How Does the Online Idea Party Work?
You have a dream or a wish, and an obstacle to getting there. (If you don’t think you know your wish, work through my kick-starter and read this post. To learn why you must put logic aside to find your dream, read the following.)
The online Idea Party is here to help you – and the other fellow party goers – with your wishes and obstacles.
Voices from Success Teams and Idea Parties:
Having a team to report to and hearing what everybody did each week is very exciting. It’s kept me moving all year. In the past I made some good starts on my own, but found, every time, when the energy ran out, I ran out. Now it doesn’t run out.
Jade G.
Children’s Playroom Therapist, New York Hospital
I would do a painting a year, a sketch a year. If it was only me I know I would never do it. Having to tell you makes all the difference. It’s crazy why I didn’t do this years ago, it’s so easy all of a sudden.
Caroline R. Personnel Executive, Macy’s Dept Store
Post Your Wish and Your Obstacle Here!
And help your team mates out when you can. Use the Reply link to help, the form below the comments to add your own Wish and Obstacle.
(Your first comment below has to be approved, so it may not display instantly depending on the time of the day. Once your email address is approved you can post instantly. If you want your own profile photo to show up beside your comments, instead of the cute little design, upload your photo on Gravatar.com and give them an hour or so to make it happen.)
Am I scanner or not ?
So, since my first day job in 1991 I was curious, trying to learn new things, starting new businesses, participating in few projects at a time and was motivated and happy. 5 years ago I started to lose my motivation – everithing seemed to be well known and there was no challenge anymore. Gradually I ended up my activities, closed my businesses and become just unemployed non-doer. Curently I have new ideas often, the passion sometimes is very high, but for very short time – just few hours, after that I am going bored again and don’t make even one step to start the project. I really don’t know what happens with me, there was lot of changes in my life, but why I can not star anything now and even don’t know what do I really want to do. Is this scanner behaviour or something is wrong with men ?
Regards,
Toncho
Hi Toncho
You sound like you were once a perfectly good Scanner, who loved to learn and try out new things. And then it changed. So, can you tell me when you first noticed that it wasn’t fun to learn new things anymore? You say 5 years ago, but can you get more specific?
When you pinpoint the time a little tighter, tell us this: What happened in your life at that time?
Hi Barbara
I am not sure – somehow the luck changed. My dream project was in 2005 – abroad, in Prague, Czech Republic (I am from Bulgaria). There was lot of new things there – a whole new culture, I started learning Czech language too. But the owners of the company I was consultant for decided to stop the project and we with my wife come back to Bulgaria and I become depressed – nothing ever interested me. The job at home become … just for money and I did not liked it anymore. Next year we separated with my wife. The year after I participated in heavy car accedent abroad. After that I started new business in partnership with Australian company. My wife come back to me and next year – 2008 our daugter was born, but it uncovered panic disorder inside me for few months. Since then I am not interested on anything for longer than few days, but every new idea seems to be somehow small and not challenging enough. Step by step I closed my business. I made lot of therapy and obviously I have potential to become good therapist too – last year in Holland I received proposal to enter therapist training school, but it seems to be impossible for me, because I don’t have money for it and I am curently compelled to find way to make money for living.
Thanks,
Toncho
That’s depression, Toncho. It’s not just ‘in your head,’ it’s a chemical imbalance and it happens to everyone after a serious loss. Panic disorders often accompany it. It’s good that you got therapy, but did you go to a psycho-pharmacologist too? Many people are really helped by a period of the right medication.
Looking for something that will really interest or please you when you’re depressed is a very big problem, because the major symptom of depression is that you don’t want anything.
You can’t talk yourself out of it, either. It’s a real shame that you were so badly let down in your wonderful dream and that if effected you so heavily. You were a happy, curious person, and deserve to be one again.
