The Life Cycle of a Homeless Person
Everyone must know in order to understand.
I often awoke in a shelter in despair with loud noises and confusion. Most of the time, I didn’t remember how I got there the night before—probably drunk as a skunk.
The annoyance of bright lights on my face gave me headaches. Undesirable odors and bitter faces were all over the place.
And I’m not pretending to talk badly about the place.
Thank God there are places for the homeless to rest their heads and be safe.
What would happen to us if we had to always sleep on the street under inclement weather?
After living in my apartment, sharing a place with hundreds of individuals was chaos for my mind. Following rules, the site imposes like an incarcerated environment.
Continuous friction could make someone explode at any moment.
And then, out onto the street, to the continuous fight for survival. Not that it’s a jungle out there. Well, that’s how it feels from our point of view.
After being homeless for some time, the shame of what others will say gets lost. It no longer matters if you sit to eat on the sidewalk or sleep behind a dumpster.
Our world seems to be on pause, like in the vacuum of space. Our perception of reality is numb. Options are out of reach. The only thing left is to make it through the day.
As they say on the street,
“Another day in paradise.”— Phil Collins.
It doesn’t matter where we go; they’ll kick us out of any place. This is when the feeling of rejection from society is felt.
And it's not that we are bad people; we just fell into a condition that is difficult to repair. Whether it was self-induced, carelessness, or irresponsibility, we fell into a spiral of despair.
We struggle to restore our lives; it’s a steep climb where you take two steps upwards and fall right back down to fall into the claws of addiction where nothing matters anymore—what people will say or how we will die.
But let’s think about something…
Somewhere, a mother cries for her lost child, a helpless spouse misses her husband, or an abandoned child hopes his father will return someday.
I gradually fell into the drinking cycle that brought me down to my knees. Wake up with a hangover, relieved my condition with alcohol, and returned to the initial state of drunkenness.
Others fall lower by taking more potent drugs: crack, heroin, and fentanyl.
The physical and psychological condition begins to degrade.
Slavery to addictions, the homelessness cycle, and society's rejection mark the final stage—loss of sanity.
Many lives are lost along the way. Very few find recovery.
This goes beyond just fate or chance to be able to survive. It takes a superhuman effort not to give up, even if you get caught amid the worst storm.
There are shelters to rest and sleep, recovery programs, and therapeutic help that can guide us to find the way out of that situation. But no one but the person has to fight to find support and escape that mess.
To give hope and encouragement.
How did I overcome homelessness?
After many attempts and failures, slips and falls. I managed to hold on to something I didn’t want to let go of, Faith. It was like finding a lifeboat in the middle of a sea storm.
I abstained from alcohol for days achieving mental clarity, which made me recognize the seriousness of my situation. And I started looking for help, like when someone is drowning and desperately wants to save their life.
I recognized the options that could help me and the paths I should take. I took advantage of my short periods of sobriety to see the positive changes and encouraged myself to continue on the right way.
I met people who recognized my effort and started helping me. Some with practical advice, and another got me a job and a place to get out off the streets.
Getting away from the environment helped me progress, and I started seeing a new person in me. I saw my crooked past life get farther away.
I reached seven years of sobriety this month and have never felt like this. Full of energy, joy, and an immense desire to share writing the experience of my life and looking for someone who can read it and benefit from it.
I can have many experiences in life. Successes and failures. But the joy of surviving homelessness and defeating alcoholism leaves a mark in my heart that I’ll never forget.
I’ll leave you with a clear message:
“When everything has collapsed, you’re just waiting for the end. Life will always give you a way out and an opportunity to start again.”
Some take advantage of the opportunities, and others only see them go by.
Never be fooled by the falsehood that alcohol and drugs give. Ultimately, you are destroying your body and the precious life God has given you.
“DIFFICULT ROADS LEAD TO BEAUTIFUL DESTINATIONS”
If you know someone going through emotional problems who lacks control over addictive substances, that person may be on the brink of losing their home and falling into the abyss of homelessness and addictions. Please call a helpline.
We are still in time to redirect our path as humanity.
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