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Why I Share What I Share
& what to expect from this newsletter...
Selen Yesilada
August 05, 2024 • ⏱ 6 minutes
This is an introduction into what I share and why I share it at HELPFUL & FABULOUS.
Let’s get started!
How it all started
I made my first appearance in the world of social media as an enthusiastic newbie at practicing yoga. Over time, I gained expertise in teaching yoga and expanded my experience by growing an audience online and stepping into solo-yoga-preneurship.
How it’s going
Today, however, though I still publish yoga and meditation videos on YouTube, my main pursuit is learning about various aspects of the human experience and helping myself and others lead healthier and happier lives.
Knowledge-based content on psychology, neuroscience, biology, etc.—primarily focusing on stress, chronic illness, addictions, and other existential manifestations.
Personal stories
Insights I gain through my work with one-on-one coaching clients on self-confidence, authenticity, love, addictions, career management, health, etc.
And of course, bits from the world of yoga and spirituality
I divided this part into three sections, explaining why I learn and talk about [1] addiction, [2] stress, chronic illness, and healing, and [3] trauma, authenticity, love, self-trust, and other human experiences.
Addiction
I started drinking excessively quite young and it didn’t take long for it to morph into an addiction. Drinking turned into my main tool to rely on just to function in life. I was not able to go through even a couple of days without drinking and I couldn’t stop drinking when I started.
Smoking cigarettes was more like an indispensable partner to my drinking. But over time, they became triggers for one another. When I wanted to smoke, I was drinking to accompany the cigarettes, and when I was drinking, I was smoking to accompany the drinking.
However, I had another addiction that I was completely unaware of at the time, which, at the root, fed all of my other addictions: my romantic, entirely dysfunctional relationship. Though my love for this person was as sincere as it could get, the relationship was something I couldn’t do without despite the harm it made—a brief description of any addiction. I’m not going to go further into this here because I wrote about it in detail in this blog post.
My addiction-centered life began to transform when I fell in love with the practice of yoga. It took me quite a while, but over time I managed to redirect my addictive tendencies to my practice. I cried, laughed, and poured my anger on the mat. I started to heal my relationship with my body and myself through my yoga practice. The tiles in my room in Milan almost became my refuge—to the extent that a few weeks earlier on a day when I felt utterly desperate due to my health problems, I found myself picturing those tiles amidst an emotional breakdown as a means to signal safety and calm my nervous system.
Throughout this journey of recovery, first I broke free from the dysfunctional relationship I mentioned earlier, and then I stopped drinking and smoking completely.
Today, I’m dedicated to understanding the workings of addiction and helping others free themselves from whatever doesn’t serve them anymore, including addictions.
Stress, Chronic Illness, and Healing
I’ve woken up with visual impairments a couple of times before, but the latest one has resulted in both, so far permanent, blurred vision and partial vision loss, along with hypersensitivity to stimuli, digestive issues, and chronic headaches.
Despite some clear medical findings, the doctors cannot tell what particularly gives rise to my condition, and therefore, cannot treat it. This being the case, I have taken on the task of learning everything I can possibly capture about the human brain, body, and mind, and I have become my greatest hope for healing. I analyzed this entire ‘health crisis’ and its impacts on my life through the perspective of The Hero’s Journey in this blog post.
Today, I am eager to share what I learn about stress, chronic illness, and alternative ways of healing with the hope of helping people prevent stress-driven illnesses, and if they’re already living with one, contribute to their healing.
Trauma, Authenticity, Love, Self-trust, and other human experiences
Chronic stress is not always the consequence of difficulties at work, challenges in relationships, or a loss such as the death of a loved one. It can be a result of trauma, failing to be one’s true self, and a lack of autonomy, clarity, love, self-trust, or control.
For example, people with addictions often struggle with a lack of self-trust, self-confidence, and self-love, all of which are magnified by the so-called ‘bad decisions’ they’ve made in their lives.
On the other hand, it’s not uncommon for people with chronic pain or illness to suffer from a lack of authenticity, autonomy, or self-prioritization.
Talking about addictions, illness, and healing without touching the most human experiences would be too surface-level, and in my opinion, would fail to make any difference.
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