Step-Parenting and Healing Our Wounds To Become More of The Mom and Woman You Want To Be

Becoming a step-parent can be challenging. After losing my Dad at the age of 10, my Mom remarried a few years later. I truly thought we would live happily ever. I had no idea how difficult it would be to blend our families. And sadly, my mom and stepdad did not have the support they needed to deal with all the feelings and issues that arise when you combine families.

My special guest, Michelle Wolfe, is the podcast host of Muve Forward, where she shares and interviews experts on how to live a life that is both healthy and fulfilled.

In this episode, Michelle shares her inspiring personal story of becoming a stepmom right before the pandemic and how she wasn’t prepared for all the feelings that were going to come up for her. Michelle’s story is incredibly hope-filled because she reached out and got the support she needed to create a strong healing bond with her stepdaughter.

Whether you’re from a step-family or not, the truths shared in this episode will right true for any mom who wants to heal, grow, and be more deeply connected to her kids and those she loves.

What you will learn:

The challenges of becoming a step-parent
How a step-parent can keep the memory of a child’s parent alive.
The benefits of therapy.
The benefits of leaning into our past traumas and how processing the pain can make you happier.
Having uncomfortable conversations with our kids is what strengthens our relationships with them.
Teaching our kids to stand up for themselves.
Being a parent that your kids feel safe coming to with any issues.

Let’s dive in!

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What You Will Learn:

How a step-parent can keep the memory of a child’s parent alive.
The benefits of trauma therapy.
The benefits of leaning into our past traumas and how processing the pain can actually make you happier as well.
Having uncomfortable conversations with our kids is what strengthens our relationships with them.
Teaching our kids to stand up for themselves.
Being a parent that your kids feel safe coming to with any issues.

Where To Find Michelle:

Find more encouragement, wisdom, and resources:

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And here is the episode typed out!

Welcome to the Moms of Tweens and Teens Podcast. If some days you doubt yourself and you don’t know what you’re doing. If you’ve ugly cried alone in your bedroom because you felt like you were failing. Well, I just want to let you know you are not alone, and you have come to the right place.

Raising tweens and teens in today’s world is not easy. And I’m on a mission to equip you to love well and to raise emotionally healthy, happy tweens and teens that thrive.

I believe that moms are heroes, and we have the power to transform our families and impact future generations. If you are looking for answers, encouragement, and becoming more of the mom and woman you want to be, welcome. I am Sheryl Gould. And I am so glad that you’re here.

My special guest, Michelle Wolfe, is the podcast host of Muve Forward, where she shares and interviews experts on how to live a life that is both healthy and fulfilled.

Whether you’re from a step-family or not, the truths shared in this episode will right true for any mom who wants to heal, grow, and be more deeply connected to her kids and those she loves.

What you will learn:

The challenges of becoming a step-parent
How a step-parent can keep the memory of a child’s parent alive.
The benefits of therapy.
The benefits of leaning into our past traumas and how processing the pain can make you happier.
Having uncomfortable conversations with our kids is what strengthens our relationships with them.
Teaching our kids to stand up for themselves.
Being a parent that your kids feel safe coming to with any issues.

SHERYL: Welcome, MICHELLE: to the show. I’m so excited to have you here. We’re going to talk about some awesome stuff today. So really excited.

MICHELLE: Thank you, Sheryl. I’m excited to dive into all of the things that we’ve got on the list to talk about.

SHERYL: We were just talking about how long we’re going to be on. We can’t go a full hour, and I’m sure that we could. I want you to tell our listeners about you. You’re doing amazing things. And you have your hand in many different areas. You’re a stepmom, you’re an entrepreneur, and I want you to tell our listeners that you’re a health and wellness coach. So how did you get started? What are you up to? I’ll just give you the floor.

MICHELLE: I’ll say I’m in this stage right now where I’m really enjoying life. I’m just so happy with all of the wonderful things that are happening. But it wasn’t always like that. It’s been a journey.

I was originally a registered massage therapist for 11 years. I knew that I needed to make a transition. And so I started my podcast MUVE Forward. I actually started a food blog because I was obsessed with health and nutrition. And that stems from my past, where I lost my mom. She passed away from cancer when I was eight.

