Live Well with Healthy Habits: My Story of Transformation - Blog 3

Author: Ben Elliott

Regulars at the weekly Creative Drop-in at the Live Well Hub often hear me talking about the Story of Transformation. If they’re lucky, I may even have my trusted board beside me.

The Story of Transformation is a theory we developed at Transformational Learning to help people write fiction or capture the key moments from their own life. Following a 3-act structure, it tells the story of how a character prepares for change, becomes transformed by a journey into the unknown, and then uses what they have learned to improve the world around them. The structure is just as helpful in life as it is in writing fiction, providing a roadmap you can use to plot a way out of a predicament or into some success.

Today, I’d like to share my Story of Transformation, a tale I am writing every day as I try to live well with healthy habits.

Act I: 1^st Adulthood

The Story of Transformation begins with the character in their normal life, a way to put a bit of context for the change that is about to occur.

 Just like Alan Shearer, my journey began in Newcastle. I am the youngest son of Dave, perhaps best known for saying supersperm on Bullseye, and Maureen, who most of you will know as Founder and CEO of Live Well with Cancer. I was the youngest of four born within five years of each other, following David, Ashley and Holly as we tried to figure out our places in the world.

As I made my way through school, I found myself increasingly interested in English, particularly writing stories. My first call to writing came when I discovered the first two Harry Potter books, and I quickly went to work on Harry Potter and Aragog’s Army, only to be told that Prisoner of Azkaban had been released two years earlier…

I spent a lot of my teenage years tootling around Whitley Bay with a very handsome Samoyed dog called Paddy. On one of our many walks together, I came to the realisation that I wanted to have a career where I was paid to do the things I enjoyed. Back then, my main interest was FIFA, but this was before people earned a living gaming online.

Instead, I accepted the call to pursue a writing career and decided to study English Literature and Creative Writing.

Act II: 2^nd Adulthood

My three years at Northumbria University were spent reading classic books and writing creatively in a variety of different disciplines, including poetry, prose, and soap opera. Culminating in my dissertation – Anthoine Villalobos: Confessions of a Movie Shark – it is fair to say that the greatest rewards from those days are the people I met along the way, who continue to be brüders and friends to this day.

When I graduated, I took at job at an EE call centre, before promptly quitting to work as a scriptwriter on an interactive online drama. Starting my writing apprenticeship working with multiple storylines simultaneously, I spent the rest of my 20s writing all manner of fiction and non-fiction both professionally and personally. During the days, I would work on anything from maritime training videos to immersive eLearning. In the evenings, I worked on passion projects, whether epic fantasy or my guide to game show applications, The Art of Applying: How to Become a Game Show Legend.

Though I had written many millions of words up until this point, I only started writing for wellness in my early 30s. I began journaling as we came out of the pandemic, eager to build healthier habits after putting on a few pounds and picking up more than a few bad habits. For the past four years, I’ve combined all my skills to create The Wellbeing 9-a-Day, the concept at the heart of our Live Well with Healthy Habits campaign.

As a daily user of our wellness journals, I’ve long since come to learn that living well is its own reward. In my personal and professional opinion, the best way to live well is with The Wellbeing 9-a-Day and the nine habits of a healthy lifestyle.

Act III: 3^rd Adulthood

“…a holistic wellness concept that is the best answer to the question, “How do I empower anyone to improve their health and wellness?” that I’ve seen or heard. These nine habits are the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. These journals are the key to unlocking your potential and protecting yourself from undue harm. I’ve found the answer. Now I have to share it.”

I wrote those words on my 36^th birthday, while on holiday in Malta, after coming to the realisation that I had been an adult for as long as it had taken me to become one. I reflected that the first 18 years were about becoming an adult, and the second 18 had been about learning skills and meeting allies. The next 18, I determined, would be about leaving a legacy.

As I move into Act III of my Story of Transformation, I am in the best shape of my life, thanks to the habits I have built with The Wellbeing 9-a-Day. I have lived with healthy habits, and I have lived without them. There is no comparison when it comes to quality of life.

If more people have not benefitted from the framework, it is more down to my shortcomings as a salesman than the quality of the work we have produced.

Now, the onus is now on me to share what I have learned with the world, starting with the Live Well with Healthy Habits blog and our upcoming wellness journals. I’ve also had the privilege of hosting Live Well with Banter, a podcast produced by Heywood and Stuff Productions for Live Well with Cancer, where the opening questions focus on the nine healthy habits.

My Story of Transformation isn’t finished yet, but the reward I have claimed is powerful enough to help anyone to improve their health and wellbeing. I hope you’ll join me as I share more of what I have learned during my time living well with healthy habits.

Call to adventure

We are looking for volunteers to trial Live Well with Healthy Habits: The Prehab Edition, a 2-week journal developed to help newly diagnosed patients prepare for treatment. Funded by Northern Cancer Alliance, we developed The Prehab Edition in collaboration with the Prehabilitation team at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

If you are interested in joining us for our trial, please email

transformation@livewellwithcancer.co.uk.