S1 E 19 - Unraveling Linda Linda speaks candidly about fear, obligation, guilt, and the slow unraveling required to rebuild a life rooted in truth. Her story is about reclaiming agency after manipulation, breaking generational silence, and choosing to breathe again after everything falls apart. This episode is a testament to resilience, discernment, and the courage it takes to say: My story belongs to me.

SHOW NOTES

Linda always knew she was adopted. What she didn’t know was how deeply secrecy, emotional neglect, and unspoken shame would shape her identity—and how fiercely she would one day fight to reclaim it.

At 24 years old, desperate to know her origins, Linda did something few would dare: she broke into the adoption agency to retrieve her own records. That night became a pivot point—a declaration that her story belonged to her. But accessing the truth was only the beginning.

In this powerful and layered conversation, Kara and Linda explore the long arc of identity, trauma, manipulation, and healing. Kara and Linda discuss:

• Growing up in an alcoholic, authoritarian household where adoption was never openly acknowledged
• Being treated as a “blank slate” and expected to erase her history
• The danger of power imbalances in therapy—and surviving a deeply abusive therapeutic relationship
• Isolation, grooming, and the long road back to autonomy
• Rebuilding identity through sobriety, somatic healing, research, and education
• Why “good therapy” matters—and how to protect yourself when seeking help
• The ongoing process of integration and self-trust

Everyone has the right to know the truth about where they come from. Unraveling Me speaks to those people impacted by DNA surprises, NPEs (non-paternal event), adoption, assisted reproduction, and other revelations that their parentage isn't entirely what they thought. Having experienced an NPE herself, Kara (through Right To Know and this podcast) seeks to highlight those moments when we learn the most unsettling of secret—who we really are.

At Right To Know, we encourage engagement to facilitate and create real change. As an organization, we are inclusive. We assist adoptees, the donor-conceived community, people with an NPE, birth parents, gamete providers, new genetic family, recipient parents, raising families, and significant others. In learning and growing from each other, we must put the voices of adoptees, donor conceived, and people with an NPE first.

For more information about Right To Know - or if you have a story you want to tell - please visit us at https://righttoknow.us/.

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