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: “When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.” TULI KUPFERBERG Tuli Kupferberg is known for challenging convention and encouraging independent thought. His work celebrates creativity, curiosity, and questioning the status quo. His quote reminds us that real change often begins when we step beyond familiar habits and dare to think differently.
Something inspirational: “Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.” DORIS LESSING Thinking for yourself means more than having your own opinions. It means owning your words, your choices, and ...
Something inspirational: "We are not what happened to us. We are what we choose to become.” JAMES HOLLIS "I am drawn to James Hollis's words: 'We are not what happened to us. We are what we choose ...
Yes thanks Maria. It's right. I think we must always take the other person into consideration. Just because we're one way, doesn't mean we have to 'inflict our way' on to the other person.
We have to learn how to adapt in all situations. Our life isn't just about us. The problem is so many of us make it just about us, expecting others to fall into line with the way we are.
Great quote. I like it. We are responsible for our own personality but it is only natural that our attitude is dependent on how others interact with us.
If you give a bad attitude out, that is exactly what you will get back.
Thanks, yes I like this quote too. It's a difficult one to call because most of the time our attitude becomes a result of someone else's attitude towards our behaviour.
I agree with you that if we give a bad attitude out, that is exactly what we get back, in the form of other people's attitude towards us.
Well, that's actually a pretty good quote considering most people confuse the two. They judge you by your attitude not realizing that it's often affected by the way they're treating you!
Very few people know my true personality, as I don't let that many people into my life enough for them to get to know me. It keeps me safe, but is also a very lonely way to live in the end.
Chances are that I will end up living alone with a houseful of cats!
Your first paragraph resonates with me Randy. That is how it often is, but I'm not sure how many don't realise or realise, but don't stop to think about it!
It's easier to offload than it is to take responsibility for ourselves. I agree with you that when we don't allow people to get to know us or our personalities, we are less vulnerable or open to the elements, but as you say it can be very lonely too.
Misery loves company, so I try to stay away from attitudes and hostile personalities because engaging could be disastrous. Yet my attitude doesn't depend on who a person is, it depends on who I am and how I think.
My ex-employer had an attitude that negatively affected everyone in the office and we were hiding in plain sight from his foolishness.
I agree with you Tim, but who we are and how we think doesn't always go down well as far as those close to us are concerned.
It's not that we say anything out of turn, but unless we're living amongst like-minded individuals who think and feel the same way about things, it does make life more difficult for us.
It's easy to shy away from people, but as your example shows that's not always possible. It's often easier not to get involved, but that's not easy either because we're often brought into the equation.
As they say we don't look for trouble, but trouble finds us and speaking from my own experience that's not easy.
I would say that few people know my true personality because very few take the time to get to know me. I guess my disability intimidates them and don't know how to be around me.
I think because of this, I developed an attitude derived from frustration and a way to convince people that their behavior doesn't bother me.
Thanks Maria. I think what you have described is absolutely true not only for those of us with a disability, but in society as a whole.
Our behaviour can often be a consequence of how others interact with us, either because they don't know how to behave around what we deal with, (in your case Cerebral Palsy) or it's something they deal with, which they're not coping with.
Although it's hard not to take things personally, we often do which makes us feel worse.
I kinda like this quote. It's appropriate that he would treat people based upon their foolishness level.
He is certain he can comport himself well, yet he's warning if you bring some bad attitude that he's going to give a correction. Good for him.
Yes thanks Maria. It's right. I think we must always take the other person into consideration. Just because we're one way, doesn't mean we have to 'inflict our way' on to the other person.
We have to learn how to adapt in all situations. Our life isn't just about us. The problem is so many of us make it just about us, expecting others to fall into line with the way we are.
That is so wrong.
Great quote. I like it. We are responsible for our own personality but it is only natural that our attitude is dependent on how others interact with us.
If you give a bad attitude out, that is exactly what you will get back.
Thanks, yes I like this quote too. It's a difficult one to call because most of the time our attitude becomes a result of someone else's attitude towards our behaviour.
I agree with you that if we give a bad attitude out, that is exactly what we get back, in the form of other people's attitude towards us.
Well, that's actually a pretty good quote considering most people confuse the two. They judge you by your attitude not realizing that it's often affected by the way they're treating you!
Very few people know my true personality, as I don't let that many people into my life enough for them to get to know me. It keeps me safe, but is also a very lonely way to live in the end.
Chances are that I will end up living alone with a houseful of cats!
Your first paragraph resonates with me Randy. That is how it often is, but I'm not sure how many don't realise or realise, but don't stop to think about it!
It's easier to offload than it is to take responsibility for ourselves. I agree with you that when we don't allow people to get to know us or our personalities, we are less vulnerable or open to the elements, but as you say it can be very lonely too.
That is hard, unless you like your own company.
Misery loves company, so I try to stay away from attitudes and hostile personalities because engaging could be disastrous. Yet my attitude doesn't depend on who a person is, it depends on who I am and how I think.
My ex-employer had an attitude that negatively affected everyone in the office and we were hiding in plain sight from his foolishness.
I agree with you Tim, but who we are and how we think doesn't always go down well as far as those close to us are concerned.
It's not that we say anything out of turn, but unless we're living amongst like-minded individuals who think and feel the same way about things, it does make life more difficult for us.
It's easy to shy away from people, but as your example shows that's not always possible. It's often easier not to get involved, but that's not easy either because we're often brought into the equation.
As they say we don't look for trouble, but trouble finds us and speaking from my own experience that's not easy.
I would say that few people know my true personality because very few take the time to get to know me. I guess my disability intimidates them and don't know how to be around me.
I think because of this, I developed an attitude derived from frustration and a way to convince people that their behavior doesn't bother me.
Thanks Maria. I think what you have described is absolutely true not only for those of us with a disability, but in society as a whole.
Our behaviour can often be a consequence of how others interact with us, either because they don't know how to behave around what we deal with, (in your case Cerebral Palsy) or it's something they deal with, which they're not coping with.
Although it's hard not to take things personally, we often do which makes us feel worse.