Hi again Barbara,
It was depression for long time, you are right. But I started again – last week was my first working project for about a year and I am full of energy. Now I think it is just fear – my project starts very well, but my idea is becoming huge and huge and I am scary about the scale. I am consulting an organization as change management consultant, it’s exciting, but after long time as unemployed I am just scary, that they can stop my project and I will become abandoned. Thanks 🙂
Hello all,
I just stumbled across this wonderful site for those wishing to travel / experience other cultures, but are low on funds. It’s called WorkAway. Here’s some info. from their home page:
“Workaway.info is a site set up to promote fair exchange between budget travellers, language learners or culture seekers and families, individuals or organizations who are looking for help with a range of varied and interesting activities.
Our philosophy is simple:
A few hours honest help per day in exchange for food and accommodation and an opportunity to learn about the local lifestyle and community, with friendly hosts in varying situations and surroundings.
How Workaway.info works:
Workaway.info holds a database of families, individuals or organizations in an extensive range of different countries who have registered with us and are looking for volunteer help in a huge range of different fields. From painting to planting, building to babysitting and shopping to shearing, Workaway.info aims to introduce working travellers and language learners to like minded hosts, without having to pay expensive agency fees. Our hosts are based in many different countries with more and more signing up every day. So whether you planning that big trip to Australia, thinking of taking a year to do Europe or want to immerse yourself in South American culture. Workaway is the answer for low cost travel!”
For instance, this lovely couple in the Toulouse, France area could use some help:
http://www.workaway.info/5955115194ba-en.html
And here is the home page: http://www.workaway.info/
(If you *do* explore this, please report back and tell us all about it!)
Wow, that’s a great tip, Jennifer! I’m not ready to do that yet, but will look into it for my next big journey. Thanks!
Help Exchange (HelpX) is another similar site
http://www.helpx.net/index.asp
Michelle – Thank you! I have the exact same issue – I have so many interests that I am “stuck.” Because by chosing one thing, by default I am excluding all the others. I only have so much energy to invest on any one passion.
Wonderful! Another Scanner who doesn’t know she’s fine as she is. We’re getting the word out!
Okay, I’ll go looking for the Scanner sites. Back in a minute.
While you’re waiting, ponder this: Refuse To Choose used my title in Australia. It’s ‘What Do I Do When I Want To Do Everything?’
And the answer is: Everything.
Had to Google. So far found this other person’s site. He quoted a lot of the book.
http://getmotivation.com/articlelib/articles/barbara_sher_scanner.html
If you find it interesting, head over to amazon.com and look up Refuse To Choose. Then read the reader’s reviews. They’re really informative.
(Did I not leave the URL last time? Or did it not show up? Gremlins in the machinery!)
I have this one, but haven’t begun it yet!
Heh, that’s why you think you’ll get stuck- you haven’t read it yet. *big cheesy grin*
LOL!
Hi Barbara,
I’m not clear on the difference between a scanner and someone with adult ADHD. The two seem awfully similar-can you elaborate?
Thanks!
I am almost finished reading Wishcraft and it is an amazing book. I have a problem though – I’m not sure what idea/dream/project to work on first, and if I start one I won’t have time for the others. I don’t know how to stick to it and I’m afraid to really get going on a project because pretty soon I will be losing interest and getting excited about something new until my interest cycles back around again – any tips/helps on how to change and be more, sturdy or steady? I should be more mature – I don’t want to drive my friends and family crazy anymore.
Nonsense. You’re a Scanner.
In Wishcraft there are some ‘multi-media’ ideas for people who wanted to do what seemed to be contradictory things.
And in Refuse To Choose you have a whole book about Scanners: curious minds, people who love to learn new things and are often multi-talented & shouldn’t try to limit themselves to one thing unless they want to be miserable and bored and inefficient all their lives.
That’s like asking a racehorse to pull a plow. He’s not even any good at it.
Now let’s see. Where are all the places you can read about this? I have an audio up somewhere, but I don’t remember where right now.