And so I had this obsession and excitement for learning about health and wellness. But I didn’t know exactly where that was going to take me. Fast forward a few more years later, and I am now a full-time stepmom to my beautiful daughter, Sarah, who will be 11 soon.

I have just started my fitness apparel line called MUVE Light. And so it’s just been really exciting learning how to have my own business. It’s something I’ve never done before, learning how to market and learning how to have a daughter to inspire and excite her, but I also have time and energy to learn more about her.

She’s in that stage where so many things are changing for her. And so there’s a lot going on. But it’s been, it’s been really fun. I would say that therapy has helped. So that’s a little start to me.

SHERYL: Yeah, maybe that’s a diving-in point. We’ll just get really deep right off the bat. So how has therapy helped you with this?

MICHELLE: So the pandemic is when I started to be a full-time mama. So just a heads up, my stepdaughter’s mom passed away a couple of years back – three years back. I want to say a year before the pandemic hit. And so, through that year, it was amazing. Getting to know her and spending more time with her, I still had my own condo, and they had their house.

And then, with the pandemic, we didn’t feel comfortable with her going up and down the elevators. And just there were so many unknowns. I ended up selling my apartment and moved in with them. And so it was full-on, full-time mama.

SHERYL: During the pandemic!

MICHELLE: We’re all home: my partner, whom I’ve had for many, many years, and then becoming a full-time mama. And being an entrepreneur and going through a pandemic. Oh my God, it was a shitstorm. But also so beautiful.

I’m going to be completely honest with you and say that it was actually really amazing. I’m one of those people who look at the blessings rather than looking at the bad things that are happening. I saw it as a time to get close to her. to get to know her more and to figure out how this was going to work.

A lot of things came up. There were days when I would go to my car, and I would cry my eyes out. I would call my friend. I’d be screaming like this is crazy. What am I doing?

About once or twice a month, where I’d have like 24 hours of “I need to get out. I need to do my own thing. I don’t want to be around anybody. I need my space.” Because I was left alone since I was a child, I’ve always been on my own, all of a sudden being just like poof, you’re in an instant family.

All of these things were coming up, and I didn’t understand it, and I was starting to have these really nasty thoughts about my stepdaughter.

And let me tell you, I love her from the bottom of my heart. And she is actually an angel. She’s such a good kid. But I was having thoughts like, I remember thinking, “you spoiled little brat,

how dare you just sit there and not help me.” I would have this anger build up. I thought, “This is not me, like, I don’t speak like this or think like this ever to anyone, let alone somebody I love.”

I knew I had to get some help and figure out what was happening. And luckily, the therapist that I had seen ten years prior for some stuff that I was going through had been developing this whole trauma therapy teachings.

She called me, and she said, upfront, “I do trauma therapy now.” I was like, “that’s a blessing because I’m pretty sure that’s what I need.” And sure enough, we went back to some really interesting times of my life, and a lot of what was going on with my relationship with my daughter, as well as things that were going on with my partner, was past trauma that I had been through that was leading into my relationships.

I needed to deal with that garbage, that stuff that I had not dealt with, that I didn’t even know, in my own thoughts. I dealt with it, and I worked through it. And it helps me really understand them better, as well, about why I had my thoughts. It sounds so simple, but it’s great. I don’t have those thoughts about her ever anymore. The thought in my head has completely transitioned to, “Oh, she just doesn’t know that yet. She hasn’t been taught that, and I am here to give her the support that I never had. I’m going to support her by teaching her the best way to XYZ, to be a good helper around as a family, it’s my job to support her.”

The one thing that I didn’t have, or I didn’t feel like I had from a motherly figure, So therapy, holy hell. Yeah, it is painful and horrible, but so beautiful. All at the same time.

SHERYL: Wow. There are so many things that you said there. I think it’s really powerful what you shared for our listeners to hear your story. And you could be telling my story. It’s a little different.

But my oldest, who’s now 32, became a tween, and that’s when everything reared its ugly head for me. I had had panic attacks at that age. And all of a sudden, it was so weird. I started having panic attacks again. It was like I was back there.

