When the System Can’t Save You: Why Your Wellness Demands More Than a Help Desk

I heard it in her voice—that mix of frustration and disbelief when she said, “but I thought you were helping me with this.”

As the Training Center Coordinator, I’d just told an AHA (American Heart Association) instructor something she didn’t want to hear: “This one is out of my hands. I am not able to see anything from my end.”

She couldn’t believe there was nothing I could do about her alignment issue. The doubt was thick enough to cut. So she called another team member who’d filled my role before, hoping for a different answer. She got the same one: Call AHA directly.

See if they can fix it on their end.

Ever since those October 22nd updates, strange things have been happening in the system. And sure enough, shortly after our call, I could suddenly see her new alignment request.

I accepted it immediately. She called me back, apologized for not understanding my limitations, and thanked me for pointing her in the right direction.

This is my 9-to-5. But here’s what struck me: the exact same thing happens in my work as a holistic health and wellness provider.

The Person on the Other End Can’t Always Fix You

People come to me expecting I’m going to “fix” their problem. They want me to see something on my end that will magically resolve what they’re struggling with. They want the solution to come from outside themselves.

And I get it. We’re conditioned to believe that somewhere, someone has access to the control panel of our lives. That if we can just reach the right person, explain our situation clearly enough, escalate to the right level—someone will flip a switch and everything will align.

But that’s not how holistic health works.

Just like I couldn’t see that instructor’s alignment until the system allowed it—and even then, she had to do the work of calling, advocating, and following through—your health won’t transform until YOU do the work that only you can do.

I can’t log into your body’s backend and adjust your inflammation levels. I can’t see your stress response from my end and click “resolve.” I can’t access your habits, your choices, your daily patterns and override them with coordinator-level permissions.

The System Glitches. You Still Have to Show Up.

Since October 22nd—or maybe it was years ago for you—strange things have been happening in your body. Things aren’t aligning the way they used to. You’re dealing with issues that don’t make sense, that shouldn’t be happening, that no one else seems to be able to see clearly.

You’ve called the experts. Maybe you’ve called multiple experts, hoping someone will have different access, better visibility, a solution that doesn’t require so much from you.

And here’s what I need you to hear: The holistic approach demands that you put in your elbow grease.

It demands that YOU play a powerful role in moving the needle.

Not because I don’t care. Not because I can’t help. But because true wellness—the kind that lasts, the kind that transforms, the kind that actually aligns your whole system—doesn’t come from someone else’s dashboard.

You Are Not a Ticket to Be Closed

That instructor thought I was holding back. She thought I had access I wasn’t using, power I wasn’t wielding on her behalf. But the truth is, some things are legitimately out of my hands—and the solution requires her participation in a way that might feel uncomfortable or unfair.

Your health is the same way.

I can guide you. I can point you in the right direction. I can give you the tools, the knowledge, the framework. I can tell you exactly what to do.

But I cannot do it for you.

The holistic approach isn’t a helpdesk. It’s not a system where you submit a ticket and wait for resolution. It’s a partnership where you are the primary agent of change.

Change Agents in the HOUSE!

You have to make the call. You have to follow through. You have to show up even when the system seems glitchy, even when you can’t see the results yet, even when you’re frustrated that it’s taking this long.

The Apology That Changed Everything

When that instructor called me back to apologize, something shifted. She’d done the work. She’d made the uncomfortable calls. She’d advocated for herself instead of waiting for me to do it for her.

And suddenly, everything aligned.

That’s the moment I want for you. Not the apology—you don’t owe me one. But that moment when you realize you have more power than you thought.

When you stop waiting for someone else to see what only you can access. When you step into the role that only you can play.

Because here’s the truth: I can’t heal you from my end.

But when you put in your elbow grease? When you show up powerfully for yourself? When you do the internal work that no coordinator, no practitioner, no expert can do for you?

That’s when I can see your request. That’s when things start to align. That’s when the real transformation happens.

The holistic approach demands everything from you.

And that’s exactly why it works.

The system will glitch. The path won’t always be clear. But you—showing up, doing the work, moving the needle—that’s the variable that changes everything.

🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

Nyoka Samuels is a Jamaican-born, Bronx-raised nurse educator, wellness rebel, and author of 7 Dimensions of Wellness: Breaking Free from Modern Medicine to Honor the Whole You. She’s an ɔkɔmfoɔ (traditional priest) and holds multiple nursing degrees.

After nearly 20 years in healthcare—and a mental health crisis at 19 that changed everything—Nyoka founded 7 Healing Waters LLC, where science meets spirit and cultural wisdom flows freely. She’s a graduate of Dr. Uché Blackstock’s Advancing Health Equity Champions Program and Luvvie Ajayi’s Book Academy.

When she’s not writing you’ll find her podcasting on AuthenTEA-cally Nyoka, planning international wellness retreats, or running barefoot through her garden with a cup of herbal tea—or maybe a second cup of coffee, because holistic health means listening to what your spirit needs today.

Hip hop and reggae raised her. Pregnancy transformed her. Burnout nearly broke her. But ancestral wisdom rebuilt her.

Connect with Nyoka at https://calendly.com/7hwaters/testing-the-waters or follow her journey on Instagram @holistic7hw or LinkedIn @Nyoka Samuels.