The words spewed out of me like red hot lava out of a volcano.
How on earth can I love myself when the woman who gave birth to me didn't?
A deeply unsettling tremor rippled through my body as the words on the crappy sheet of paper landed.
Cheap paper with priceless words:
Patricia Joan Flower
I HAD been expecting to see my birth mother's name.
But I hadn't been expecting what was underneath.
David Anthony Flower
The name she'd given me.
I've had 2 names.
So who on earth am I?
How can I love myself when I don't know who I am?
I searched for answers to the big questions.
I got them.
And I'd love to share what I've learned about loving ourselves with you.
``````Join me as I go deep into:
Understanding who we really are
Seeing our past doesn't define us
Being comfortable in our own skin
Ending the war in our heads (and hearts)
Moving from surviving to thriving.
PS About me
I'm a 55 year old British adoptee born in Wrexham, Clywd, Wales adopted by parents in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England in February 1967.
It was a closed adoption through the (now defunct) Lancashire & Cheshire Child Adoption Council in Liverpool.
I was adopted at 5 weeks old and told about it so young I don't ever remember not knowing.
I didn't (consciously) experience any adoption trauma until I hit 40 when I found out my childhood teddy bear was a gift from my birth mother.
This caused an eruption of anger, feeling rejected and unloved.
That kickstarted a learning journey that led me to heal and then want to help others.
I didn't start my search for my adoptive mother until 2014 only to find out that she had died twelve years before.
I created the Thriving Adoptees podcast in 2021 so guests can inspire listeners with their stories and empower them with their learnings.
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