Finding a Way Forward while Coping with Mental Illness

Taking things one step at a time without expecting everything immediately

The lines for people waiting for government support are long these days, at least here in Colorado where I live. More and more people are slipping into poverty, and seeking out help and hope wherever it can be found. With so many of us waiting, it can be a situation that makes you feel down and out, or like there aren’t possibilities in the future.

According to a Time Magazine article from 2022 (I couldn’t find more recent analysis):

The U.S. poverty rate saw its largest one-year increase in history. 12.4% of Americans now live in poverty according to new 2022 data from the U.S. census, an increase from 7.4% in 2021. Child poverty also more than doubled last year to 12.4% from 5.2% the year before.

After having waited in line this week at the offices for Medicaid and Social Security, I am not surprised by these numbers. When I was waiting to find out why my Medicaid got cancelled, I was in a que line for over 4 hours before I could speak with someone.

As the day wore on, there were numbers being called with no one going up to the window to be helped. People got tired of waiting, and they just left. True, this made the que go faster for me and the others who stayed, but it also hints at the levels of despair people feel when going for help.

At the Social Security office things were a bit better. I only had to wait about an hour to speak with someone there. When I did, though, they had to set me an appointment over a month out to talk to someone about filling out my Social Security Disability (SSDI) application.

When I found out the other day that my Medicaid had been declined for renewal, I cried and went into a panic. As someone with a mental illness, being able to go to my doctor appointments and take my meds is crucial. Without that, I could easily fall back to the suicidal level of depression that I was at in late January when I checked myself into crisis care.

I was so upset, I wrote this:

I really appreciate the huge outpouring of support that I have received for this article, and all the kind words that everyone has shared with me. Knowing I have support of so many people here in the online community really means a lot!

Why I speak up

I speak up about issues like the intersection of poverty and mental illness because I see so many other people who can’t speak up for themselves. Waiting in line at some of these places is heartbreaking. You see people crying, begging for help, and sharing their personal stories with workers standing at the counter.

I don’t know if all those people are able to resolve their issues and get the help that they need.

According to Confronting Poverty, America’s Poor are Worse Off than Elsewhere, with a poverty rate of 17.8% overall and 20.9% for children:

To summarize, when analyzing poverty as the number of persons who fall below 50 percent of a country’s median income, we find that the United States has far and away the highest overall poverty rate in this group of 26 developed nations. Furthermore, the distance of the poor from the overall median income is extreme in the U.S. At the same time the United States is arguably the wealthiest nation in the world.

Their study also shows that the gap between rich and poor is higher than the other countries in the study, at 39.8%.

Data shows that although the US is the richest country in the world, the gaps between rich and poor are wider than in other developed countries. It makes no logical sense that the richest country in the world still has people starving to death.

Seeing the people with sad eyes, missing teeth, and all their things piled into shopping carts is why I write. People deserve better than this. So much better.

This isn’t the first time I have written about poverty:

As a society, we need to take action!

With all of the horrific things happening to the poor and the mentally ill in this country every day, we need to do something to fix the vast inequalities here in the United States.

Some of the things that would help could include:

• Providing universal healthcare to all citizens
• Providing universal basic income to all citizens
• Raising the minimum wage to match inflation yearly
• Making affordable housing more available
• Making it easier to apply for public assistance

If we could make even one of these changes, we could make a difference to millions in our country. We wouldn’t have to see homeless camps with people sleeping in the streets. People wouldn’t be starving to death in the richest country in the world.

You may be asking yourself, in the face of so much injustice, what can I do?

This is a question that I ask myself often.

Every time I sit down to write, I ask myself: what is my highest good? How can I help the most people?

You can do the same.

As writers, we have voices that can be heard across the whole of the World Wide Web. We have access to a social media following that we can leverage to raise awareness for the causes that need attention in our society. We can provide a voice to people who walk by unseen and unheard in society.

Additionally, all of us can write to our elected representatives. We can sign petitions in the name of these causes.

On a personal level, we can show some kindness. We can help the people we come in contact with in our daily lives.

Also, for those with the funds to do so, we can donate to support the people who are struggling. This can be by giving cash, food to food banks, coats to coat drives, or supporting any other cause in your local area.

Even a small action can have a huge impact for someone in need. When you help, you don’t only provide tangible support in the form of food, money or housing. You also provide hope. For people struggling at the bottom of society, kind words give hope to keep trying.

I know that when I was low, all of your kind words helped me. Thank you for that. I hope that all of us, in some small way, can provide a kindness to someone in our lives every day. Think what a difference that would make!