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: “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 ...
Something inspirational: "Healing begins when we can hold our own experience with compassion." TARA BRACH Brach's quote reminds us that healing begins when we meet our pain with kindness instead of judgement ...
We wear any number of different masks throughout our lives and these act as a front to our real self.
It is only when we're honest with ourselves and lose the mask that we speak from the heart with integrity and kindness. That comes with maturity and acceptance of self. Acknowledging the need to unmask is the first step in achieving that.
The sad reality is that the majority of us will never find our own acceptance or be mature enough to have acceptance either. We live our lives, we get on with things, we tolerate, but don't like ourselves enough to accept who we are.
I think the mask you speak of will continue to stay on for a while to come. I agree with you though, where we have acceptance, we will have peace and with peace will speak from the heart with integrity and kindness.
Sadly, I've not seen a lot of that going on, if at all.
Most people won't dare say a word, but give them a mask like the anonymity of the internet and you can't shut them up.
There are so many trolls out there who feel the need to tell the truth as they see it, but mostly what they're doing is trying to make sure everyone else suffers as much as they do. They like to say that Misery loves company but it more like demands it with the way those people like to spew their diseased ramblings.
My mother expected me to be one of those type of people like she was, but it just wasn't in my nature. She did a fantastic job of screwing my head up, but I didn't turn out the way she expected.
I haven't really been myself since I was 3 years old and came back from almost dying from pneumonia. I'm pretty sure that most 3 year olds don't wish they would have actually died because they had a pretty good idea of what was to come. I felt at that point that I couldn't depend on my parents to take care of me, since they had let it go on for so long.
It was then that I started wearing the masks to hide how much I was suffering inside, because I felt so alone. They had put me in what I call a cage crib, in the hospital and never came to check on me no matter how loudly I screamed!
My life didn't really get any better after that. I have spent most of my life wearing so many masks that often times I don't even know who I really am. I know what I am, but my real identity remains a mystery. I like to say my inner child is frozen in carbonite, which is pretty much true.
I'm just now starting to feel comfortable in my own skin which for me is pretty fantastic, compared to the alternative of feeling nothing at all. I am still very angry that I didn't have a chance to be myself as a kid; but I am learning that I do have to accept it.
I have watched far too many people allow their resentments to rule their life. I just want to learn who I am in the time I have left!
Thanks Randy. Yes, we wear masks so that we can hide the pain we feel emotionally, whether that's on social media or the internet.
I believe What's important is what we come to believe about ourselves and how we learn to cope with our lives. I believe you can be who you choose to be and although your teachers (your parents) didn't make your life right for you; you are your own teacher now.
I have also had my own fair share of issues to deal with, but there comes a time where it's important for us to learn to deal with our issues so that we can move on and cut out a niche for ourselves instead of continually wearing a mask.
I agree with you that too many people allow their resentments to rule their life. That's what we must try to avoid.
I live with the truth, all day everyday; but I live cautiously and choose to remain anonymous. But if you hide me, I'll show you the whites of my eyes and tell you the truth, whether you want to hear it or not.
Thanks Tim. Yes, I'm not sure personally whether it's being hidden or being invisible. Either we're invisible because we don't want to be found, or others choose to make themselves invisible or choose to see us as invisible.
We tend to run from the truth, but like you I choose to live my truth and don't choose to run. If we all chose to live with our truth instead of running from it; I'm sure we would begin to struggle less.
This is such a sad situation in life. So many people lie when they tell you things about themselves.
I choose to always tell the truth, because I know that I can only tell the truth; because I'm a horrible liar. Most people lie to impress others, I've no one to impress. I tell it like it is, as ugly as it might be.
Thanks Maria. Yes, I couldn't agree more. Everything you say is true. I believe that being a bad liar is reason enough for us always to tell the truth.
We should tell the truth anyway. I believe though, that if our lies aren't credible enough, people will always see through those lies. Not telling the truth will always go against the universe. We'd get caught out eventually.
We wear any number of different masks throughout our lives and these act as a front to our real self.
It is only when we're honest with ourselves and lose the mask that we speak from the heart with integrity and kindness. That comes with maturity and acceptance of self. Acknowledging the need to unmask is the first step in achieving that.
The sad reality is that the majority of us will never find our own acceptance or be mature enough to have acceptance either. We live our lives, we get on with things, we tolerate, but don't like ourselves enough to accept who we are.
I think the mask you speak of will continue to stay on for a while to come. I agree with you though, where we have acceptance, we will have peace and with peace will speak from the heart with integrity and kindness.
Sadly, I've not seen a lot of that going on, if at all.
Most people won't dare say a word, but give them a mask like the anonymity of the internet and you can't shut them up.
There are so many trolls out there who feel the need to tell the truth as they see it, but mostly what they're doing is trying to make sure everyone else suffers as much as they do. They like to say that Misery loves company but it more like demands it with the way those people like to spew their diseased ramblings.
My mother expected me to be one of those type of people like she was, but it just wasn't in my nature. She did a fantastic job of screwing my head up, but I didn't turn out the way she expected.
I haven't really been myself since I was 3 years old and came back from almost dying from pneumonia. I'm pretty sure that most 3 year olds don't wish they would have actually died because they had a pretty good idea of what was to come. I felt at that point that I couldn't depend on my parents to take care of me, since they had let it go on for so long.
It was then that I started wearing the masks to hide how much I was suffering inside, because I felt so alone. They had put me in what I call a cage crib, in the hospital and never came to check on me no matter how loudly I screamed!
My life didn't really get any better after that. I have spent most of my life wearing so many masks that often times I don't even know who I really am. I know what I am, but my real identity remains a mystery. I like to say my inner child is frozen in carbonite, which is pretty much true.
I'm just now starting to feel comfortable in my own skin which for me is pretty fantastic, compared to the alternative of feeling nothing at all. I am still very angry that I didn't have a chance to be myself as a kid; but I am learning that I do have to accept it.
I have watched far too many people allow their resentments to rule their life. I just want to learn who I am in the time I have left!
Thanks Randy. Yes, we wear masks so that we can hide the pain we feel emotionally, whether that's on social media or the internet.
I believe What's important is what we come to believe about ourselves and how we learn to cope with our lives. I believe you can be who you choose to be and although your teachers (your parents) didn't make your life right for you; you are your own teacher now.
I have also had my own fair share of issues to deal with, but there comes a time where it's important for us to learn to deal with our issues so that we can move on and cut out a niche for ourselves instead of continually wearing a mask.
I agree with you that too many people allow their resentments to rule their life. That's what we must try to avoid.
I live with the truth, all day everyday; but I live cautiously and choose to remain anonymous. But if you hide me, I'll show you the whites of my eyes and tell you the truth, whether you want to hear it or not.
Thanks Tim. Yes, I'm not sure personally whether it's being hidden or being invisible. Either we're invisible because we don't want to be found, or others choose to make themselves invisible or choose to see us as invisible.
We tend to run from the truth, but like you I choose to live my truth and don't choose to run. If we all chose to live with our truth instead of running from it; I'm sure we would begin to struggle less.
This is such a sad situation in life. So many people lie when they tell you things about themselves.
I choose to always tell the truth, because I know that I can only tell the truth; because I'm a horrible liar. Most people lie to impress others, I've no one to impress. I tell it like it is, as ugly as it might be.
Thanks Maria. Yes, I couldn't agree more. Everything you say is true. I believe that being a bad liar is reason enough for us always to tell the truth.
We should tell the truth anyway. I believe though, that if our lies aren't credible enough, people will always see through those lies. Not telling the truth will always go against the universe. We'd get caught out eventually.