Today we’d like to introduce you to Wayne Basist.
Hi Wayne, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am a Certified Anxiety Life Coach and the owner of Wayne Basist Life Coaching. I am also a miracle. I never contemplated being a life coach and certainly not an anxiety coach. In fact, I have suffered with severe anxiety my entire life. I grew up in Queens, NY, in a very small apartment where there was a lot of fighting and turmoil. My father had a vicious temper. He could be very loving, but he was prone to fits of uncontrollable rage that always left me in fear. I was a skinny, scrawny kid and was bullied both in the neighborhood and in school. I was ridiculed by my father for not being “tougher.” The world felt very unsafe for me. I lived in a state of constant fear and anxiety.
My anxiety caused me numerous health conditions and challenges, including gastrointestinal issues and numerous hospitalizations due to illness. I did well in school despite the challenges and eventually became a lawyer. I specialized in business litigation and corporate bankruptcy, not exactly ideal for someone with severe anxiety! Every day was a battle to try and manage my stress and anxiety. Little did I know that the greatest challenges of my life were yet to come.
On October 2, 2002, my life was forever changed. While waiting at a pedestrian crosswalk, the vehicle behind me crashed into my vehicle, traveling at a high rate of speed. I suffered significant neck and upper body injuries. At the time, I was a successful lawyer with my own law firm, which I had built from scratch. Ultimately, I was left totally disabled. I was forced to sell my law practice and was unable to continue my work as a lawyer.
Living in constant excruciating pain, I began using opiate pain medications to help me manage my pain while I was undergoing various tests and treatments to address the pain. Eventually, I underwent neck surgery. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had become addicted to the pain medications. Post-surgery, I stopped taking them “cold turkey.” However, because I was taking large quantities, I suffered severe withdrawals and had to be hospitalized. I subsequently went to a residential drug treatment center.
This was the beginning of an odyssey of many years of struggle seeking to manage my severe anxiety, complex PTSD, severe chronic pain, major depression, and numerous other health challenges. I underwent eight spinal surgeries, dozens of invasive pain procedures, numerous different medications (some causing severe side effects), multiple hospitalizations, and battled issues with drug addiction and alcoholism.
I tried a myriad of treatments seeking to recover. I went to addiction, psychiatric, and intensive trauma treatment centers, yoga and spirituality centers, wellness centers, dozens of traditional Western medicine specialists, holistic health care providers, chiropractors, naturopaths, traditional Chinese medicine doctors, ayurvedic practitioners, medications, supplements, herbs, and Tibetan, Shamanistic and Mystic Jewish healers. None of these could ever get me completely healthy and abate my continued struggles.
As if I had not experienced enough challenges with anxiety, in 2015, I suffered a back injury which left me in tremendous pain. I again turned to pain and anxiety medications for help. Thus began a downward spiral, which nearly ended my life. On April 23, 2016, I reached such a point of total and complete despair, helplessness, and hopelessness. I took a bunch of pain and anxiety pills at one time to kill the pain. I passed out unconscious. I was rushed to the hospital. I woke up the next morning and was presented with two options: 1) return to an in-patient psychiatric treatment facility or 2) agree to enter an intensive in-patient drug and alcohol treatment center and fully commit to a 12-step recovery program. I chose the latter.
This was the beginning of my miraculous physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual transformation. Incorporating all my past experiences with my 12-step recovery program, recovery community, sponsor, and a coach, I learned principles, tools, and strategies to help me manage my anxiety and my physical pain in ways I never had before. I went from being an anxiety ridden, fearful, pain stricken, majorly depressed person to someone with a new, positive attitude and outlook on life. My focus in life shifted from me and my struggles, to one founded upon spiritual principles and of service helping others. I still experience moments of anxiety and chronic pain. However, I now can manage them in healthy ways.
As I recovered, I began helping others suffering with addiction issues. I loved doing so, and realized I could use my all my experiences to also help those who suffer with severe and chronic anxiety, chronic pain, and depression. This is why I became double certified as a life and health coach, with a specific focus of helping others overwhelmed by stress and anxiety.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Besides managing my ongoing health issues, my greatest challenge regarding the creation of a coaching company was the fact that I had not operated my own business in 20 years. I knew nothing about how to build an online coaching business. I had never had my own website, I barely knew how to use outlook, I knew absolutely nothing about customer relationship management platforms, and I knew nothing about marketing through social media. It was very intimidating.
