Ilana Estelle is a mental health and wellbeing advocate who combines educational insight with her personal experience of living with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.
She holds diplomas in Counselling, Diet and Nutrition, Nutritional Therapy, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Stress Management. Through her writing, Ilana supports others in navigating their emotional, mental, and physical health challenges.
In addition to writing for The CP Diary, her work has appeared in healthy lifestyle magazines.
Ilana is also the author of three books: Cerebral Palsy: A Story – Finding the Calm After the Storm, Spirituality, Healing and Me, and Survival: The Covid Years – Time for Change.
Something inspirational: “Anyone can learn to fight. Hardly anyone learns to think.” TAMSYN MUIR, Gideon the Ninth Muir's quote reminds us that fighting is not just about physical strength; it can mean arguing, resisting ...
Food for thought: “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you.” OCTAVIA E. BUTLER, Parable of the Sower This quote reminds us that everything we do has an impact, and every experience changes ...
Something inspirational: "I alone cannot change the world but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples." MOTHER TERESA A poignant quote for today's world, Mother Teresa reminds us that we don't have to ...
Yes, unfortunately change is the one constant in life, even though I tend to fight it most of the time considering the world I grew up in.
It was a nightmare of chaos and insanity, so for me things staying the same are actually a relief, which may sound boring to a lot of people. I have had to deal with a lot of change lately and have been forced to do a lot of growing up for my daughter's sake, seeing as she needs a dad right now.
I don't exactly know a whole lot about living, seeing as I have mostly survived and/or just existed, but I do have a rough idea of what it could be like. Both my daughter and I deserve a chance to finally enjoy living which has been such a long time coming.
Thanks Randy. Sometimes the only way we get to change if we're not going to do it spontaneously and at our pace, is being thrown in at the deep end. And although that sounds difficult and it can be, I also believe it's often the best way to learn.
Being thrown in at the deep end myself finding out I had Cerebral Palsy at the age of 46, means I've had to continue to look into my life to try to piece everything together after that and that's not been easy.
Not everyone is happy for us to dig up our past. On my part, I'm still working on it because I still don't have all the answers, but to be where we are and be unhappy isn't an alternative.
If you're not happy, you must do something about it. Perhaps your daughter needing your help at this time, is just what you need to change your thinking about your own circumstances.
Your last paragraph sums up your response beautifully Tim. Yes, that is exactly what change does, it takes us out of confinement.
We run from change because of the apprehension we feel, but without change we cannot mentally move on. And without change there is no spiritual or emotional growth.
Without growth of any kind, we will exist and that's not really a life.
Change means we have to come out of our comfort zone and that can be difficult.
As Tim says sometimes we don't know what that change will bring and that can be scary, so we stay where we are as at least it is familiar, even if it's not so good.
It's a perpetual circle that we need to break in order to grow.
Yes, unfortunately change is the one constant in life, even though I tend to fight it most of the time considering the world I grew up in.
It was a nightmare of chaos and insanity, so for me things staying the same are actually a relief, which may sound boring to a lot of people. I have had to deal with a lot of change lately and have been forced to do a lot of growing up for my daughter's sake, seeing as she needs a dad right now.
I don't exactly know a whole lot about living, seeing as I have mostly survived and/or just existed, but I do have a rough idea of what it could be like. Both my daughter and I deserve a chance to finally enjoy living which has been such a long time coming.
Thanks Randy. Sometimes the only way we get to change if we're not going to do it spontaneously and at our pace, is being thrown in at the deep end. And although that sounds difficult and it can be, I also believe it's often the best way to learn.
Being thrown in at the deep end myself finding out I had Cerebral Palsy at the age of 46, means I've had to continue to look into my life to try to piece everything together after that and that's not been easy.
Not everyone is happy for us to dig up our past. On my part, I'm still working on it because I still don't have all the answers, but to be where we are and be unhappy isn't an alternative.
If you're not happy, you must do something about it. Perhaps your daughter needing your help at this time, is just what you need to change your thinking about your own circumstances.
Change is inevitable, but there is no way for me to know what to expect from it, so I'm not particularly eager to welcome the invite.
I will admit, however, that change has released me from confinement, which is probably its purpose.
Your last paragraph sums up your response beautifully Tim. Yes, that is exactly what change does, it takes us out of confinement.
We run from change because of the apprehension we feel, but without change we cannot mentally move on. And without change there is no spiritual or emotional growth.
Without growth of any kind, we will exist and that's not really a life.
Change means we have to come out of our comfort zone and that can be difficult.
As Tim says sometimes we don't know what that change will bring and that can be scary, so we stay where we are as at least it is familiar, even if it's not so good.
It's a perpetual circle that we need to break in order to grow.
Yes it is, you and Tim are right, but one that we need to break. I agree with you it can be perpetual circle if we let it.