Item
The Summer of Stress
Title (Dublin Core)
The Summer of Stress
Description (Dublin Core)
In the days following my graduation from community college in 2015, I fulfilled my lifelong pursuit of procrastination and let my apartment lease run out without securing a new residence. The two weeks of couch surfing and car sleeping which followed surely taught me a lesson in preparedness.
I never thought I would be in a situation where I would lose my job and home. in 2015, I still had a job. I had friends who could take me in and help me re-establish; it is easier to continue work and remain healthy when sleeping indoors and enjoying hot showers daily. But in 2020, the story is different. My friends could still take me in; many urged me to. But the pandemic put a weight on my mind that I was not safe to stay with my friends; and I couldn't stay with one friend for a long time (and therefore minimize new contact). I am incredibly afraid that I could harm my friends' families because of the pandemic. Then my job as a cashier at a 7-Eleven by the Orange County Airport was lost because the travel and traffic in the airport area dropped drastically as lockdowns and travel restrictions began; many stores in the area closed.
I waited all of summer before I applied for assistance. I kept thinking it would be like the two weeks in 2015; but this was not just my own negligence as a procrastinator, this was my own fault compounded by the pandemic.
As the method of my hygiene (24 Hour Fitness) closed, I truly felt the weight of stress on my mind. No more daily hot showers. Luckily my mobile residence, my car, allows me to sleep near the cold showers of the beach. Luckily the YMCA has begun phased re-opening, and I began showering there end of September when I could afford the membership.
I am still without a job, and without a permanent residence. It was impossible to manage what money I still have, because eating as a homeless person is not cheap; hot food costs far more money than grocery bought. I had to use my friend's address to even get EBT/food stamps; this is why the homeless folk who are less fortunate than me, who no longer have friends pursuing their safety with them, suffer. There is no address for EBT to send them the food stamps, or they as people in need simply have no friends who can help them shoulder the stress of bad fortune and extreme circumstances.
I never thought I would be in a situation where I would lose my job and home. in 2015, I still had a job. I had friends who could take me in and help me re-establish; it is easier to continue work and remain healthy when sleeping indoors and enjoying hot showers daily. But in 2020, the story is different. My friends could still take me in; many urged me to. But the pandemic put a weight on my mind that I was not safe to stay with my friends; and I couldn't stay with one friend for a long time (and therefore minimize new contact). I am incredibly afraid that I could harm my friends' families because of the pandemic. Then my job as a cashier at a 7-Eleven by the Orange County Airport was lost because the travel and traffic in the airport area dropped drastically as lockdowns and travel restrictions began; many stores in the area closed.
I waited all of summer before I applied for assistance. I kept thinking it would be like the two weeks in 2015; but this was not just my own negligence as a procrastinator, this was my own fault compounded by the pandemic.
As the method of my hygiene (24 Hour Fitness) closed, I truly felt the weight of stress on my mind. No more daily hot showers. Luckily my mobile residence, my car, allows me to sleep near the cold showers of the beach. Luckily the YMCA has begun phased re-opening, and I began showering there end of September when I could afford the membership.
I am still without a job, and without a permanent residence. It was impossible to manage what money I still have, because eating as a homeless person is not cheap; hot food costs far more money than grocery bought. I had to use my friend's address to even get EBT/food stamps; this is why the homeless folk who are less fortunate than me, who no longer have friends pursuing their safety with them, suffer. There is no address for EBT to send them the food stamps, or they as people in need simply have no friends who can help them shoulder the stress of bad fortune and extreme circumstances.
Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
text story
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)
Collection (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
10/18/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
10/18/2020
04/12/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
10/18/2020
Item sets
This item was submitted on October 18, 2020 by Raymond Holliday using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.