How to Reclaim Your Health After a Life-Changing Wake-Up Call
- Apr 22, 2025
- 4 min read
Israel is a seasoned Wellness Coach and Personal Trainer with nearly a decade of experience helping clients achieve wellness clients achieve results through nutrition, fitness and a balanced mindset. He's passionate about helping mature adults to feel younger and live healthier.
A serious diagnosis can feel like the end of the road, but it can also be the start of something extraordinary. Here’s how I intend to turn fear into focus and illness into action. We all think we have time. Time to get healthier, eat better, be more active, cut stress, and enjoy life more fully. But often, we delay the changes we know we should make until something forces us to act. For me, that moment came with a cancer diagnosis.
At my age, I considered myself fit, healthy, and conscious of my lifestyle, which I coached, because if I can do it, so can you. But when I was diagnosed with cancer, the ground beneath me shifted. I suddenly became the patient, the one facing treatments, uncertainty, and the unknown.
And in that space, I realised something powerful: everything I’ve taught others for years, about resilience, ownership, and rebuilding health, I now had to live myself. And I had to live it now.
When a diagnosis becomes a defining moment in your life
Whether it’s cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or another serious condition, a diagnosis hits hard. You’re flooded with emotion, fear, regret, confusion, and sometimes shame. You wonder what went wrong. You question what’s next.
These feelings are real, but they don’t have to dictate your future.
As a wellness coach and someone currently going through treatment, I believe this: a diagnosis can be the start of transformation, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.
You can’t control everything, but you can control something
Illness can make you feel powerless. Between hospital visits, medication, and fatigue, you might feel like your body and choices are no longer yours.
But even in the middle of treatment, I learned this truth: there’s always something you can control. For me, that meant:
Sticking to simple, nutrient-dense foods that nourished me
Drinking high-calorie shakes to maintain energy
Moving my body gently, even on tired days
Practicing breathwork and journaling to manage stress
Staying connected to my purpose through coaching and helping others
These weren’t drastic changes, but they helped me maintain a sense of identity, direction, and control. And that’s exactly what I help my clients do, especially mature adults who are navigating weight issues, diabetes, and burnout.
The real shift: Reclaiming identity
A diagnosis doesn’t just affect your body. It shakes your sense of who you are.
You might start to see yourself as “sick” or “limited,” but you don’t have to stay there. One of the most powerful shifts you can make is asking:
“Who do I want to become now?”
You can choose to be someone who responds with strength. Someone who builds a new foundation, brick by brick. Someone who uses adversity to fuel their next chapter, not bury it.
Start with what you can do today
Healing isn’t about doing everything perfectly. It’s about doing something consistently.
That could mean:
Swapping one processed meal for something home-cooked
Walking for 10 minutes each morning
Drinking more water
Saying no to things that drain you
Saying yes to help when it’s offered
These micro-decisions compound. They rebuild your confidence. And over time, they create a new trajectory, one that puts you in charge again.
You don’t have to do this alone
One of the hardest parts of illness is the isolation. But if there’s one thing I know from both personal experience and professional coaching, it’s this: support is everything.
Whether it’s a coach, a community, or just someone to walk the journey with you, having support keeps you grounded when your world feels shaky.
My clients often tell me that having a guide, someone who truly understands, makes all the difference. And now, I’m living proof of how powerful that can be.
Final thoughts: You’re still in charge
A diagnosis might change your path, but it doesn’t take away your power. You still get to choose how you respond. You still get to decide what happens next.
If you’ve had your own wake-up call, let this be your reminder:
Start small. Stay consistent. Surround yourself with support. And never underestimate what’s possible when you take your power back, one choice at a time.
Read more from Israel Bailey
Israel Bailey, Wellness Coach and Personal Trainer
Israel is a dedicated Wellness Coach and Personal Trainer with over nine years of experience guiding clients in achieving lasting wellness. A former boot camp founder, Israel has refined his approach to include functional fitness, nutrition, mental wellness, and tailoring for mature adults. His unique coaching method draws on personal experiences with weight, diet, and health challenges, equipping clients to make sustainable, positive changes. He is the author of 'The Ageless Athlete' and 'Eat Smart, Spend Less, offering practical fitness and nutritional advice.