But the difference was that my daughter was expressing all of these feelings. Like she was angry, and she was expressing her sadness. I was like, “What the heck? We don’t do that. We don’t get angry. That’s not okay.”

Then it ended up where I got into therapy. It’s how I started doing what I do today. And healing those wounds and being able to look at my own anger. I thought I was not an angry person. Here I was, I realized I had all this anger, but I could not support her.

One of the things that you said about yourself is that rather than focusing on the negative, you always learn to look for hidden blessings. And so you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and be courageous and get that support. Heal yourself during that trauma work, which I think trauma work is so important, but then you could support her. And imagine how different it would be if you hadn’t done that work.

MICHELLE: I don’t know that I’d still be here. It was around that time that I knew in my heart also that I wanted to start a business or do something different. I knew that I needed to do something because if I want to be this bright light for the world if I want to help people in the way that I know that I want to help them. as well as my daughter, I want to be her biggest cheerleader.

I want to feel good myself to help her feel good. And how can I do that? What is the best way to do that? I need to figure out something. I need some help. I didn’t even really know a lot about trauma therapy. I’m going to be honest.

This is a whole new ballgame for me. I’ve recently now dove right in, and I’m obsessed, but I didn’t really get it. I thought, as a child, I never had to have therapy. And I had a really great life. I’m so blessed. I never had to get help. I never needed help. I’m just fine.

I remember this one friend saying there’s going to be a day where you’re going to laugh, and you’re going to say like, “Oh, crap, I needed that help. And I got it. And it worked.” I finally listened. I actually got some help. I’ve never been happier.

I’m not even in my dream house or have all the money that I want to have or have. I’m not even traveling at this time. I’m not even doing all the beautiful things that I want to do, yet, I am so content with my family. And my state of mind is the biggest piece.

SHERYL: Because you’ve got it all out, you had all these feelings that you had processed through. When you were talking about your friend, and you were calling in the car and screaming and yelling, and getting it out.

We have to have a safe place. I know you have a community where people can share their stories and get support, as we have as well. And it’s so important to have that place to go. Otherwise, we’re just leaking it all out on everybody around us. And then another thing that you said that I just thought was so powerful was just simply doing your own work to be able to support her.

MICHELLE: And that’s the whole point, right? When we take care of ourselves, when we truly spend time on ourselves, on our souls, on our minds, and on all of that, we innately become better for the people around us. It seems it’s so funny when people think that it’s so selfish, like, ‘oh, I have to go take time for myself, I need to do therapy, I need to go for a massage.

Every single morning during the pandemic. I was gone for an hour, if not two, for a walk by myself. Because I needed that time. If I didn’t have that time, I would go bonkers. And so you feel so selfish. And we can get into that too. Oh my god, I felt so guilty.

My daughter used to call me, and I got to one point where I was like, “I’ve never thought I’d tell you this. But, you can’t call me. You can’t call me on my walks unless the house is burning down.” She’d still be like, “Oh, it’s not an emergency. I just can’t find this one thing. And I’m sure you can help me but that’s okay if you’re busy.” And I’m like, “is it something that I can wait till I get home?”

SHERYL: Well, you had a boundary to take care of yourself. And I think we’re so afraid to do that. You were becoming her mother, so to speak. You were filling that void. You kind of could have gotten so sucked into that vortex and that pit and then felt so resentful. And it’s really easy to go there. I think as a mom, “I have to be available to her. She just lost her mom, and she needs me, so I have to be there 24/7.”

I can relate to that with my family, taking care of myself, how I can start feeling guilty, or they need me in some way where my kids are even older, and they can be around, and I’m like, “they need me.”

MICHELLE: It’s a really tricky place. I will say that I still do feel it even when you’re like out or doing your thing. How often are we thinking, “I should hurry up, I should get back? They probably need me, or I need to take care of this because that needs to be done later.

Our minds don’t stop. We truly care on such a different level than any other human being on earth. l I know there are some men out there who are like that as well. But in general, typically for women, it can be very harmful to us.

