Latest / RealTalkwithMikeD / Episode 21 - Being Homeless for 4 Months!

Transcript

Episode 21 - Being Homeless for 4 Months! · RealTalkwithMikeD

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Real Talk with Mike D. All right. Welcome
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: back to Real Talk with Mike D. I am Mike D.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here. And
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: as always, I appreciate your time. You know, there are
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: some things in life you never think will happen to you.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: You hear about them happening to other people. You see
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: it on the news. You drive past someone standing on
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a street corner with a backpack and a cardboard sign.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: And you think, Man, I can't even imagine what that
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: must feel like. Until one day, you're that person. Today
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about something that really isn't easy for me
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to talk about. Something that carries a lot of emotion,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: something that carries a lot of shame, frustration, anger, and honestly,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: a lot of lessons. Today I'm talking about being homeless. Yep,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: you heard that correct. I am. was homeless for about
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: four months. And they say, what doesn't kill you makes
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: you stronger. But you know, the hardest part wasn't necessarily
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: not having a house. The hardest part was what it
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: did to me mentally. Because when you lose your home,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: you can start feeling like you've lost yourself. You can
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: start questioning everything. What did I do wrong? How did
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: I let this happen? What are people going to think
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: about me? And maybe the worst question of all, is
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: this who I am now? But here's something I learned.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Being homeless is something you can go through. It doesn't
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: have to become who you are. There were days when
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I felt embarrassed, days when I didn't want anybody to
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: know because there's a certain pride that comes with being
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: an adult. You want to be independent. You want to
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: be able to take care of yourself. You want to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: have your own place, your own bed, your own refrigerator,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: your own bathroom, your own damn couch. You don't realize
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: how much you appreciate a couch until you don't have one.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Something as simple as having a place where you can
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: close the door, sit down and breathe becomes a luxury.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: And you know, some people will look at you differently.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Some people will judge you. And then there are people
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: who will surprise you. They will offer you food. They
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: will ask if you're okay. People who don't care about
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: your situation. They care about you. Those people you never forget.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: And I want to talk about two people that were
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: there for me when nobody else was. My ex-wife's mom
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and dad. Two of the sweetest, nicest, amazing people I've
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: ever known. You know, When people weren't able to take
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: me in, or people didn't want to take me in,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: or my resources didn't pan out, who was there for me?
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Her mom and dad. They didn't need to take me in.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I wasn't part of their family anymore. But they did.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: They gave me a chance. I paid them rent, and
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I stayed there with them. If it wasn't for them,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I would have been homeless, living in my car. You know,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: it was a lesson. A huge, huge lesson. But you know,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I worked hard, I saved my money, and I got
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: out of there as soon as I could. Not because
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: I didn't like it there. Not because I didn't appreciate
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: what they did for me. But because I needed my independence.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I needed to feel like a man again. I didn't
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: feel like a man. I felt like a loser. I
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: felt like somebody who was dependent rather than independent. And yeah,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: we all fall on hard times and I get that.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: But that wasn't me. I needed to be independent. So
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: I worked and I worked and I saved my money
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: and I got my own place. It's been uphill since then.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: But I will never ever forget what they did for me.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: When nobody else would help me, the people that did
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: not have to help me, they did help me. And
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: that speaks loud. Anyhow, That was my story about me
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: being homeless. I will never, ever put myself in that
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: situation ever again. We learn from our mistakes. We grow
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: from our mistakes. And that situation made me the man
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: that I am today. And the reason why I do
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: what I do and act how I act and think
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: how I think. Because when you're put in that situation,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: it can turn a boy into a man real quick.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: But anyhow, I appreciate you all being here. I appreciate
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you listening. And I will see you all on the
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: next one. Peace! Thank you.