“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role.” – Jim Morrison

We Run

Emotionally and mentally we run, unable to show how we truly feel. True feelings buried under a deluge of unconscious thoughts, buried, or so we thought. Instead, ‘wear your heart on your sleeve.’

There is no point in us lying to ourselves because it’s easier… we may not be hurting others, but we're hurting ourselves. Freedom is being what and who you really are.

Trading in a reality for an Act

We trade in our reality for an act. We give up our ability to feel because we think it's easier and instead put on our mask. We fail to feel, fail to understand.

Unburdening ourselves

If you were to write your thoughts down, you could start to unlock your thoughts. The first time we show our true feelings we unburden ourselves. It is empowering, daunting, scary and it is powerful ‘stuff.’ It is the universal truth.

What we hide will resurface

We bottle up emotions, what we know deep inside, we repress and hide how we really feel, particularly if we’re hurting, or we’re just feeling sad. But what we hide can always surface and come back and what we feel can be fear-induced.

Scared to open up, scared to be vulnerable. You may not always know why you’re feeling sad, or unhappy, but dig deep and bring your emotions and experiences to the surface, the emotions you’ve buried.

It's easy to ignore

In the short term, it’s easy to ignore how we feel. In the long term of course, the emotions we've ignored, the fall outs we have moved away from, evoked by a situation or person, shall always continue to surface.

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 “True Feelings”

  1. This is a great blog, Ilana. Every time we make a decision to fit in, we are burying a little part of ourselves down deep. This is denying of who we are by seeking approval of others who don't matter.

    Nothing is more important than connecting with and being true to ourselves and expressing our own uniqueness. It took me a while to realise I had fallen into that trap and even longer to climb out of it.

    1. Thank you. I couldn't agree with you more. Where you say, 'every time we make a decision to fit in, we are burying a little part of ourselves down deep' - we are and the more we do it, the more we lose ourselves.

      I didn't want that. I wasn't ready to give in or up. I believe my spiritual side, (although not often used when I was small) never allowed me to give up.

      Now through my words, through my blog, I am me.

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