And a video on YouTube where I explain that some people design, some build and some maintain. The same people aren’t usually good at all three. But I have no time to look that up right now because I wanted to answer you right away!
Welcome home, fellow Scanner!
Thank YOU!
I’ve been there.
But thanks to Refuse to choose, I’m stuck no more.
It’s really fulfilling to actually work on something you love, while knowing there’s plenty of time to do everything. I have a long list of things I want to do, and at first it seemed so impossible I couldn’t do any of it. Now I KNOW I can do it all, in a matter of just few years. Gonna run out if dreams this rate *grin*
🙂
I have wanted to be a newpaper columnist for a long time. My ultimate goal is to become a syndicated columnist like Erma Bombeck. I think I have a unique voice (or two) because I’ve gone to a few editing groups and received positive feedback. However, I can’t do this on my own: I need a mentor and/or editor who will work with me frequently on my writings, advise me on structure and style until we’re confidant (hopeful?) these writings are well-written; that they are ready to enter the world and be enjoyed. I am not organized or self-motivated; my inspirations do not come regularly, and often my clinical depression overshadows any creative thoughts. At other times, column ideas come easily. My ultimate goal is to become syndicated columnist and have writings published in a collection with other writers.
I write very short pieces and strive to use tight writing in humorous vein. My interest include memory pieces, i.e. how my dad played baseball in cornfields, to reactions on current events, i.e. the retirement of Twinkies.
I need a coach, adviser, mentor. Does anyone have ideas?
There are lots of great writing communities, Suzanne. I wonder what search terms you’d use to find people who have experience with syndicates that publish columns, or writers who write them.
There are some people here who are wizards with Google (and other) searches. I hope they’ll see this.
My heart goes out to you, Helen. It sounds like you are in a lot of pain and I can imagine it would seem impossible to face living with your parents, especially when everything else is so overwhelming.
Here’s a resource that might help you find a free place to live:
Caretaker.org, website of the Caretaker’s Gazette. Read the case studies, especially about the woman who is a writer. Even if you can’t afford the membership (I think it’s about $30 if I recall), it will give you some ideas about caretaking positions.
I have 2 close family members who experience suicidal thoughts periodically. It’s horrible for them, but usually the actual danger point is relatively short (often just a day or even an hour), A lot of people don’t know you can go to the ER if you are in danger. (That is part of their job, since suicidal thoughts are every bit as dangerous as a heart attack.) However, be prepared for the occasional staff member who just doesn’t “get it.” You may be waiting for a long time if there are critical car accidents coming in.
Also, here are 2 national suicide hotlines. I think they connect you to a local center. 1-800-SUICIDE / 1-800-784-2433; or 1-800-273-TALK / 1-800-273-8255.
Hugs!
Judith
Careful, careful, oh, so careful with this advice about going to the ER if you are suicidal. Around here (New Mexico) if you innocently try that, there is about a 75% chance that you will be railroaded straight into the state mental hospital if you are suicidal. For the one who is, and is suffering, it may make sense to call a suicide hotline first. Sometimes, talking to someone who cares can be one of the most effective things in bringing things back from that brink, that breaking point.
There are some critical criteria to consider when one is suicidal: 1.) Any suicidal statements must be taken very seriously. 2.) If a person states that they are suicidal, the first question is, “How suicidal? Do you have a plan?” And then, 3.) “What is the plan?” And then 4.) ” Do you have the means to carry out the plan?”
I am a psychotherapist, and this is the procedure I would follow with any client who was suicidal. If they had the means to carry out the plan and indicated that they were going to leave my office and do it, then you can bet they wouldn’t be getting out of my office! At that point, the person needs to be heading to the mental hospital, by ambulance, and it is my duty to assure their safety, for safety comes first, always. But if they were depressed and feeling suicidal but didn’t have a plan, we would work together to help with the depression. Depression as severe as this may or may not need medication as well as psychotherapy, depending on what caused it. Sometimes, things can get as bad as this when someone is grieving the loss of someone close. Especially when the grief is stuck, because of having to continue to do “business as usual” every day at work or school immediately following a major loss. Suicide is always a question, not an option! In a situation with a person who says they’re suicidal, it may be best to start with the crisis line first, where good, sympathetic, empathetic, wonderful listening people are on the other end of the line. This often does wonders to ameliorate a crisis, right there. Following up promptly with therapy is always an important step. A crisis call is not really enough, in my opinion.
