Homelessness and Adversity by Lily

Homelessness and Adversity by Lily - May 2022 Scholarship Essay

Over the years I have had to overcome a lot of adversity. Recently, I have faced one of the biggest challenges, homelessness. My stepmom and I have never gotten along, but with a new baby sibling, tensions started to increase. I noticed she hadn’t been treating me the same and was starting to become verbally aggressive most of the time. Things started to get worse, and in order to better myself and be strong mentally, I needed to move out. I didn’t have anywhere to go except my boyfriends’ parents’ house. They took me in and have given me a place to stay until I can move on campus. Since I am not living with family members, I am considered homeless. Things have been really hard for me the past few months.
One skill that has helped me most along the way is coping with emotions. I had so many emotions when deciding to move out. I felt anxious, conflicted, and scared about what would happen if I took the next steps. Coping with my emotions has helped me the most because when I felt these emotions, they took over me. That’s all I was thinking, was about how upset I was. Taking a step back and realizing my emotions were normal and valid, made me feel better. Over time things started to get easier and I started to feel better about my decision. I realized I was in an environment that was not the best for me, and I needed one that would let me grow as a person. To cope with the emotions of this traumatic event, I started communicating, writing in a journal, taking care of myself, along with other things. I learned there were people around I could talk to and that cared for me. These things made me feel less guilty and more accepting. I now feel like I have better, healthy ways of expressing my emotions. Life gets though, but you can’t let it run into the ground and destroy you, you have to learn healthy ways to deal with it.