Give an inward change an observable shape: something the character watches should affect a small action they have been refusing.
Johnsy's recovery sequence in The Last Leaf; illness.
Johnsy is ill with pneumonia and believes she will die when the last ivy leaf falls. Sue cares for her while a doctor treats her.
Johnsy counts the leaves and refuses food. When one seems to remain through the storms, she asks for broth and resumes speaking of her wish to paint. The story also continues to mention treatment, nursing and nutrition.
This is a literary device, not evidence that willpower cures illness or that patients are responsible for being ill. Avoid replacing practical care with an inspirational symbol.
The Last Leaf: Johnsy's interpretation of the falling leaves. ↗
The Last Leaf only
The Last Leaf: renewed appetite and artistic hopes, followed by the doctor's assessment. ↗
The Last Leaf only
A repeated view gives the reader a way to follow a character's thinking through what they count, say and ask for. If they have tied a private expectation to that observation, an unexpected detail can make them reconsider a small action. In a story about illness, such a change must not be presented as replacing medical care or nursing.
Choose a belief your character expresses through a repeated habit. Attach it to something they can observe. Write an observation that challenges the belief, then a modest changed action: answering a message, opening a notebook or accepting help. Let recovery or progress remain a process.
Use in my storyExpose a boastful character through an ordinary shared task, then let them become the irritating spectator they were just complaining about.
A small promise puts the protagonist in the right place to survive a disaster and leaves them badly equipped for what follows.
A recurring argument needs more than another order to behave. Let a character identify the small, specific attraction behind it.