Josh

His story:

I had an early realization, with family issues going on, and uh, had two families that didn’t really like each other.  I was forced to choose between sides; it wasn’t fair, so when I turned 18, I left. Went out for longer and longer, til it got to the point where they didn’t really know what was going on.  But I was ready to do my own thing – tired of being crammed like that.

I had a traumatizing childhood, and I used leaving my house as a way to escape it and live my own life.  

Average day:

It’s just rough sometimes, cuz you’re trying ot make it and you just feel the hate from people.  It’s like people judge before they even know what’s going on. You look at them and they have all these things, money, a good job, and they’re not happy.  You’re just trying to make it, have a good day. You just want a place to relax.

It’s rough because you don’t know when to roar and when to hold back.  You don’t have to do right by anybody, you just have to do the right thing.  Everything’s just against you all the time. There’s no end to it. It just gets rougher and rougher.  It’s almost like it becomes a test. Overall, you just learn to let thigns go, let people do what they wanna do.  Just gotta decide you won’t react to it and just let it happen, you know, because, it’s just frustrating.

What is home:

Home is wherever I can be at.  Wherever I can lay my head. Wherever I can keep my stuff safe.  

It’s not easy to face dealin’ with this everyday.  It doesn’t make it any easier when you get looked at like you’re a target. 

I’ve had a lot of traumatizing experiences.  I’ve lost a lot of friends over money.