Today's blog follows on from my quote yesterday by 'Sting' about 'judging people.' As a small child, I was continually being judged through my inabilities, rather than my abilities, for a lack of depth in my course work, and being bottom of the class. I never got past that.

At the end of the school year

At the end of the school year when report cards came out, walking through the school gates, they had already been opened, and discussed, with class grades compared, long before the reports got home. Luckily, I never doubted or thought myself stupid, but I knew deep down, something was fundamentally wrong.

You know the truth about your life

It never made sense why I struggled to learn. To judge is wrong, because the only person who knows the truth about your life and what you have to deal with, is you.

Being judged

The hardest part of being judged is that others don't really know how it feels, but may form their opinions and judge anyway. Even if you’re not initially aware of what you later come to know, always believe in your intentions. Others can't know how things seem, or are and it's wrong to judge.

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.

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2 comments on “Judging people”

  1. We spend our lives saturated in judgement, yet being judged is associated with stress, anxiety and depression and research shows that people who interpret their worth from external indicators, such as the approval and attention of others are especially vulnerable to depression. It is simply wrong to judge.

    Given your early experiences you are quite remarkable. You might not have excelled in school because of autism that you know about now, but you have turned things around, so much so that it is hard to believe you were not top of the class.

    You are a role model and have proved that we don't have to stay where people put us, but we have the power within us to change and in doing so, prove those people wrong.

    1. Thanks. Yes, you're right and I agree. Being on the receiving end is always difficult.

      I am sure for other people in the same position, there comes a time when you literally have to stop caring what other people think and be yourself.

      The world would be a much sweeter place if instead of judgments, we supported and just be there for each other instead.

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