes with, because there will definitely be things you won't want to forget. Welcome back to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, lorraine Michaels, and today I want to talk to you a little bit about who I am, what I do, who I help. It's been brought to my attention that it is a little unclear, and to it is my own fault, and the reason why it was brought to my attention is because I asked, and the reason why I asked was because I want to be better, I want to help more people and I want to make sure that my messaging is clear and you, my audience, my listeners, my community, the people out there, my friends I want to make sure that I'm clear in what I do. So I have 20 years background in medicine and I thought that medicine was going to be what I retired in and with and in 2020, when COVID happened, I found out quickly that medicine, the government, the powers that be were not what I thought or expected or it was. It was no longer in alignment with me and my beliefs anymore, so I had to make the tough decision of stepping away from it. But here's the thing is I absolutely love the body, the mind, how your body works, how God created us, and I love helping people. I love being able to help people that can't help themselves. I love being able to be there in a time of need for people when they're at their worst or they are helpless or whatever the case may be. With disasters that happen, we just had, um, hurricane Helene and then hurricane uh Milton, um, with all these things, I'm the type of person that I'm like put me in. Where is help needed, put me in, I'll go. So I say all that because, even though I left medicine in 2020, it was the hardest decision I had to make, because I love medicine and I love helping people and I love how God created us. So it actually led me to coaching. It led me to functional medicine. It led me to speaking because I also love teaching and encouraging, led me to speaking because I also love teaching and encouraging. And so I guess, if I were to break this down for you, the listeners, anyone, I am a speaker, I am a coach, I'm a podcast host and I absolutely love focusing on helping ambitious women overcome limiting beliefs, to break through mindset barriers, to help them get healthy, both physically and mentally.
Speaker 1:I teach women how to embrace natural practices for healing and for a balanced life. And for a balanced life, I also help them find who God created them to be. My mission is to show everyone that your past does not define you, that your story matters, regardless of what has happened to you or what you have done, because there is a purpose for you. Just like I end every single session, you are divinely created for a divine purpose and I 100%. Believe that to my core, because I am a walking testimony of that.
Speaker 1:I was a very I mean I still am but living unhealthy. I was a very successful woman, very ambitious. I was doing and living a life that looked successful and, you know, had the house and the marriage and all the things, but inside I was not healthy. Inside I was using alcohol, um, I was abusing alcohol. I was using alcohol as a coping mechanism, and so that was one piece of it. I was very unhealthy mentally and it led to unhealthy habits and unhealthy relationships and I ended up losing my marriage and so, and then, pretty soon, I ended up losing a job. And so it was all of these unhealthy things, all of these mindset barriers that I had no idea that it was a mindset barrier. I had no idea that I had limiting thinking, that it was a mindset barrier. I had no idea that I had limiting thinking. I didn't know that there was things deeply ingrained in me and ingrained in my subconscious mind that needed to be worked out.
Speaker 1:So this is why I do what I do, because I went through the healing and I figured out that I had a lot of undealt with trauma. I had obviously an alcohol abuse issue, unhealthy relationships, because I had a poor self-worth image of myself. And so it took me going through Celebrate Recovery in full transparency, because this was a program that was biblically based, that I chose to go to because it dealt with a plethora of life's issues anger, resentment, abuse, addiction. I mean the the list goes on. If you have an issue, celebrate Recovery can help you fix it, and it's not, it's not a and it's not an inpatient program, it's not just for addicts, it's for everyone to help you heal through the stuff, and it's biblically based.
Speaker 1:So my faith is important to me. If you know me, follow me. You know that my faith is my bedrock and I would not be here today if it wasn't for my relationship with Jesus, if it wasn't for my faith in Jesus, and so all of that to say. That is why I am where I am today and that is why I have created this program, that is why I what I teach about and speak about all of that in a nutshell. So back to who I help. I love, love, love.
Speaker 1:Working with women. That I once was right, so that's determined, ambitious women who strongly have a knowing inside of them that they were created for more, that they were made for more, and you desire the change. But you struggle with, sometimes, confusion, isolation, overwhelm that feeling stuck. Isolation overwhelm that feeling stuck. And you're successful and you're either climbing the corporate ladder or you're an entrepreneur, but it's the limiting beliefs that you struggle with, that you might not even know it's the limiting beliefs. There's that feeling of stuckness. You know that you're created for more. You know you want to do more, be more. You know that there's this level of contentment, peace, happiness that maybe you've had sometimes but you haven't had in a while. Maybe you've seen, maybe you've experienced, but maybe you've made a mistake and now you don't have it. There's some type of pain that you've been through or you're going through that you're not quite sure how to get past.
Speaker 1:And that's where I come in, that's where I can help you. I can help you to the other side. I can help you through my program, through my coaching, through my teaching. It's mind, body, spirit, and it is what God has revealed to me and shown me and walked me through, and and I want torates this and lines it up. And you know I have tried to go about it in my own way in all aspects of entrepreneurship, whether it's multi-level marketing or coaching, speaking, teaching, whatever it is marketing or coaching, speaking, teaching, whatever it is when I try and force it my way or listen to what everybody else says, I eventually make no movement.
