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I just wanted to let any HN users who are alone for the holidays - maybe even without a place to stay - that I want to make sure you have a good meal in your stomach tomorrow night and that you know that there are others who do care.
HN has been an incredible resource for me. I have met friends, cofounders, and business partners on this site. My intellectual curiousity has been somewhat sated and my social circle made richer by this site’s very existence. I myself have gone through tough times and spent multiple holiday seasons on the street. I want you to know there are people out there who care about you and believe in you.
If you need food to celebrate the holidays (or another resource, such as housing help for the night) please email me at the address in my bio. You may remain as anonymous as you wish, so long as I have enough information to get you the assistance you desire.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
University was no help either. Got Lucky and met some hosts at a party.
Just totally curious.
- They prefer tenants willing to lease for longer time-frames, single young males are very likely to relocate rather quick.
- Single young males are less likely to take good care of the apartment.
- A working couple has a better financial stability.
In the US there are supposed to be equal opportunity housing and landlords aren't supposed to discriminate like that, but of course it's hard to prove or enforce and many do anyway...
The situation went from shitty to really good.
I don't think I could replicate that again.
More than ever, people are struggling. Please do not attribute any weakness or negative quality to yourself if you are struggling yourself - you are among millions.
And do not feel there's necessarily any strength in "keeping it to yourself." Many people are letting that build to unsustainable levels inside themselves. Be honest with a friend that you are struggling. If, for the moment, you are without friends, you will find that there are anonymous people who do care about you on Discords, chat rooms.
Or on the end of a hotline. You don't necessarily have to have active plans of suicide to call a suicide hotline. A lot of the time, some people who kill themselves have deep apathy about life right up until a moment.
I'll be honest that I am one of those struggling. I am not actively suicidal - I may possibly have some passive suicidal ideation (certainly the apathy and some lack of emotion) - but I am fortunate enough to have a good therapist. It is merely that I've lost a lot of people and gone through a tremendous amount of difficult change in the last year.
My maxim in life has been this: at the worst of times, just take the next step forward. That's all you have to worry about, that one next step. They build up.
Good luck to everyone here in 2023 with those challenges you find yourself facing. Don't feel as if you are excluded from the human race by your struggles. You are facing variants of what we are all facing.
It’s just be nice if one night a year I could pretend not to be me, to pretend that there are people who have warm feelings towards me, who will not lock me up in a mental institution and then block me on everything from SMS to Discord for reasons I do not understand.
I guess I pay can some psychological expert to tell me what to do. That’s what most advice I see seems to lean towards. Just… that doesn’t really help on Christmas Eve when the only human contact you had was with the UberEats driver who dropped off a double quarter pounder and fried apple pie.
Honestly, I got two. It’s Christmas Eve after all.
Ordinarily I'd volunteer to chat but at the moment my social anxiety is so severe I don't think I can have a private conversation with a stranger.
One thing to note is that you aren't unlovable, even if there's an absence of love directed at you. So much of life is based on the circumstances we're in. Contemporary life gives people few opportunities to be truly known, and so I think it's hard to conclude that anybody has seen and rejected your true self, for better or worse. You sound like a rather tenacious person, and I am hoping it pays off for you in the year to come.
Hoping you have a better 2023 and are able to look back on this comment this time next year and appreciate all the progress you've made.
Were all counting on you.
I'm really thankful for their help. It's a joy to see there are kind people like this.
I genuinely enjoy this community!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays all!
Saw this comment shadowbanned. Just so you know - I agree. I am more than willing to (and already have) help with shelter.
I'm near to ok now, but will not refuse help, wrote to Your email.
Merry Christmas!