It really is. It makes my head hurt to think about how many other ideas I could create if I wasn't constantly exhausted and stressed. Thanks for reading and you're welcome, Mary.
Thank you for sharing this important post Robin - I think too many people are unable (or unwilling) to comprehend how hard it is to get ahead when you’re in poverty. It’s not about how hard you work when the system is rigged against you.
I’m also so terribly sorry to hear you were driven out of a community you built - that’s horrendous and I hope you’re finding a supportive community here.
Anyone who gives you hell, tell them to read Parable of the Sower from Octavia Butler...a kick-ass 18-year-old Black woman fearlessly leads her group of poor to prosperity (for a time) - but let me know if anyone living in an Ivory Tower without hired thugs could navigate the dystopian hell that Butler wrote about (which scary enough is circa 2024.)
That’s one of my favorite books! And right? They could never in a million years. Reading that book again (this year) was incredibly wild to say the least.
Great piece! I’ll be starting a book soon on financial trauma and focusing on capitalism as a root cause to that trauma. Many of the reasons you listed are reactions to that trauma and we should not be shamed for it.
Also, fun fact- financial trauma is not experienced just by those in poverty. We have to examine the harmful impact of capitalism on our minds, bodies, and bank accounts.
Remember well that time when a local homelessness coalition organized a busload of us in intermediate shelters to lobby in our state capital.
It was an uncomfortable shock that some of us did not have substance abuse issues, prison records, and a lack of formal education. That shredding a social safety net and "reforming" negotiated public pensions to play to their bases had real world consequences. It does not take much to lose everything, and it's twice as expensive to pick yourself back up without an economic floor. Add in the social isolation that comes with the struggle.
And if you didn't have mental health issues before - welcome to the wonderful world of poor people's therapy, where more people of color are much more likely to be misdiagnosed with major psychiatric conditions rather than depression and anxiety. Those labels come with stigma, affecting every clinical and social service encounter afterwards, let alone the impact of inappropriate and unmonitored psychotropic drugs. (Hello preventable chronic kidney disease and brain fog!)
Sigh. Being poor is exhausting and stressful. Thanks for this.
It really is. It makes my head hurt to think about how many other ideas I could create if I wasn't constantly exhausted and stressed. Thanks for reading and you're welcome, Mary.
Thank you for sharing this important post Robin - I think too many people are unable (or unwilling) to comprehend how hard it is to get ahead when you’re in poverty. It’s not about how hard you work when the system is rigged against you.
I’m also so terribly sorry to hear you were driven out of a community you built - that’s horrendous and I hope you’re finding a supportive community here.
Anyone who gives you hell, tell them to read Parable of the Sower from Octavia Butler...a kick-ass 18-year-old Black woman fearlessly leads her group of poor to prosperity (for a time) - but let me know if anyone living in an Ivory Tower without hired thugs could navigate the dystopian hell that Butler wrote about (which scary enough is circa 2024.)
That’s one of my favorite books! And right? They could never in a million years. Reading that book again (this year) was incredibly wild to say the least.
And the Bell Riots in Star Trek also happened in 2024.
Great piece! I’ll be starting a book soon on financial trauma and focusing on capitalism as a root cause to that trauma. Many of the reasons you listed are reactions to that trauma and we should not be shamed for it.
Also, fun fact- financial trauma is not experienced just by those in poverty. We have to examine the harmful impact of capitalism on our minds, bodies, and bank accounts.
Remember well that time when a local homelessness coalition organized a busload of us in intermediate shelters to lobby in our state capital.
It was an uncomfortable shock that some of us did not have substance abuse issues, prison records, and a lack of formal education. That shredding a social safety net and "reforming" negotiated public pensions to play to their bases had real world consequences. It does not take much to lose everything, and it's twice as expensive to pick yourself back up without an economic floor. Add in the social isolation that comes with the struggle.
And if you didn't have mental health issues before - welcome to the wonderful world of poor people's therapy, where more people of color are much more likely to be misdiagnosed with major psychiatric conditions rather than depression and anxiety. Those labels come with stigma, affecting every clinical and social service encounter afterwards, let alone the impact of inappropriate and unmonitored psychotropic drugs. (Hello preventable chronic kidney disease and brain fog!)
'We’re lazy and need to work harder.'
This disappointing mindset has unfortunately been conditioned into society by our unjust, toxic, ultra-capitalist system.
Instead of blaming the system as we rightly should for many of our socioeconomic burdens, we think it's the individual who's at fault.
Sorry to hear about your hardship, Robin.
It is easy to harp on someone if you haven't lived a day in their shoes. Bought you a coffee, thanks for the post
so unbelievably infuriating re the The Black Psychedelic Equity yet in Oregon this gets passed in 2023. Those A-holes who reported you can suck one. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/preventionwellness/pages/oregon-psilocybin-services.aspx
and more states are decriminalizing psilocybin use. You were onto something for sure. It's not fair and it's not right. https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/capitol-journal/b/state-net/posts/states-slowly-embracing-psychedelic-drugs?srsltid=AfmBOoqDt-ZDm4kl2nkY7qQAuxLCGLeaqeO0BSXm4YFwtuWDlgz7b-3S