I had a conversation with somebody recently, and she has a certain disorder or disease. And when it acts up, it is when she has to care for something like taking care of somebody on a regular basis. She feels this guilty anxiousness. And so her disease flares up. When she has a weekend away with no animals in the house, no children in the house, no husband, she’s full of energy, with no aches and pains. Her body is thriving.

And so it just makes you think, what is that guilt doing? And how can we stop that guilt? At the best of our ability? You can do your best. And I know we’ll always have a little bit of it there. But I just tried so hard to focus on how it feels good for me to then come back and know that she knows that I’m taking care of myself. She sees me taking care of myself.

There are so many positive things coming out of taking care of ourselves first that we really just got to keep sticking with that and focusing on that because it’s just so important.

SHERYL: You’re modeling it for her. It’s funny; out of all the blog posts we put on Facebook, self-care does the worst. I think I have a theory about that. I feel like we’re so trying so hard to do everything right. We want to fix things, and a lot of times, we focus as moms on fixing our kids.

I wanted to fix my daughter, but then I was brought into the therapy office, into the session for the last 10 minutes. And it dawned on me that I was the problem. But we want to fix our kids, or we want to do the right thing. And we’re driven by that. And then the mom guilt, but the most important thing we can do is to fill our own cup, to take care of ourselves, to model that for our kids. And like you were talking about the woman, it creates anxiety. I relate to the feeling of “they need me, or I better pick up this call.” We’re just so used to picking the call or reading the text, or being available.

MICHELLE: It’s not that I don’t like being with her. Like if you watch my social media, my Instagram stories. I’m obsessed with this kid, and we do so much together, right? Like, after school, I’ll pick her up, we’ll go to the beach for two hours. And she’ll just play in the sand and the water.

We’ll do photo shoots if she wants to. We had a hoot. We had so much fun. I take her to all of her sporting events. I was the coach of her baseball team. I’m very involved. And so I can have my time away.

SHERYL: You’re very intentional. I have to ask you, what was that like for you? That you lost your mom at eight, and here you are. She loses her mom at what seven? And what was that like for you? Giving her what you did not get because you lost your mom? Has that been healing for you?

MICHELLE: I think I mentioned it already here where I had those thoughts of, How dare you? You’re a spoiled little brat.” These thoughts came into my mind. I’ll give you an example. So when she’s going to bed, I think, “suck it up, you’re fine. Suck it up. Come on, let’s go.”

SHERYL: Because that was what you were telling yourself as a kid.

MICHELLE: That’s right. Or suck it up and keep going. I didn’t have anybody to hold me and allow me to cry and feel what I was feeling. I had a daddy who was a tough guy, like, “Come on, let’s go, you’re fine. Just rinse it off with the hose. You’re fine.”

And don’t get me wrong. My dad is like a teddy bear. He gives hugs, and he’s an angel. But there’s still this rough and tough that you get from a father compared to a mother who gives you that space and energy to be yourself to release your emotions, and I never had that.

So for me with her, it was really tricky seeing her have all these emotions. And I just kept thinking, suck it up. Why are you such a baby? Meanwhile, she’s having these feelings. She’s allowed to have these feelings. I want her to have these feelings. So why is my mind telling me one thing, and my heart’s telling me another thing? My voice is expressing another thing. All of these things are happening all at once. I don’t know why they’re not working together.

I was so confused. Little things happened throughout the time. I remember I had a nephew who passed away. That was terrible. My nephew passed away. That’s when Sarah’s mom was really ill. I knew that inevitably, she was probably going to pass, and she ended up passing that year. My sister’s house burned down, I had some health issues, and it was one year of total destruction.

It was 2018 or 19, right before her mom passed away. And then, the pandemic and my nephew passed away. I remember at the funeral. My sister-in-law said, “Can you please talk to the kids” – her older children? “And can you let them know what’s going to happen at the funeral? Can you let them know that it’s okay to cry and just do different things? And can you let them know that mom and dad would like them to stay seated beside us? They’ll stay beside us. But that you guys are there to support them too.”

I just thought, of course, and I thought she was asking me this because she knows I’ve been through it. And what a blessing that I can now and getting teary-eyed. I can now be their support.

