My Story, Part 1 - 3

My Story

Part 1, My Objectives

 

Originally I did not intend to write about myself on this blog but as time went on I decided that my personal story is as important to describing the homeless condition as is talking about what other homeless people are doing in their own lives.

I’m not certain how many posts this series will contain nor how long it will take to write. In fact it just may be an ongoing project with no real ending. We shall see how this goes. Along the way I’ll still continue to change the subject and return to talking about things that are going on with other homeless people or the folks who are involved in helping the homeless.

 

Part 2, About Me

 

I’m 60 something years old and have been technically homeless since 2002. Truthfully, I became homeless in early 2000 but in that 2 year period between 2000 and 2002 I was fooling myself and saying that I was just taking a break from the mess I had made of my life.

My ultimate career choice became being an electronics technician although prior to that, while still in high school and for several years afterward I was an auto mechanic, I pumped gasoline, was a land surveyor and even a professional firefighter / paramedic.

My electronics career spanned about 30+ years and in some ways I’m still at it. I’ve been married twice, have two great children and a bunch of grandkids. My hobbies are a story in and of themselves as are my chosen career and my family.

Some of my hobbies were amateur radio, computer hacking (before hacking became a bad thing), hiking, backpacking, cave exploration, flying… well you get the idea. I did a lot of things as hobbies that were totally unrelated to each other and I still pursue some of them as I am able.

I was a nerd, a loner, an introvert with few friends and limited social skills.

Here’s where you are probably asking what this has any bearing on my homeless. I could just keep it simple and say that my homelessness is a result of my alcoholism or drug abuse issues. Truthfully those reasons are more of a symptom of larger problems and that the way I led my life ultimately brought me to this point.

In looking back, my path to homelessness began long ago. My early life, my education, my successes, my failures all contributed to where I am now.

Part 3, My Addictions

 

All of us are addicted to something. From innocuous or harmless to the harmful and destructive. Food, drink, all sorts of everyday things can be addictive as are alcohol and drugs. People can even become addicted to the internet or places on the internet.

I mentioned earlier that my addictions did not cause my homelessness but were a symptom of other issues. On the other hand, my addictions did play a part in my becoming homeless.

Most homeless people have alcohol or drug issues and sometimes both I’m no different. With me it was mostly alcohol but cocaine was in there to a lesser extent. I was an addict long before I became homeless. We are talking 20+ years of being an addict before becoming homeless as well as the first 4 or so years of my being homeless.

Even though I had gone through several alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs and many AA or NA meetings over a 10 year period I did not really quit using. I wasn’t ready to acknowledge, let alone deal with whatever issues I had that were keeping my addictions alive.

Whether it was my few months in prison with plenty of time to think, my developing Christianity or some other factor, I finally started dealing with my personal issues and along the way my addictions. I’ve been clean for several years now. In addition I’m no longer the introverted person I once was, I have more friends now, I actively deal with my personal issues, my social skills are improving and I don’t see the people who enabled me and my addictions very often

I’m still a work in progress, but I AM GETTING THERE!

 

Coming up soon will be some more of my life as a homeless person.