There are certain categories of people who go through excruciating suicidal phases on their way into and through early recovery from trauma. These can include people diagnosed, and undiagnosed as Borderline (a particular psychological diagnosis). These people need to be treated by specially trained therapists, and with great care. They are truly going through the fires of hell, and when in it, it feels to them that they are in constant crisis. So it takes very special care.
Thanks for having the courage to broach this painful topic. You’d be surprised as to how many people would like to skate around it!
Mary Ann Leberg, LMSW
Ok, how about this: do you enjoy being around children, especially creative ones? Would you be prepared to move anywhere in order to follow your dream of painting? Are you familiar with freecycle.org and Wwoofing? What about advertising as someone willing to help out with child care in return for room and board? Wwoofers usually work 5 hours a day on organic farms/homes (that’s what Wwoof stands for, Willing Workers on Organic Farms) in return for abundant and awesome organic food and comfortable accommodation. If you were to advertise ‘offering: child care services in return for room and board’ on freecycle.org that kind of ad should be accepted. There are other websites that would offer the same opportunity or be asking for the same thing; another idea would be to become a housesitter for those requiring longer term care for their homes. Here in Australia there are such sites as aussiehousesitters.com.au which my sister uses; she hasn’t had to pay rent for a number of years now and has enjoyed living in many beautiful homes and places. An international site is http://www.housecarers.com. I’ve been exploring the idea of caring for a place in NZ that needs a family prepared to stay for 6-12 months.
You don’t have to be a qualified nanny to do this either; you have a degree and can offer your services as a tutor and art teacher and as such you could actually get a position where you gain both board and food AND a wage, depending on the circumstances. The kind of vision you create for your Self- would you like to work with older or younger individuals? Would you like to be simply an art tutor or something more?- will influence the opportunities that become open to you. It’s not impossible, there are many, many women out there who don’t have family or relatives willing to form a support network for child raising and their own creative lives are withering on the vine as a result. You could even advertise in your local area as a tutor for home schooling/unschooling families- here where I live there are lots of such families (including my own!) and I’ve been involved in getting several ventures going, including the bones of an ‘Aunties and Nannas’ group of retired and creative women who don’t have families of their own and who love to share their interests and Selves with young kids.
A lot of my stuff revolves around ideas found within the Gifting philosophy http://www.context.org/iclib/ic41/pinchotg/ which is a fundamental part of the perceptual platform that I’ve created. There is an ever growing community of Gifting practitioners that can be accessed on the net and this could give you further options. Also, there are all kinds of underground community groups that have sprung up from the Occupy Everything movement, which have all kinds of safe houses, support systems and opportunities for those who are refugees from the Profoundly Sick Society because they refuse to become well adjusted to it. 😛
You *don’t* have to commit spiritual seppuku in order to follow your passion and heart. There will be others here that have more ideas, this is just what has sprung to mind while I’m sitting here drinking my breakfast superjuice, I’ll post more as it comes to me or as I engage my Google fu and find more online resources. It would help knowing what part of the world you’re in, but it’s not absolutely necessary. Oh, as I’m sitting here already the ideas are tumbling around in my head…
xx You really *are* not alone, you see…
“I am at my wits end. I am actually thinking that I am so stuck I might as well be dead.”
That’s the sentence where I stopped, Helen. Hyperbole gets attention, but not the kind you want and never about this. If your sentence doesn’t make you nervous, read it again. It should. I’m no pro but I’m sure you’ll agree you’re depressed. Call a professional, a doctor. Now.