I never had that. I had an aunt force me to go where I didn’t want to go during my mom’s stuff. Try to be upfront with her where she had passed, where she was lying. I didn’t want to be there. I was so uncomfortable. And now I get to be the one to hold their hand and support them and say, “whatever you need, I’m here. Talk to me, tell me if you need anything. Let me know. We’re here to support you. That’s my job.”

SHERYL: Yeah, how beautiful, how beautiful, right? I love the saying “wounded healers,” I don’t know what you would call that. But we go through our own pain. And we work on our own healing and how we become wounded healers. I think that’s so beautiful.

And that’s exactly such a picture of what you’ve been able to do through healing, working on your own wounds and trauma, that you could give that to them and give them that permission. I’m curious when your mom died, did your family talk about it?

MICHELLE: We didn’t talk about death. But we always talked about my mom. So that’s a big part of our family now. Sarah’s mom is a big part of it. We have pictures of her up. I got them developed. I put them up for her and her mom. And we talk about her daily.

What was your mom’s favorite color? What did you guys like to do together? Oh, I remember you telling me this story when you were little that you guys went here. Do you remember anything about it?

It’s a constant conversation. Birthdays are celebrated. We do cupcakes, or we release a balloon or whatever feels right for her. We’re just very vocal about it. Because I actually never realized it when I was little, but my best friend acknowledged it one day. She’s like, “one thing I loved about your family is that you always talked about your mom. She was always still a part of your family”.

I thought, “Oh, interesting.” I never even thought about it. It was just normal like we just always did. And so it was really important for me to make sure that that happened in this household as well. So then it’s not uncomfortable.

One of my daughter’s grandparents said, “we didn’t want to bring up her mom because we didn’t want her to be uncomfortable.” And I said, “she’s going to be a little uncomfortable. Sometimes. She prefers it. She wants to talk about her mom. She doesn’t want to forget her.” When it does come up, you don’t want it to be like alarming or scary. You want her to be comfortable with her mom and her conversation, so it’s a big part of our lives.

SHERYL: There’s a big theme of leaning into the discomfort, leaning into the pain, leaning into that, allowing that healing into your life even though it’s painful, like you said. When I started doing my own healing work, it was super painful. It can still be painful, but different things that come up. But it, as you said, I’ve never been happier.

That was another point I forgot to mention. What I hear a lot from clients is they’re afraid to go there. They feel like they’re going to fall into this pit of despair and never get out. If I let myself feel this pain, or after we talk about what they’re afraid of is going to bring more joy into my life.

When we suppress one emotion, we suppress them all. That’s what I found. All of a sudden, I was laughing so much more. I was so much more joyful. And it sounds like that’s been your experience to free you.

MICHELLE: I was thinking while you’re talking, for the listeners who don’t have or maybe they’re a step-parent, or the other parent hasn’t passed, so it’s two households. That could be a lot because I think, as much as it’s so tricky for us, I’m so grateful I don’t have another parent to deal with. I would prefer her to have her mom. However, there is an easier piece to that, not having to deal with that.

But I would do it the same way. I would make sure that we still talked about that other parent and not have it be like a topic we don’t talk about.

“Oh, what did you and your mom do this weekend?” Or, “Hey, what did you and your other parent do while you were at your other parent’s house this weekend?” I would want to know. I want to talk about it and not have it be this hidden conversation like, “oh, we can’t talk about it. Because that’s awkward and uncomfortable for the step-parent?” I would want that communication. And I think the more you talk about it, the easier it gets.

SHERYL: Exactly. I just did a workshop on how to talk to your kids about your tweens and teens about sex, which so much is self-respect and dating, and how you’re going to help your kids navigate their sexuality, all those things. But one thing that I was struck by as I was just writing it is how uncomfortable so many of these conversations are, but that’s what relationships are all about.

When having these uncomfortable conversations, there might be conflict, the other person might not like to hear it, or you’re going to make them a little uncomfortable. But that’s what creates a closeness and our relationships, that bond, and you’ve been willing to go there with your stepdaughter. What a beautiful thing.

MICHELLE: Yeah, it’s been amazing. And that sex conversation actually came up last night.

