I’ve just left behind a very difficult week dealing with family issues. It is only when I have to deal with family issues that my thoughts go back to other negative issues.

Imagine for 46 years of your life having to live with something you didn’t know you had, then finding out, then having to deal with new thoughts and a new life with a disability you didn't know you had. I’m also still trying to come to terms with the fact that for 46 years my emotional needs we’re never met.

I’m at a loss for words, but it’s only through sheer determination on my part not to dwell on my past that I’ve come through up to this point reasonably unscathed. Honestly, the impact could have been far greater.

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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4 comments on “A difficult week”

  1. Sorry you've had a bad week. I think you have done very well with what you have had to deal with.

    I can't imagine being put in the same position you have been in. I would have been angry for a long time and it would have eaten me up inside.

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