Homelessness - readjusting to life afterwards

N.B. There is an easy read version at the bottom of this post (shorter and in bullet point form) along with an infographic and translations

This will only be a short blog.

So following on from being homeless, there were a few changes that I noticed about myself.  The first was that I couldn't wear (and still don't to this day some 15 years on) a watch.  The thing about being homeless, and I may have mentioned this in one of my previous blogs on homelessness, is that you have no place to be and no time to be there.  This, as well as being very disorientating, has a certain freeing sense about it.  Time becomes irrelevant.  So going back to a society where everything is 'on the clock' is beyond unsettling.  The conformity of it is enough to send you round the twist.  And that's true of going back to the 9-5 slog as well.  Trying to fit yourself back into that mould is crazy hard - having a schedule you have to follow.

The second big thing I noticed was how possessive I became over my flat.  Even if I wasn't actually living in it, the idea of ever getting rid of it was just beyond me.  Logically, having been through all sorts of things, I know that there's nothing life can throw at me that can't be sorted or managed one way or another - life has a way of working itself out even if it's not easy or quite your desired result.  So you'd think that as long as I had a roof over my head, I'd be happy.  But no.  And it wasn't particularly something that I was precious about before being homeless.

That's all for today.  Any thoughts, comments or questions, just post up.

Easy Read

- One effect being homeless had when trying to readjust to 'normal' life was making it hard having a time and place to be somewhere e.g. the 9-5 work slog.

- Because of being homeless, I cannot wear a watch and I dislike conformity.

- An additional readjustment was finding that I'd become more possessive about material items, particularly my flat.

Mandarin Chinese

• Wo zai changshi chongxin shiying "zhengchang" shenghuo shi, liuguo wu jia ke gui de yi ge yingxiang jiu shi, hen nan shiying zai mou ge tedingshi jian he tedingsheng suo xuyao dao mou ge difang — li ru 9 dian dao 5 dian de zhengchang shangban shenghuo.

• Yinwei cengjing wu jia ke gui, wo xianzai wu fa dai shoubiao, erqie wo bu xihuan fucong yu guizu he shehui de tongyi moshi.

• Ling yi ge xuyao chongxin shiying de fangmian shi, wo faxian ziji dui wuzhi wu pin bian de geng you zhan you yu, tebie shi dui wo ziji de gongyu.

Hindi

• Jab main beghar hone ke baad "saamanya" zindagi mein dobara dhalne ki koshish kar rahi thi, to iska ek prabhav yah tha ki kisi nishchit samay aur jagah par pahunchna mere liye mushkil ho gaya tha — jaise subah 9 baje se shaam 5 baje tak ki niyamit naukri.

• Beghar hone ke anubhav ke kaaran, main ghadi nahi pehen sakti aur mujhe samaaj ke ek jaise banne ya doosron ke anuroop chalne ki soch pasand nahi hai.

• Dobara dhalne ka ek aur pehlu yah tha ki maine mehsoos kiya ki main bhautik cheezon, khaaskar apne flat, ko lekar zyada adhikaar-bhaav rakhne lagi thi.

Spanish

• Uno de los efectos que tuvo haber estado sin hogar cuando intentaba readaptarme a una vida "normal" fue que me resultaba difícil tener que estar en un lugar determinado a una hora determinada, por ejemplo, la rutina de trabajar de 9 de la mañana a 5 de la tarde.

• Debido a haber estado sin hogar, no puedo llevar reloj y no me gusta la conformidad ni sentir que tengo que ajustarme a las normas de los demás.

• Otro aspecto de la readaptación fue darme cuenta de que me había vuelto más posesiva con los bienes materiales, especialmente con mi piso.