Being Adopted documents the nuanced emotions and experiences of adult adoptees, as captured through three words. Adoptees were asked:
If you could choose any 3 words to describe your experience as an adoptee, which ones would you choose?
Being Adopted documents the nuanced emotions and experiences of adult adoptees, as captured through three words. Adoptees were asked:
If you could choose any 3 words to describe your experience as an adoptee, which ones would you choose?
Unsettling2
Word |
# of times used |
| Lonely | 41 |
| Alone | 29 |
| Confusing | 18 |
| Loved | 18 |
| Lost | 16 |
| Misunderstood | 14 |
| Loss | 11 |
| Grief | 10 |
| Angry | 9 |
| Complicated | 9 |
| Confused | 8 |
| Different | 8 |
| Love | 8 |
| Sad | 8 |
| Painful | 7 |
| Abandoned | 6 |
| Anger | 6 |
| Complex | 6 |
| Disconnected | 6 |
| Invisible | 6 |
| Isolating | 6 |
| Trauma | 6 |
| Alien | 5 |
| Broken | 5 |
| Healing | 5 |
| Isolated | 5 |
| Longing | 5 |
| Rejected | 5 |
| Rejecting | 5 |
| Curious | 4 |
| Emotional | 4 |
| Erased | 4 |
| Loneliness | 4 |
| Outsider | 4 |
| Secret | 4 |
| Special | 4 |
| Traumatic | 4 |
| Unwanted | 4 |
| Afraid | 3 |
| Belonging | 3 |
| Bittersweet | 3 |
| Chosen | 3 |
| Dissociated | 3 |
| Family | 3 |
| Found | 3 |
| Hiraeth | 3 |
| Insecure | 3 |
| Isolation | 3 |
| Lies | 3 |
| Loving | 3 |
| Misfit | 3 |
| Mistake | 3 |
| Overwhelming | 3 |
| Pleaser | 3 |
| Sadness | 3 |
| Scared | 3 |
| Unique | 3 |
| Unknown | 3 |
| Unlovable | 3 |
| Void | 3 |
| Why | 3 |
| Abused | 2 |
| Alienated | 2 |
| Alienating | 2 |
| Amazing | 2 |
| Change | 2 |
| Courageous | 2 |
| Determined | 2 |
| Disappointed | 2 |
| Duality | 2 |
| Emptiness | 2 |
| Exhausting | 2 |
| Fear | 2 |
| Floating | 2 |
| Fortunate | 2 |
| Fragmented | 2 |
| Fraught | 2 |
| Gaslit | 2 |
| Grateful | 2 |
| Hidden | 2 |
| Hurt | 2 |
| Identity | 2 |
| Lifelong | 2 |
| Lucky | 2 |
| Maddening | 2 |
| Missing | 2 |
| Other | 2 |
| Pain | 2 |
| Perplexing | 2 |
| Questioning | 2 |
| Rage | 2 |
| Relentless | 2 |
| Replaceable | 2 |
| Resilience | 2 |
| Resilient | 2 |
| Shame | 2 |
| Shattered | 2 |
| Silenced | 2 |
| Solitary | 2 |
| Struggle | 2 |
| Surreal | 2 |
| Survival | 2 |
| Survivor | 2 |
| Terror | 2 |
| Traumatized | 2 |
| Traumatizing | 2 |
| Unfair | 2 |
| Ungrateful | 2 |
| Unreal | 2 |
| Unseen | 2 |
| Unworthy | 2 |
| Worthless | 2 |
| Abandonment | 1 |
| Abuse | 1 |
| Abusive | 1 |
| Acceptance | 1 |
| Accepted | 1 |
| Adapt (at any cost) | 1 |
| Adaptable | 1 |
| Adaptable (compliant) | 1 |
| Alien (not fitting in) | 1 |
| Alienation | 1 |
| Alive | 1 |
| Ambiguous | 1 |
| Ancestors | 1 |
| And | 1 |
| Annngerrrrr | 1 |
| Anxiety | 1 |
| Apotropaic | 1 |
| Assimilated | 1 |
| Attached | 1 |
| Bastard | 1 |
| Beautiful | 1 |
| Betrayal | 1 |
| Bewildered | 1 |
| Bewildering | 1 |
| Bewilderment | 1 |
| Brave | 1 |
| Bravery | 1 |
| Breakable | 1 |
| Bullshit | 1 |
| Bumbling | 1 |
| Burden | 1 |
| Cared for and about | 1 |
| Chameleon | 1 |
| Changed | 1 |
| Chaotic | 1 |
| Chimerical | 1 |
| Clear | 1 |
| Clueless | 1 |
| Colorism | 1 |
| Compliance | 1 |
| Conflicted | 1 |
| Conformity | 1 |
| Confusion | 1 |
| Contradiction | 1 |
| Culture | 1 |
| Dark | 1 |
| Death-defying | 1 |
| Deep | 1 |
| Deep grief | 1 |
| Deeply buried trauma | 1 |
| Defective | 1 |
| Dehumanizing | 1 |
| Demeaning | 1 |
| Denial | 1 |
| Déraciné | 1 |
| Desolate | 1 |
| Desolation | 1 |
| Desperate | 1 |
| Destroyed | 1 |
| Detached | 1 |
| Devastated | 1 |
| Devastating | 1 |
| Devoid | 1 |
| Dichotomy | 1 |
| Difficult | 1 |
| Disassociated | 1 |
| Discarded | 1 |