SHERYL: Maybe I should send it to you. I edited out a lot because it’s hard. It’s a hard conversation. I just during the workshop being uncomfortable, like that was one of the conversations to have. And it’s not just birds and bees. There’s one for tweens and teens who know birds and bees. It’s more navigating all the other stuff.

MICHELLE: Yeah. Oh, it’s so tricky. She’s like, “fine. Just tell me right now. Just tell me. I don’t want to learn in school. You just tell me right now.” And I was like, “no, I’ll tell you if you want me to, but not right here right now. We’re on our way to your grandma’s house.”

SHERYL: Yeah. Did she want to know about the birds and the bees?

MICHELLE: Yes, she just doesn’t know any of it. And she thinks she does, but then she doesn’t because she’s like, “but I don’t understand how come there’s a boy and the girl. I don’t understand how you get it from the boy,” and I’m like, “Oh, shoot.” We start talking about sperm.

SHERYL: My gosh, how did you find out?

MICHELLE: Oh, no idea. I didn’t even understand what a period was, or I never really truly comprehended it. I know we were taught it, but again, I learned everything on my own. So I grabbed a tampon and put it in the first time, and just figured it out for myself. I wanted to go swimming. I’ll just figure it out. It was a year before my sister realized that there were missing tampons.

SHERYL: Where are you in the birth order?

MICHELLE: I’m the baby. I’m four years younger than her. Dad always just made sure that we had them around. And she would just say when she needed them, and he would pick them up for her. And she finally realized, like, why are there less than normal. I had my period for a year.

So for sex, I don’t think I ever had a conversation. I don’t remember talking even about friends. I don’t know how I figured it out. Do you remember?

SHERYL: I learned at a sleepover. And everybody knew but me, and they brought me out into the bathroom. And they were like, “this happens. And then he does this”. I was like, “oh, that’s like so disgusting.” And I went home. I said, “Mom, please tell me it’s not so.” And she’s like, “Well, honey, yes.”

So that’s awesome. But see, she has you. You didn’t have your mom to know about that. Often men don’t know how to have that conversation, especially with a daughter.

MICHELLE: Yeah. I’m really excited to teach her to respect her body. Not saying that I didn’t, but I didn’t have anyone say, “your body is precious, respect it and make sure that you have people in your life that also respect it.” You respect your choices, and you have a right to say what you don’t want. And if it doesn’t feel right, you say no.

I remember teaching her that it wasn’t okay for anybody to touch her privates except for her. And she had a little boy who touched her bum. Okay, it was more like she was angry. And she spoke up, and she told the teacher, and she told us, and that boy was not allowed to hang out with her anymore.

I thought this was just a little piece of showing her that that’s her body. She didn’t want him touching it. I’m sure it’s harmless. But that again, that’s me just saying that “Oh, that’s harmless.”

It’s not harmless. It’s her body. It’s hers. So it was so powerful for me knowing that I was the one who told her nobody touches you. If anybody touches you on your bum, or in your front, or anywhere that you don’t like it, you tell us immediately.

SHERYL: I love that. You’re empowering her. And I think self-respect is the biggest piece of it. And paying attention like, “that is not okay.” Or “this is something I do not want.” And paying attention to that having that red flag feeling and listening to it,

MICHELLE: And not fluffing it off – see how I just slipped it off there. It was probably harmless. But for me, I was taught that “oh, it’s no big deal, MICHELLE: . He didn’t mean it.” When we were kids, that’s what would be saying, “Oh, he’s just being silly.”

SHERYL: But when you think about it doesn’t feel good to have a young boy, be patting your butt. It doesn’t feel good. So then, why won’t we say, “Hey, don’t do that.”

I have a grandson. And it was interesting. He was on the side of the pool. And he had a boy playing with them. And the boy kept doing something he didn’t like. I was so proud of him. Because he looked at him and said, “I don’t like that.” And it was like he was maybe splashing him in the face, or I think it was actually kind of pushing him down in the water.

Even though they could, and he’s like, “I don’t like that.” So why would we? I get it. I wanted to say what you said, too, because we’re thinking, “Oh, our listeners are going to think, what’s the big deal? You’re seven years old.” It’s just that little seed of listening to yourself. This is your body.

