Adoptee-to-Adoptee: Stop. Recharge. Begin Again.

Michelle Madrid-Branch / October 10, 2019 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Blog, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Life Coach, Michelle Madrid-Branch, Orphan Advocacy

Can I tell you something? When I first started writing this blogpost, it had a completely different energy. Initially, my thoughts were focused on writing the heavier side of adoption. My words were weighted. My heart felt burdened.

Maybe that’s because I’m feeling A LOT right now: preps for an upcoming surgery, planning for my recovery, and all the “mom feels” you can have when you’ll be away from your kids.

I could hear my self-talk whispering that I was “drained,” “depleted,” and “overdone.” Moving through the many layered emotions of this season has been demanding on my mindset and on my heart. Earlier today, in the middle of spiraling into limiting language, I heard an even louder voice that said—STOP!

When Adoptees Push, Please Pull

Michelle Madrid-Branch / September 12, 2019 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Blog, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Life Coach, Mentoring, Michelle Madrid-Branch, Motherhood, Orphan Advocacy

Why do I write so transparently about the adoptee experience?

Because I know that there are other adoptees in the world, right now, who feel isolated and are frustrated by this sense of isolation. That’s not to say that these same adoptees are not loved and cherished by their adoptive families, it’s just that adoption—for the adoptee—can feel lonely.

Who do you talk to? Where do you turn? How do you grab hold of emotions and questions that you’ve stuffed way down inside of you and bring them up to the light? Will you still be loved, included, if you do?

Fear of rejection is real for the adoptee. Often, our initial reaction to this fear is to push with all of our might away from the rawest parts of ourselves. Pushing is a protective mechanism for the person of adoption.

Three Words That Bring Me Back to Joy: No Matter What Life’s Jungle Offers Up

Michelle Madrid-Branch / August 30, 2019August 30, 2019 / Adoptee, Blog, Inspiration, Life Coach, loving well, Michelle Madrid-Branch

Ever had one of those days when you say these words to yourself: “It’s just all too much!” Do you know what I mean?

That was my day on Monday. My daughter was diagnosed with pink eye and I couldn’t find a sitter to stay with her while I went to the pharmacy. After all, who wants to risk getting pink eye?

So, my girl had to ride along with me to the pharmacist. The wait to fill her eye drop prescription was slow. Like, at a snail’s pace kind of slow. I found myself anxiously counting the seconds on the clock.

I had writing deadlines edging closer and meetings to attend. I was also scheduled, on Monday, for chelation IV treatment for heavy metal poisoning (not something I could reschedule). Back at the house, the family washing machine went on the blink. My daughter’s bunny needed hay, and my younger son needed someone to plan his birthday celebration. On top of that, I was solo-parenting for the week which makes the juggle even more complicated!

The Adoptee’s Need to Embrace Their Biology

Michelle Madrid-Branch / August 16, 2019August 16, 2019 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Blog, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Life Coach, Michelle Madrid-Branch

I’d like to share an important truth with you: adoptees have a biological story. They possess a birth history. A biology. The biology of who they are came before adoption was written into the pages of their biography.

Adoptees will feel this biology pulsing within them for all of their lives. No. Matter. What.

Their biology exists. It’s real.

It’s ever-present. It’s a fact.

It’s the genealogy of adoption.

Dear Inner Critic, Let Me Show You The Door

Michelle Madrid-Branch / August 2, 2019 / Adoptee, Adoption Advocacy, Blog, Foster Care Advocacy, Foster Youth Advocacy, Life Coach, Michelle Madrid-Branch, Orphan Advocacy

In college, I took a literature course on female African American writers. It’s where I was first introduced to the writings of my literary heroes, Maya Angelou and Alice Walker.

Both incredibly strong and resilient women, Angelou and Walker have known the battle of the inner critic.

It was during this time as a college student when I read a quote by Ms Walker that said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

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