Tomorrow is another day, I tell myself; I have to get up and try to make some of the situations in my life that are driving me nuts better. That can be very difficult when you’ve very poor. Even if you start with a sense of humor and a positive attitude that difficult situations can get better, those circumstances can become so wearisome.
Today, for instance, one of my goals was to get cat litter and cat food. One of my goals? The act of simply providing for my pets has become something that has to be seen as a goal to be met. People in more “normal” or “stable” financial situations don’t usually
think of things like this. What would you do if you were so broke that you didn’t know how you were going to feed your pets from day to day?
One answer to that if you live in the North end of Seattle is to visit North Helpline on 30th st. They don’t always have pet supplies, but particularly at the beginning of the month they usually have cat and dog food as well as cat litter. The humane society makes a huge donation to them once a month at the beginning of the month. I was successful in my mission, and grateful to have a place I can go pick something like that up once in a while when things are really that tight.
It doesn’t embarrass me now, but it does frustrate me. To have a large chunk of ones day wrap around procuring supplies without money gets old after a while. Ironically, if I had the ten bucks and was just trying to save the money for something else, I don’t think
it would be as frustrating. When you are this broke, the act of getting your cat food for free reminds you that you -have- to do it that way, and that you -are- that broke.
It creates a hopeless sense of failure, futility, regret. Perhaps there could be better emotional responses, but how does one get to them? I think depression may really be one of the worst things that the nation’s poor face. After enough trying to create a better situation and having it not work, there can come a weakening spirit. It can make a person not want to wake up and face the day, yet another day of being unable to take care of things properly.
It is true that with dilligence you can do lot’s of things with virtually no money. For instance, you can do your laundry by hand in the shower. You can use paper towels for coffee filters. You can walk in the park, and you can study at the library. So much that we think we need we can get along fairly well without. Still, when it comes to those things, it’s easy to start to feel very disheartened.
Maybe it’s time to watch some funny vidoes- since laughter tends to diminish the power of sadness.
http://hillariousmusic.blogspot.com
theplacebytheriver
Thanks for the info. My kitty and I appreciate it!