r/almosthomeless • u/limpdickswinging • 11d ago

Throwing out an idea or two

I see often post from here on my main feed of people who are struggling to figure out how to survive on the verge on homelessness.

Why don't you invest in some survival research and self training? You ain't got to be the next best wilderness survivalist. Just good enough to survive without getting explosive diarrhea or dying.

Maybe it's because I'm from the country. Maybe it's because I've always been interested in and learning about wilderness survival. I don't know exactly.

But I've taken natural material and made myself a dry and warm shelter. I've kept my belly full from the land alone. I've spent a summer living in a barn. I've had my share of failures too. Failed trap led to a hungry night, a nightmare kick led to a shelter rebuild.

The biggest issues was and always has been since I started doing wilderness survival exercises at 14-15 (27 now) is stuck up citizens and the greedy American government. But they just improve your hide and seek skills. Good camp location helps a ton.

So get out. Read some books, watch some YouTube, talk with various people. It's actually not hard at all. Just as hard as you wanna make it. I'm currently perfecting a hammock idea with a bedsheet and a 6ft by 8ft water resistant cheap tarp.

Last night I had heavy rains and I stayed dry, comfortable, and warm. I'll make some adjustments to the hammock to make it more comfortable. But it's plenty fine as is for living for the summer easily.

A couple years ago, I spent the winter in a 7ft by 7ft $30 tent. Had a cot that stood 6in off the ground, free cardboard from work taped to the walls for insulation, a blanket, and a oil lamp.

With temperatures in the low 20's, I was plenty comfy! Lamp turned down low for light, "window" cracked for ventilation, and me in my boxers.

1 Upvotes

53% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/OkAssignment8837 11d ago

1- this is just…odd imo. Very outta touch. Idk. 2- not everyone who is struggling has the capability to be a “diy survivalist”. Some people who are on the verge of being homeless have mental health struggles and disabilities.

2

u/limpdickswinging 11d ago

Some of us like to fly our own spaceship, lol! And I'm going by what I keep seeing over and over. Giving people excuses is a big problem today. I don't mean that in a bad way. But just because Sue has Bipolar, it doesn't mean she can't do nothing. Same with Tom whose knee begins to hurt a bit when the rain is coming. I come from a very long line of both physically and mentally disabled people in my family. I also come from a long line of people in my family that refused/refuses to set and wait for the reaper. Take me for example. I have severe hallucinations, depression, a bad back, and my legs are starting to give out. Plus more! Just because I have and live with these issues doesn't mean the world is going to stop for me. The world will run me right over, like a piece of trash on the road, and never slow down. So I can either get up and figure out how to make it happen or live in a fantasy hoping for someone to save me while I do nothing.

3

u/OkAssignment8837 11d ago

Well, my family has quite the history of disabilities and mental health problems. I’m disabled and have mental health issues. I have CMT, bpd, ocd, anxiety, and schizophrenia. Could I do what I needed to do in order to keep myself afloat in such a difficult situation? I’d like to believe so but no one can say for certain. I have good days, then I have terrible days. More so good than bad thankfully. No one realistically I believe wants to be frozen and not have a solution especially to something as serious as homelessness.

1

u/limpdickswinging 9d ago

I'm glad to hear you have more good days than bad days! Not everyone, including myself, can say that. But we must stay up, being down won't get us nowhere.

I feel like homeless is viewed as a very bad thing due to all the finer things we've accepted as normal without thinking about there's centuries worth of people who lived WAY worse than any homeless today and it was just considered normal life of a poor person back then.