In this episode, I open up about my personal experience with adoption and the emotional scars that come with it. This isn’t the feel-good adoption story you’ve seen in the movies. this is the truth many adoptees live with but are told to stay silent about.

I talk about what it was like to grow up knowing I was “chosen,” but never truly feeling wanted. I explore the grief, identity confusion, and abandonment that so often get overlooked. I also share legal alternatives to adoption that preserve a child’s identity and family connection. options I wish had been considered for me.

Whether you’re an adoptee, adoptive parent, or someone who cares about the truth behind the system, this episode is for you. I hope it helps you feel seen, and more importantly, helps others understand what adoption can really feel like from the inside out.

Unmasking the Self We Hid to Survive

In this episode, I open up about the subtle, and sometimes invisible ways I learned to mask growing up. From adapting to survive unsafe spaces to shapeshifting into who I thought I needed to be, I share the versions of myself I wore like armor… and the moment I realized I didn’t know who I was underneath it all.

It wasn’t until my grandma left ,my safe person, my anchor, that the masks started to crack, and I was left staring at the fragments of an identity built on performance, perfection, and protection.

This is a conversation about the grief of losing yourself, the awakening of self-awareness, and what it looks like to begin coming home to the parts you buried to be loved.

"She didn't die, but I lost her anyway"

In the very first episode of The Unburied Collective, Navie shares the origin of her grief; the kind that doesn't come with funerals or closure. This is the beginning of a deeply personal journey through adoption trauma, emotional estrangement, and what it means to mourn someone who's still alive.

This episode sets the tone for the collective: honest, tender, unfiltered. If you've ever grieved who kept breathing, loved someone who couldn't love you back, or carried the weight of an untold story. This space is yours too.

Topics in this episode:

- Grieving a living mother

- Adoption Trauma + Identity

- Why this podcast had to be made

You are not alone here. This is the unburying.

Want to share your story on a future episode? Submit is anonymously or with your name at [email protected] because your story deserves to be heard.