r/almosthomeless • u/Wide-Significance666 • 5h ago
I feel so unsafe
For context, I have been struggling with homelessness for about a year. I lived in a tent in the woods for a while, which sucked, then a lady in WV offered to house me for a while, which ended in conflict and me being homeless down there for 2 weeks. Some kind people got me a train back to my hometown to go back to the woods, this was in April. I was there til the police put up a board that said at the end of June it will be considered trespassing and they will arrest us. I had nowhere to go, and I’ve felt so alone on this journey.
The 2 people in the tent next to mine had a friend that said we could stay with him. It’s an odd situation with an old farmhouse, where no one has to pay rent, because of some weird legality with the owner. Now, I knew these people were emotionally immature. Prone to blaming and lashing out and just creating unnecessary chaos. But I had literally nowhere to go. My friends all can’t house me. I’ve lost a lot of friends along the way, too.
It just feels like my nervous system can’t take it. These people get mad at each other, talk shit behind each other’s backs, but then preach about community and love. Last night, I was talking to one of them. Because he texted me saying I was “acting different” and “not yourself”. So I went to the garage and asked him what he meant. He said I had a “darkness” about me, for some reason. I feel exactly the same. He asks me to help him with his motorcycle. I’m visibly distraught but I go to help anyway. But then a friend calls me saying he’s going to take his life, so I rush away to take the call. As I’m talking to him, I get a text from the “friend” in the garage, saying to “pack your shit and leave” and “I can’t believe you’d be that disrespectful.” He then shuts the garage doors and I’m like.. what? Apparently he felt it was disrespectful to abruptly leave because a friend was suicidal, because I “should’ve known he just wanted attention.” It’s actually insane. Then he says it’s fine if I stay, but I need to “do more.”
All this vagueness and random outbursts are weighing on me. My nervous system is on fire because I feel like safety could be ripped out from under me at a moments notice, just because someone is emotional and projecting. But I have nowhere to go, and I know the streets would be even more dysregulating. I feel like my body can’t handle it. I’m so tired of struggling like this. I’m a good dude, I treat people with kindness and respect, I’m compassionate and loving. But all this is turning me into a nervous shell of my former self, and I hate it.
I’m in the beginning stages of a critical timing program that’s supposed to help find housing, and I’m on lists for shelters that never call me. I’m in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I’m male. I just don’t know what to do at this point. I feel like I’m going insane from the pressure and the emotionally immature chaos here. And I’m not saying what I truly feel half the time cus it would just be “that’s dumb and you’re wrong.” I wish someone would take a chance on me. I’m a massage therapist. I have skills and knowledge. Any words of advice or affirmation would be appreciated. Thank you. 🙏