As a child, my disability wasn't addressed and I had anxiety. I needed help with those. For some of us, our issues may be the things we don’t want to have to deal with. I wanted to deal with everything.

Feeling uneasy about an issue or situation can lead to anxiety, and our first reaction may be to avoid it. We need to face and conquer situations, or any anxiety we have, may begin to control us.

We need to understand why we have anxiety, so we can focus on the right responses, instead of ignoring them. I was continually reinforcing my negative actions, but as an adult, I have learned to take a different view.

Situations can be resolved, and goals can be achieved and through experience, things can get easier. Nothing ever stays the same. Overcoming any form of fear or avoidance takes patience and practice.

It’s never an overnight fix, but one thing is assured: the more you practise working through situations, the easier those situations become.

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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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