Speaker 1:Um, and I find myself stuck and on pause and inevitably I come back to the source, I come back to Jesus and I ask God okay, what is it that I'm not learning here? What is it that I'm not getting here? Because I know the desires of my heart. You know the desires of my heart, you put them there and you know what I'm capable of. You know what I'm supposed to be doing. You see it, I don't. So show me the next step and reveal to me what it is that I'm supposed to be doing.
Speaker 1:And it's so funny because every time that I think about quitting, every time that I think about throwing in the towel, not doing the podcast, not coaching, not speaking, something comes up. Something comes up where I get an offer to speak or someone needs my help, or I drop a podcast and someone reaches out to me and they're like, oh my gosh, I needed to hear that, or whatever it is. They see on social media a reel or a post or whatever, and they're like oh my gosh, lorraine, I needed that. And then I just realized, or I get a message from a friend that tells me don't stop, don't stop, you're supposed to be doing this. Or I see a post from a friend that says when it's the hardest, that's when you keep going because the enemy devil, that's when you keep going because the enemy devil, satan, whatever you want to call him, the adversary, he wants to keep you stuck and he wants to keep you limited and he wants to keep you discouraged and distracted from doing what you were called to do. And so that totally encourages me. Because it has been so hard and because I have been feeling stuck, glory be to God that I am in this position to where I can get up and help. When help is needed Again, like with the hurricanes and the disasters, I have the ability to go and help, and I am so grateful for that. If I was working a normal nine to five W2 job, I wouldn't be able to, and so I'm so grateful that I am able to go and help because I still can. Right, remember when I talked about being in medicine and then I quit? I still can, I still have my licenses, so I can still help in any capacity that is needed, that I'm able to still help in any capacity that is needed that I'm able to. So my encouragement is to keep going.
Speaker 1:If you are struggling, if this is hard for you, if this is a hard season, you've gone through something a pain, a setback, a divorce, um, abuse, um, you know, a loss of any kind, just the pain of life, and you are feeling down, discouraged and out of hope. Let me be your hope. Let me tell you that there is a plan for you, there is a purpose for you, there is a reason for it, right, there's a purpose. You can find purpose in the pain, and I just want to encourage you that there's light at the end of the tunnel, that there is a reason for this and you will get through this. And it is just a season and I would love to help you. I would love to help you through this. I would love to help coach you, guide you, teach you what I, what I know, my, my program. There is a. It works, I promise you. And so I do want to kind of briefly touch on the main things, if I can, if I can teach you for a minute the main things that helped me get to where I am.
Speaker 1:So, as you know you may or may not know the three pillars in my program are mind, body, spirit, and I had to focus on all three of those and work at all three of those in order to be, and still be becoming, the best version of myself. Mind, body, spirit. Spirit is the most important part of it, because it grounds you, it keeps you sane. This world is crazy and it's going to get crazier right, and we are flooded with negativity and propaganda and the left wing, the right wing, everything everybody's fighting, and so what I had to do was make sure that I stay rooted in the word. I stay connected to my creator, god.
Speaker 1:I practice things like prayer, meditation, journaling, grounding, being in the word. Those are the things that are non-negotiable, that I have to stay connected to, because there was a time in my life when I wasn't and I know that being on my own, doing things on my own and not having a relationship with Christ and not going to church and not all the things that I said to do. I was not doing and I was chaotic. I was just living in my own, in my own world and my own mind and I couldn't do it because I was forcing everything and I couldn't do it. So that's spirit, mind, so a lot of that is kind of is connected right, Working on my mindset, working on um, rewiring my subconscious mind and I do. I have a workshop on that as well and I walk you through how to do that, the tools and the steps on how to reprogram your subconscious mind, and that heavily has to do with also healing through trauma.
Speaker 1:Celebrate Recovery helped me with that. Celebrate Recovery helped and I can walk you through that as well, the steps in that it helped me uncover the wounds that I knew were there but were not healed, as well as the wounds that I had no idea were there that were affecting me. So we uncover those and we heal through those, all biblically based. And, again, I could not have done this without Jesus. I could not have done this without a relationship with Jesus, because he takes our pain, he takes our burdens, even the things that we have done. He forgives us as long as we surrender it to him, as long as we ask for forgiveness and we acknowledge our part in it, because we have a part in everything. So acknowledging our part, asking for forgiveness, asking for guidance, asking for the strength to forgive other people, so those things that were done to you, forgiving those people, so having that heart of forgiveness and making sure your heart is soft and you are open to guidance, you're open to correction.