However, I had an ace in the hole. Thirty years earlier, I started my own law firm with no clients or cases. I had worked for other firms, but I knew nothing about how to start and operate a firm. I simply held the deep belief and faith in myself and my ability to figure it out. I found people with the expertise, and my law firm eventually became a 7-figure business. I had a successful business once before, and I knew I could do it again.
This time, I have a business partner, my incredible wife, Donna. She has 35 years of sales and marketing experience in the telecommunications industry. We met in college at UCLA and recently celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary. That’s another miracle. She has stood by me through the pain and suffering. She is my angel, and I joke that she is also my saint, whose statue grows every year!
I am further supported by our 15-year-old Havanese/Coton mix emotional service dog, Buddy. While Donna oversees the marketing and business administration, Buddy helps keep me emotionally calm and grounded. I also have two amazing sons (one of whom lives in Houston), a very loving and supportive family, and an incredible community of friends.
Last year, seeking a simpler, quieter lifestyle, we moved from Southern California to a beautiful new community called The Woodlands Hills in Willis. People have been extremely welcoming and friendly. We love the beauty of the area’s forests, small ranches and being close to Lake Conroe. One of our favorite activities is to go on hikes in the Sam Houston National Forest and just hang out by the lake. I love horses and spend time in equine therapy at a nearby ranch, which also helps me minimize my anxiety. I am a huge sports fan and remain loyal to my NY teams, the Rangers, Jets, and Mets, notwithstanding the stress they cause me! We love small-town living, with easy access to The Woodlands, and when I want a taste of big city, Houston is a short drive away.
As you know, we’re big fans of Wayne Basist Life Coaching. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
I have learned that fear and the anxiety it produces are at the core of many peoples’ challenges and struggles in life. It affects every area of life: physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and social. Overwhelming anxiety and stress can be evil and corrosive. It can lead to significant health and work issues, broken relationships, drug addiction, alcoholism and, ultimately, accidental death or suicide. This is what led me to specialize in helping people find relief and manage their anxiety in a holistic and healthy way.
My anxiety management coaching program consists of four parts:
1. What I call my “in case of emergency, break glass” step-by-step system to experience immediate relief when you feel particularly anxious and stressed.
2. A step-by-step system to help people understand the underlying causes of their chronic anxiety and the tools to manage it in a healthy way.
3. Lifestyle recommendations to reduce the effects of anxiety.
4. Preventative strategies that limit the circumstances that can lead to anxiety and stress.
My clients say that my program has helped them:
• Gain confidence and experience more certainty and security in their life,
• Have greater mind and body awareness of the signs of anxiety and its affects on their health and all areas of their lives,
• Learn how to transform their thoughts, beliefs, and fears that fuel their anxiety,
• Learn how to navigate life’s challenges in a healthy way by and experience greater joy and fulfillment in their lives.
A core tenet of my coaching is reflected in the following quote:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
― Man’s Search for Meaning
No matter the circumstances my clients face in life, I help them understand they have the power to choose how they react, and thereby, can manage and reduce their anxiety in healthy ways.
I am blessed. I now understand that everything that has happened in my life are gifts that make me the person I am today. These experiences and the wisdom I have gained enable me to understand and empathize with others in a way few other coaches can. They make me uniquely qualified to help others, particularly people who struggle with anxiety.
I know firsthand the destruction and havoc anxiety can cause in a person’s life. There is a quote at the end of Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning movie Schindler’s List, which states, “Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.” If I can help people learn to manage their anxiety in a healthy way, then perhaps I may save a life, and thereby in some small way, “save” the world.
I offer one-on-one coaching, small group coaching, and free online and in person educational workshops and talks to the community.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
One of the best pieces of advice I can offer is to find a mentor or coach and surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. When I started my law firm, I tried to figure things out for myself, which was huge mistake. This time, I found subject matter experts to help with creating my branding, website, social media marketing, client communication, and management software platform. I also hired a business coach who works specifically with life coaches. She helped me create my business and marketing plan, held me accountable, and helped me overcome the “fear’ that sometimes blocked my execution of the plans. Hiring her saved me enormous amounts of time, money, energy and helped my business come to fruition faster than it otherwise would have.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wblifecoach.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/basistwayne/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wayne.basist
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-basist-5a565233/
