I Must Confess: I was homeless as a teenager.
After testing your “powers of perception” recently, it seems you would like to know more about my back story.
The whole sorry saga would take forever, so I’ll just share this one tiny tale today.
I was generally a good kid and a model student throughout my teen years. I was too terrified to be anything else; my Mother had “Borderline Personality Disorder” and a host of other mental health issues – on a scale of 1 (least affected) to 10 (ruled by the disease), I’d have to say she had it at about a 12!
It was like living with Jekyll and Hyde – moment to moment, I never knew which version of my Mum I was going to encounter.
I was constantly stressed, and spent my days treading on eggshells. There was no rhyme or reason as to what would flip her internal switch, and send her into an abusive rage.
How I became Homeless as a Teenager
I was 19, and had just finished Teacher’s College, when everything erupted.
To this day I’m not sure if I was kicked out of home or if I just couldn’t take it any more – a bit of both really!
That night I crashed at a friend’s place; for the next two months I was homeless. I survived by “couch surfing”, staying at various friend’s houses.
I had no job, no money, and absolutely no idea what to do.
It was the scariest, most demoralising time of my life. Sadly there were some who took advantage of me when I was most vulnerable. (If only an organisation like Sheltered by Grace had existed then!)
Eventually I managed to get the dole, and then some work as a checkout chick … finally I moved into a shared house with 3 other young women from my church.
Piece by piece, I slowly put my shattered life back together …
To become the happy and flourishing Middle Aged Mama that I am today!
Please don’t feel sad for me – I’m fine now really!