Writing Your Own Origin Story

Sor Juana's autobiographical writings—her defense, her poetry, her intellectual claims—were acts of self-authorship against narratives others attempted to impose. For those with adopted identity, origin stories are often controlled narratives: adoption agency documents, adoptive parents' versions, biological parents' silence or narrative, cultural or religious frameworks imposed from outside. This concept invites reclaiming authorship. What is your story? Not your parents' story about how you came to them, but your story of your own becoming. This might include studying your origins, acknowledging grief, celebrating joy, integrating contradictions. This Sophos demonstrates that writing yourself into existence—through actual writing, through conscious choice, through deliberate self-definition—is an act of justice toward yourself. You are the authority on your own life. Your narrative may include others' stories, but it is authored by you. This is not narcissism but necessary reclamation of the right to represent yourself. Your origin story, ultimately, is not where you came from but who you are choosing to become.