I use my experiences both past and present to change certain aspects of my thinking and life so that I can move forward. My Diary is and continues to a reference tool, in a unique and different way to other blogs out there.

Through my blog, my thoughts continue to challenge my perceptions on what I deal with and what I continue to deal with.

It really goes back to when I was a child. Growing up I had many thoughts that were self-contained, but was never in a position to change or challenge anything back.

My blogs help me bring closure on many issues and helps me reconcile those too. Through each individual blog, others also have the opportunity to change their own thinking on what they deal with.

I write in a way that helps others to challenge and change their own thinking around their experiences, so may understand for themselves, what I have come to understand for myself.

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 “Calling upon my experiences”

  1. Yes, The CP Diary has been extremely helpful to me too, by helping me to focus on whatever issue I may be dealing with at the time, which I don't always know how to handle.

    Nobody taught us life skills other than just to run away from problems instead of dealing with them, which is why we grew up living like Gypsies.

    They always made it seem like we weren't supposed to fight back and just accept everything that happened to us, like both of my sisters getting raped, when there were a lot of things they could have done to protect us.

    My experiences have always been very negative, so it's no wonder that I have a hard time believing that good things can happen even to me.

    1. Thanks Randy. Yes, this is true. Over the years, I have seen you change. You're doing so much better because you know so much more about your experiences. It's taking that first step.

      But no matter the childhood, and this includes me also, I think it important we learn to draw on all our experiences, (good and bad) so that we can use them as stepping stones to emotionally grow and move forward.

      It's something we must continually do though, because it's so easy to take one step forward and three steps back and stay back.

      I am so sorry to hear about your sisters' experiences. There is no excuse for parents not protecting their children. I hope they're okay.

  2. It is good that you can draw on your past experiences and turn them into something positive that we can all benefit from.

    We can learn from experiences whether good or bad, but if we don't learn from them, then those experiences have little value.

  3. When you say, 'we can learn from experiences whether good or bad, but if we don't learn from them, then those experiences have little value.' You're right.

    The reason why what I do with my site works in this way is because I am able to draw on all of my experiences.

    We also have to make sure that our memories get back those experiences in the way those experiences presented.

    Sadly, when it comes to our experiences we either paint and see a better picture than we had, or we give that person more credit than they deserve.

    My version is black and white only. I convey my experiences in the way they were given, hard or not.

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