MICHELLE: And if your child comes to you and tells you that, and you just say, “Oh, it’s not a big deal. I’m sure they didn’t mean it.” Well, then, what’s going to happen when something more serious happens? Like, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, because I didn’t think you’d think it was a big deal. You taught me that. It’s not a big deal if they do something that I don’t like.” You got to teach them from the beginning. And so if you don’t like something, you speak up, and we’ll take care of it.

SHERYL: Absolutely. I’m noticing the time, and I want to honor your time because I know you have another call. But I want to hear before we hang up; this is such a great conversation we’re having and super helpful, I’m sure, to our listeners.

I have to ask you about this clothing line and workout apparel. What is that? What made you decide to do that? How’s it going? How long you’ve been doing this?

We’re starting a store, but we’re doing more mom T-shirts and coffee mugs, that kind of thing. And we’re having somebody else make it for us. So we’re not going to worry about the shipping and all of that.

MICHELLE: It’s going amazingly. I had the idea for – I want to say thoughts came into my mind about it probably 20 years ago. And then I really thought maybe it was possible ten years ago. One day I woke up, and I was like, it’s on all of my manifesting boards. I know that I want this to happen. So why am I not doing it? Why am I holding myself back from actually creating this fitness apparel line?

Finances and excuses of any sort were coming into play. So I just said, today’s the day, and I just started researching it and diving into it. I’m all about comfort and really promoting movement. I’m a firm believer in the movement of any kind, of any mobility any person can move in some way, whether it’s just with your mind. But I’m just a firm believer in movement. I really believe that when we stay still and stagnant, that causes diseases and illnesses.

And so I’m a firm believer in moving forward in whatever capacity that is for what you need. I launched on Aug. 10. And it’s been very exciting. I had a great launch. And now it’s just promoting it and getting it out there and waiting to go viral. So if anybody wants to make that happen, feel free: muvelife.com/

And so yeah, I’ve just been having lots of fun creating on TikTok. I’m just looking at different shows and different things to get it out there. It’s high-quality products. I’m a firm believer in that and comfort.

SHERYL: Oh, congratulations. That’s super exciting. And, tell the listeners where to find you because I did find you on Instagram. And then you have your own store. They are on Instagram and tell them everything that you’re up to and where to find you.

MICHELLE: Sure. So I’m on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/theMichelleWolfe/, but then I have the https://www.instagram.com/muvelife/on Instagram as well. And so that’s more of the business, showing the products and people who love it and all of that.

I share a lot about like health and wellness on my own page. And also you’ll see my daughter doing all of the fun things that we do and me. And then I also am on Tik Tok and just having a blast creating over there as well. More recently, so that’s those are the two best places that you can find and follow.

SHERYL: Great. And then you have your podcast, which – Wow, you have done so many episodes. I was like, Look at this girl go. Did you start it in 2020?

MICHELLE: It was either 2019 or 2018, the year where I had all that destruction. It was that following January when I launched it. So what is that four-ish years now? I was doing two to three episodes a week. And just having a blast talking about manifesting and mindset and spirituality and just moving forward from any life struggles I have.

I’ve had the most incredible guests, which is really powerful because when you open a business and then all of a sudden you have all of these wonderful people who are really powerful, but it’s helped me practice to be able to like have conversations like this and feel really confident and feel good getting a message out there that’s going to help somebody. It feels really good knowing that somebody’s going to hear this and be like, “Oh, I don’t feel so crazy knowing that I’m having these thoughts or that this has happened in my life.” You can listen to my crazy and know that we’re right along with yet.

SHERYL: Yeah, exactly. Just telling the truth is just so refreshing. I love it, and it’s https://muvelife.com/.

MICHELLE: On Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/muvelife/ and the podcast is Muve Forward.

SHERYL: Yeah, the Muve-Forward podcast. Just wanted them to know exactly where to find you. Thank you, Michelle. It’s been a pleasure talking to you.

MICHELLE: Yeah, this has been fun. So I’m hoping somebody will get something good out of this conversation.

SHERYL: Oh, absolutely.