#97 – Sue Bowles: This Much I Know

#97 – Sue Bowles: This Much I Know

What drives someone to seek a life without being ruled by past trauma and disordered eating? This conversation with Sue Bowles offers a raw yet hopeful look at that question. Sue is introduced as a survivor turned author, speaker and Master Certified Life Coach, and she doesn’t sugar-coat a thing. She talks openly about childhood rape, later sexual assaults, depression, suicidality and an eating disorder she now names as OSFED.

As she puts it bluntly, "An eating disorder has absolutely nothing to do with food. It has everything to do with emotions that have not been dealt with." You’ll hear how a 15-year secret became, in her words, a "prison", and how finally telling her dean of students at 22 cracked the door to freedom.

Sue traces how trauma rewired her brain, how masking her needs at university fed her disordered eating, and why owning and then grieving her story were non‑negotiable steps in her recovery. Faith plays a central role for Sue. She describes arriving at her first retreat seeing herself as the "holy exception"—convinced that what God said applied to everyone else but her.

Through years of counselling, eating disorder treatment, and a tight‑knit retreat community, that belief gradually shifted into a sense of inherent worth.

The episode also spotlights the Christian-based Walking Stick Retreats, which Sue credits as a key part of her healing, and her work through My Step Ahead, built on the mantra, "You only have to be a step ahead to help the person behind you." She shares how sharing her story online for the first time brought fear of rejection, but instead met a wave of compassion that changed everything.

If you’re feeling stuck, hiding behind a mask, or thinking you’re "too far gone", this conversation might be the nudge that shows you you’re not alone and you’re not beyond hope. What’s one small step ahead you could take today?