How Being Homeless Saved My Life.

I don’t look the type that’s for sure. I speak well (if you ignore the copious swearing), my dad is a retired doctor, I run my own proofreading and copywriting business, have two children, a car, a campervan, and live in a decent area. But I used to be homeless.

It was a LONG time ago and I often completely forget as it seems like it happened to someone else in many ways. I was 19, I dropped out of university, fell out with my parents quite badly (we had a few rocky years as they were very strict, and I am rebellious by nature, who knew?) and they kicked me out as a result. I am sure they would tell it differently, but from my point of view I had nowhere to live and just the bags I could carry on my back.

I applied to the local hostel the YMCA and got a room. It is actually a hostel for men, but they had a handful of women’s rooms. So that was pretty scary as it wasn’t the most salubrious of locations to live and the fellow tenants were definitely not friendly in a good way!!

I got lucky as I knew a huge great mountain of a man living there, a bouncer called Colin, and he made it clear to people if they messed with me, they messed with him, so I was left alone. Networking skills even then!

Long story short, I spent as little time there as possible and got myself a proper job as soon as I could. I went to TGI Fridays in my one and only suit. I walked a couple of miles to get there, having only eaten a bag of crisps for food that day as I had no money for anything else.

I charmed the manager I met and convinced him I could work on the door and coordinate the restaurant. Door staff at TGIs deal with wait times and managing the table allocation, keeping both staff and patrons happy, in theory anyway. I had a waitressing background but that’s all.

I got the job and started within a couple of days. I seem to remember getting an advance on my wage, which was against their policy, but I begged for it so I could buy food and I also took every double shift going as you got a free meal: always ordered the huge steak!

It was actually a really fun job and I excelled at it as I am really good at dealing with a range of people and can make friends with nearly anyone. It was hard work and I was walking to work as well as working long into the night, but it was money and decent money at times as we worked on commission, and it got me out the hostel.

I moved in with the lad I was dating, and we even got engaged. That was clearly a mistake in the long run but who knows what they are doing when they are 20? I am jealous of those that do!

Anyway, life evolved, I had enough money to survive, we lived on soup and rice a lot and treated ourselves to a roast chicken once a month. But it was fairly happy, and it was so much better than a hostel. I went on to do door-to-door sales and that gave me the experience to get a job at the local newspaper and then an ad agency headhunted me and years later I use all that sales and copywriting knowledge in my business every day.

For me I had to get to the point I had nothing until I stepped up and got a real job and started to look after myself. I guess some people do this for themselves without such an extreme experience and some never quite do.

It is a motivator though and I do truly know the meaning of money. I am certainly not where I want to be yet, and my journey has many other peaks and troughs I haven’t mentioned and many more to come I am sure, but I am going to get there. I work hard with purpose towards the life I want for me and my children, and more importantly than that I am enjoying the journey and trying to appreciate it all as I go along. I am always open to new opportunities and love meeting new people, traits which I believe bring those who are meant to be in my life to me. Life is short so try and learn from the downs and appreciate the ups, and remember that happiness comes from inside you, not anyone or anything else.