Tag: depression

  • Unhappy Donor Conceived People Can Still Be Happy People

    Unhappy Donor Conceived People Can Still Be Happy People

    Sometimes people get the idea that donor conceived people who talk about the realities of anonymous donation and secrecy are just a bunch of bitter curmudgeons bereft of any joy in their lives. That’s not true. I have a wonderful life. I’m married to the man I fell in love with in high school when

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  • The Sting of Rejection

    The Sting of Rejection

    Rejection from genetic family feels like being the kid nobody wants on the team. Do you remember the dread in PE when you were about to play a team sport and the students, not the teachers, would pick teams? I sure do. I remember the stress of standing on one side of the imaginary line

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  • This Ride is Exhausting

    This Ride is Exhausting

    I was riding high for a couple of weeks. The Atlantic article came out, and in its wake I had doors open for more writing opportunities, podcast interviews, potential collaborations, and more. I was feeling good. Empowered. At peace. I told my therapist I felt as if the grief over my biological father was in

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  • The Pain of Rejection

    The Pain of Rejection

    Share your joys and sorrows with your family. a fortune cookie Some days I just cannot fathom how I will spend the rest of my life cut off by my biological father and his family. Worth nothing more to them than a stranger on the street when I want so badly to have some small

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  • The Final Chapter

    The Final Chapter

    When my biological father stopped communicating with me, I thought perhaps God was taking him out of my life in exchange for my father who raised me. That maybe my dad would survive the cancer. I was wrong. It’s been exactly two years since I woke up to find an email titled “Final Chapter” and

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  • Fear of Abandonment

    Fear of Abandonment

    When you fear the abandonment of another, the probability of you abandoning yourself goes up. Vienna Pharaon This one resonated. When I found my biological father and we connected, I did everything in my power to be perfect. I was sincere in my efforts at bonding with him and his wife, but I did my

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  • Respect Your Child by Telling the Truth

    Respect Your Child by Telling the Truth

    Lying is a form of disrespect. Remember that. Freskoismee via Tumbl Recently I was very upset after going down the comment rabbit hole on a potential recipient parent’s Instagram post. A recipient of donated eggs commented that she and her family (grandparents of the child included) had decided to never tell the child that they

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  • Curiosity is Not Dictated by the Reasons for Absence

    Curiosity is Not Dictated by the Reasons for Absence

    You can’t be a sperm donor without also being a biological father. We Are Donor Conceived via Instagram My first father died when I was four. I barely knew him. But would anyone have told me never to wonder about him? That I shouldn’t care to know more? That he was not my father because

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