Been homeless for 3 nights now, my experience so far

I am not writing this because I am seeking help or guidance, I am only sharing this because I want to talk about it, and maybe a reader could find something to take away from my experiences. This is more of a story and less of me hoping to get something in return.

I’ve been living on the street in my city for 3 days and 3 nights now. I’ve been calling the homeless shelters, and they’re either too full to house me or they’re too dangerous for me to stay there.

My current routine is going to my day programs at my community center. They host multiple classes to help better your life & situation (Trauma Recovery, Substance Use Recovery, Healing Your Inner Child, etc.). They also provide me free breakfast & lunch, and bus tickets to get to and from where i need to be. I haven’t made any friends there yet, but I think I might soon; I’ve been talking to some people there more and more and they’ve been kind to me so far. I think speaking up during the classes and sharing my experiences has allowed people to get more of a vibe check of me, and people have taken interest in me and thanked me for the stories and advice that I share.

The community center is only open Monday-Friday, so I’ve been looking for other ways to stay busy during the day on the weekend. I’ve been going to my local library and spending all their hours there; watching videos, staying connected to my online friends, playing FFXIV, looking into other resources as I apply for assistance. What stinks is that the library closes at 5pm Friday-Sunday, so there’s a lot of time in the evening where I have to come up with a way to stay busy. Most of this extra time is spent getting some food from the grocery store, finding a park, and having what I call my “picnic time”. I like to sit in the grass, eat, and listen to my D&D podcasts.

At night, I’ve had to sleep outside. The first night I spent under a tree and some bushes closer to downtown. It actually ended up being a chill little spot with lots of cover, and there was a perfect cut out in the bushes for me to fully lay down and stay hidden. I would genuinely consider staying here more often if it weren’t for the location being close to downtown (more competition from other homeless people in these areas). The past 2 nights I’ve been sleeping underneath some trees on the west side of town. This location is good because the pharmacy and grocery store are about a 20 minute walk away, the library is nearby, and it’s still kind of near the bus route I need to take to get to the community center (or really out of the west side entirely, it’s the only bus out of this area). Plus, most of the people living here use cars and have nice homes, so people are far less likely to expect a homeless person to be sleeping in the trees.

I carry a backpack, a suitcase, and my favorite stuffed animal Captain with me everywhere I go (Captain is a brown teddy bear, and he wears a paperclip necklace around his neck). My backpack has my laptop, journals, my reading book, as well as my wires and cords; mostly my day time equipment. My suitcase has some of my clothes, a blanket, a sheet, and my medications; mostly my night time stuff.

The biggest challenges that I’m facing each night have been finding comfort on the ground, and the bugs that bite at me while I try to sleep. I’m not as concerned about someone finding me, but of course I still stay on guard. I don’t go to my secret spot until it is absolutely time for me to hunker down for the night, eat some dinner, and try to get some sleep.

I don’t currently have a job because the job market has been wack for a little while now, so I’ve been living off of my EBT that I get from the state (money loaded onto a card that is used ONLY for food). Currently the biggest frustration with this is not being able to buy any bug spray or other comfort items. I read online that mosquitos don’t like Lavender, so last night I stole a little $5 bottle of lavender essential oil, I bought a bottle of olive oil, and mixed some of that together. The olive oil does a good job at keeping my skin hydrated, and the lavender has been a nice touch to make me smell better (i don’t have access to a shower right now, and the days have been hot so I’m sweating a lot). I don’t think this lavender trick actually worked, since i was still having to swap away bugs and I still woke up with new bites on my body. But at least now I have something to make me smell kind of pretty.

When I go to sleep at night, I lay down my blanket for some cushion, and I use the sheet as cover for the bugs. I don’t have a tent so I’m kinda just raw-dogging the elements. It’s still been pretty warm at night (the lowest temperature hitting 70 degrees F), so I’ve been able to just toss on some sweat pants and a hoodie to stay warm enough. I use Captain as my pillow, and he also keeps me company when I feel lonely (he comes with me pretty much everywhere I go, even before I was homeless). There’s practically zero foot traffic in this area at night, and i try to get up and out of my hidden spot before the sun starts to rise and car traffic starts getting more frequent (the less eyes that spot me moving, the better).

I think I want to go a bit more into detail about what exactly has happened each day so far, but I think this will be good for a general intro into my situation. Again, I’m not looking for help or advice, I am just sharing this because it’s something big going on in my life, and I hope that someone reading might learn something or have some sort of take away. I know that this isn’t my forever, and that this is just a “mid-ass song” that will come to pass. There are still some aspects that I’ve come to appreciate, but I can explain more of that later.

Ad astra, per aspera.