Jared Smith* was an unremarkable middle-aged man living in the small town of White Oak, Tennessee. That is, until the news broke about foreign judges resigning from Hong Kong's top court over the deteriorating political situation. Suddenly, Jared's quiet rural life was shaken.

The reason? Jared was adopted as a baby, without any information about his birth parents or ancestral roots. The Hong Kong news triggered painful memories about his lack of identity and cultural belonging. 'I'd spent my whole life wondering where I came from,' Jared thought. 'This just reopened that wound.'

Jared decided it was time to tackle his lifelong identity crisis head-on. He enrolled in the Stepping Into Action online program to process his past trauma in a healthy way. As part of the curriculum, he read a quote that resonated deeply: 'Not knowing your roots can be devastating, but you have the power to grow healthy new branches.'

Experts were divided on the best way for adoptees like Jared to find peace. Some counselors advocated tracing one's biological lineage at all costs. 'You can't truly know yourself until you know where you came from,' they argued. But others cautioned that the search could lead to more pain than answers. 'What's most important is self-acceptance and living in the present,' they advised.

In the end, Jared concluded that a mix of both perspectives served him best. 'I'll never stop wondering about my ancestry,' he realized. 'But I've also found incredible strength in redefining my own identity, separate from my unknown roots.' By engaging with the online program, thousands of miles from the Hong Kong controversy that sparked his journey, Jared felt profoundly healed. He knew it wasn't easy to find such specialized support locally, so he was grateful to have accessed it virtually.

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