| Discombobulating | 1 |
| Disconnect | 1 |
| Disconnecting | 1 |
| Discrimination | 1 |
| Dishonest | 1 |
| Disjointed | 1 |
| Disorienting | 1 |
| Disoriented | 1 |
| Disowned | 1 |
| Disposable | 1 |
| Dissociation | 1 |
| Dissonance | 1 |
| Distrusting | 1 |
| Disturbing | 1 |
| Divergent | 1 |
| Divine-intervention | 1 |
| Drifting | 1 |
| Empowering | 1 |
| Empty (who am I, why don’t they love me) | 1 |
| Enraged | 1 |
| Exciting | 1 |
| Excluded | 1 |
| Excruciating | 1 |
| Expectations | 1 |
| Expendable | 1 |
| Extraterrestrial | 1 |
| Failing-to-fit-in | 1 |
| Failure | 1 |
| Fake | 1 |
| Fantastical | 1 |
| Fog | 1 |
| Foggy | 1 |
| Forgiveness | 1 |
| Fortune | 1 |
| Fractured | 1 |
| Fragile | 1 |
| Frightened | 1 |
| Fulfilling | 1 |
| Fury | 1 |
| God | 1 |
| Gone | 1 |
| Gratifying | 1 |
| Great life and family | 1 |
| Gumbo | 1 |
| Happy | 1 |
| Hate | 1 |
| Hazy | 1 |
| Healed | 1 |
| Heartache | 1 |
| Heartbreaking | 1 |
| Hollow | 1 |
| Home | 1 |
| Hope | 1 |
| Hopeful | 1 |
| Houses | 1 |
| Humbling | 1 |
| Hypervigilant | 1 |
| Illegitimate | 1 |
| Imperfect | 1 |
| Imposter | 1 |
| Impotent | 1 |
| Imprecatory | 1 |
| Included | 1 |
| Inconvenient | 1 |
| Incorrigible | 1 |
| Independent | 1 |
| Infuriated (resentful) | 1 |
| Inhibited | 1 |
| Insignificant | 1 |
| Instructive | 1 |
| Jagged | 1 |
| Journey | 1 |
| Kaukokaipuu (finnish) | 1 |
| Kindness | 1 |
| Kintsugi | 1 |
| Lacking | 1 |
| Latent | 1 |
| Leaveable | 1 |
| Liberated | 1 |
| Lie | 1 |
| Loss of family, culture, language | 1 |
| Luck | 1 |
| Marketable | 1 |
| Matzah | 1 |
| Mine | 1 |
| Misunderstood | 1 |
| Misplaced | 1 |
| Missing pieces | 1 |
| Mistreated | 1 |
| Misunderstood (no one but adoptees know what it is to be adopted) | 1 |
| Misunderstood/Mischaracterized | 1 |
| Muted | 1 |
| Mystery | 1 |
| Mystical | 1 |
| Navigating | 1 |
| Needy | 1 |
| Negation | 1 |
| Nerve-wracking | 1 |
| Nightmare | 1 |
| Nonconsensual | 1 |
| Not alone | 1 |
| Not-belonging | 1 |
| Obscured | 1 |
| Of | 1 |
| Optimistic | 1 |
| Orphan | 1 |
| Othered | 1 |
| Outside | 1 |
| Overlooked | 1 |
| Overprotected | 1 |
| Parents | 1 |
| Pariah | 1 |
| Pervasive | 1 |
| Pining | 1 |
| Positive | 1 |
| Possession | 1 |
| Powerless | 1 |
| Primal | 1 |
| Protective | 1 |
| Puzzling | 1 |
| Questioned | 1 |
| Re-rejected | 1 |
| Reborn | 1 |
| Regret | 1 |
| Regret (for not being there for my natural family for the tough times and good times) | 1 |
| Released | 1 |
| Relinquished | 1 |
| Remade | 1 |
| Rescued | 1 |
| Restless | 1 |
| Robbed | 1 |
| Safe | 1 |
| Saudade | 1 |
| Scary | 1 |
| Searching | 1 |
| Secrets | 1 |
| Self-hatred | 1 |
| Shock | 1 |
| Silent | 1 |
| Solitude | 1 |
| Soul-changing | 1 |
| Split | 1 |
| Stifled | 1 |
| Stolen | 1 |
| Stolen identity | 1 |
| Sucks | 1 |
| Taken | 1 |
| Temporary | 1 |
| Thankful | 1 |
| Thought-provoking | 1 |
| Tired | 1 |
| Tiring | 1 |
| Torn | 1 |
| Tough | 1 |
| Traffic | 1 |
| Tragic | 1 |
| Transformational | 1 |
| Transformative | 1 |
| Trapped | 1 |
| Truth | 1 |
| Twice | 1 |
| Twin | 1 |
| Un-moored | 1 |
| Unanchored (adrift) | 1 |
| Unattachable | 1 |
| Unattached | 1 |
| Unbearable | 1 |
| Uncompréhension | 1 |
| Unconditional | 1 |
| Unconditional love | 1 |
| Unfinished | 1 |
| Unfortunate | 1 |
| Unheard | 1 |
| Unlost | 1 |
| Unnecessary | 1 |
| Unrooted | 1 |
| Unsupported | 1 |
| Untethered | 1 |
| Untouchable | 1 |
| Unwell | 1 |
| Uprooted | 1 |
| Uprooting | 1 |
| Useless | 1 |
| Violation | 1 |
| Wanderer | 1 |
| Wanted / unwanted | 1 |
| Weary | 1 |
| Weird | 1 |
| Wonderful | 1 |
| Wondering | 1 |
| Wound | 1 |