Speaker 1:And so, with the mind like I said, you know, working on my mindset and forgiveness and focusing on positive things, because that was another thing that I I sometimes get in, this scarcity mindset and I have to reframe that has a lot to do with your subconscious mind. You have to challenge the thoughts, the negative thoughts that come in. You have to challenge them and you have to reframe them and you have to start thinking positive and you have to start focusing on the good, because when you focus on the good and you look for the good, you will find it. Just like if you focus on the negative, you're going to find the negative and the negative will just keep showing up and I don't want that. Nobody wants that Right.
Speaker 1:So I have to reframe my thoughts in a positive manner and I have to think about what are the things that I want. I mean, it says it in the Bible think about things that are pure and holy, um, and just meditate on those things, right, and God talks about the renewing of your mind. And so I knew that I had a painful past and I did things, and things were done to me and I had to. I had to seek forgiveness, I had to forgive others, um, and I had to constantly pray and ask God to renew my mind, to soften my heart, and that slowly transformed me in the inside, and then that started working on my thoughts and that helped me with my thoughts. I kept asking God to you know, help me, catch my thoughts, catch the negative thoughts that come up and fill my mind with truth, because that was another thing as I would focus on ruminate, think of things that were untrue, and that's Satan. Satan really is the father of lies. He wants to kill, steal and destroy. He wants to kill, steal and destroy. He wants to kill your joy, steal your joy, destroy your family, destroy your life, and he plants these seeds of doubt and he tells you half truths, and so that was something that I had to focus on and really pray fervently about. Is God fill me with truth? If I was struggling with a thought that I didn't know was true or untrue. I would ask Jesus, fill me with the truth. What is true here? Fill me with the truth, and so that really helped me in my mind.
Speaker 1:Also with breath work and grounding. That helps with my mind. It helps keep me grounded and centered. So embody, mind, body, spirit. So body, the gym and working out.
Speaker 1:Some of you might think that I'm a personal trainer. I am not a personal trainer, but physical fitness has been a key to sobriety, has been a key to my mental health, because I am physically healthy and because I work out. It helps me mentally. I mean it releases the feel good hormones, the dopamine and serotonin. Those are the hormones that we need as humans to feel good mentally, and so with that the body aspect of that, it helps build confidence as well. So if you're listening to this and you are not at the weight or the size or you know you do not look how you want to look, you do not feel good physically, chances are you are struggling with your mental health as well, and so I help with that and that has been a key to my success, a key to where I am and how I am today. Mind, body, spirit these are the things that I dive deeper into when I am working with you and we go through all of these practices and all of these things. I call them micro action steps. Um, I we just barely touched the tip of the iceberg, um.
Speaker 1:But you have to start. You have to decide that where you are at is not where you want to be, nor is it where you're meant to be, and then you have to make the steps. You have to take a chance on yourself. You have to invest in yourself and in your mental health, um. And you have to be open-minded and willing to hear the hard things and ask questions and get curious. I am a really good question asker. I love asking questions because that's how you learn. But that's what it's all about is how you grow. You have to get curious with your thoughts. You have to get curious with the reason why you responded that way or acted that way. You have to get curious and so I am not an easy.
Speaker 1:I don't want to say I'm not an easygoing, because I am easygoing, but I'm not one of those coaches that's going to be like oh, that's okay, this you know. Like oh, turn, you know. Hey, it's Lorraine. As you know, it's my joy and passion to teach and encourage others through this podcast, but my heart is actually at live events. Currently, I'm available for booking, so if you're organizing a live event, I'd love to share my story. Your audience will walk away with tangible tools on how to overcome limiting beliefs, break down obstacles and discover their gifts, talents and abilities in order to live a life that God created them to live. It's not the size of the audience that's important. It's the connection and impact that I will bring. For more information, email me at lorraine at theboldbeginningscom.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to be okay with things If you tell me this is what you, this is where you're at, this is where you want to go, and you know, this is how we're going to get there. We craft that plan together. Um, I'm, I'm going to push you. I'm going to push you. I'm going to hold you accountable, yeah, and I don't take excuses, because excuses have gotten you where you're at Right. So you either want it or you don't, and you're either going to work at it or you're not. And so tough love.
Speaker 1:I guess it is because I have much higher expectations for you and I know what you were made for.
Speaker 1:I know that you were created for greatness and I'm not going to let you settle. So, if you come to me, be prepared, be prepared for success, be prepared for abundance, be prepared for, um, enlightenment and joy, and just be prepared for transformation, because this will transform your life. It has transformed mine and, like I said I would, I could not be here today if it wasn't for Jesus and the things that he has revealed to me. So, yeah, that's that's me, that's about me to me. So, yeah, that's that's me, that's about me, how I help you, what I do. So, yeah, there's a little insider information. I hope that I'm, um, I hope, I hope to have cleared up some questions, some confusion and, um, I'll be more direct. So I really don't know what else to say to this, but I love you guys and I just am excited for what God is doing and how he's moving and what this is going to lead to. So can't wait to talk to you.