Then we’ll talk, and I’m sure everyone will do their best to help.
Just saw this: “The only solution I can come up with is to either a) kill myself, …”
Not good. Get help fast, and please don’t protest that you’re exaggerating. If anyone here has information about where Helen can go for professional, effective help, those are the suggestions we should all be making.
What part of the country do you live in, Helen? People here will be glad to help you search. I’m sure of it.
Please, Helen, start with your crisis line. They are listed in the fronts of most phone books in most any community in the country. From there, see if there is a community outpatient clinic near you, not a hospital ER or Urgent Care facility. Go there and make an appointment to be seen within 3 days or so, and insist, if you must, to the receptionist that it is urgent. Three days can seem like forever when you’re down, but this may have to be how it goes, at first. Then, when you go in there, describe to the doctor what’s wrong and ask for a referral to a psychotherapist. The best way to find a psychotherapist is via a recommendation from another health professional. If this doesn’t work, then Employ Stage 2. Stage 2 is where you find a psychotherapist by thumbing through the yellow pages in the aforesaid phone book. You will be looking for someone who 1.) is compassionate; 2.) seriously and deeply listens; and 3.) cares; and 4.) is really a fully licensed professional. You can’t afford quacks. The “alphabet soup” behind their name means something. Mine means that I am a Licensed Master’s Social Worker, and that in turn means that I am licensed to deliver psychotherapy in the State of New Mexico. (I am also licensed in Washington State.) And you are looking for someone who won’t be charging you sixteen trillion arms and 4 or 5 billion legs to see you each time. Fees need to be affordable. Even if you are on welfare. I’m not kidding. Do this NOW! And we care!
Mary Ann Leberg, LMSW
I’m sorry you thought I was just trying to get attention. Thank you for your diagnosis.
I don’t know who thought that, but it certainly wasn’t me. I have taken you very seriously and I’m very concerned about your welfare.
AMEN!
And, call the crisis line. There are wonderful people, willing to help, who are really good, warm-hearted listeners. And then seek out a psychotherapist. For sure. A doctor may fill you up with pills, but if you’re really depressed, you will need to work with a therapist along side that, because the pills won’t do it all by themselves. I’m not just saying this because I am one. I mean it. Like Barbara says, Now. And, it’s not true that you have to be loaded with money to see someone. There are community outpatient clinics in which you go to see someone and pay nothing, or pay a $5 co-pay each visit. If you are poor, you can get the help of Medicaid, and every state has it. It’s not just for old people. I had it when I was in grad school, because I was a student. But however it has to happen, Please get help. Now, please. We care!
Mary Ann Leberg, LMSW
Helen,
You don’t have to kill yourself. You’re not alone in your dilemma. Many of us have had ideas of how we can express our creative purpose, and then got very stuck because of needing to eat, have shelter, etc. You’re in the right place to get some perspective on your issue of wanting to be creative a certain way plus all the obstacles. You might check out lots of things that Barbara Sher says about this. One possibility would be to just paint a little bit every day and see if you enjoy it. That’s not how you envision your painting, but maybe it would feel better than what’s going on currently. I don’t know all the answers for you, but as I said you’re in the right place to get some good ideas.
I meant this to be a response to Helen.
We understand, Henrietta, and can see you’re trying to help.
Hi
I am at my wits end. I am actually thinking that I am so stuck I might as well be dead. I am 44 and have a passionate goal: to be a painter. This is not the same thing as selling paintings, or being commercial, or working for someone else using painting skills. This means that I need time, space, peace and a work space to explore what this calling is asking me to explore, without compromise, without prostituting it, without bending it to support me. I also need to have somewhere safe to sleep at night and food to eat. This doesn’t seem like the biggest ask in the world but I feel utterly stuck as I have been attempting to realise it for 27 years without any success.
Ok, the back story: I got a chance to explore this calling when I was 17 when I got a place at university to study art. My very un-supportive (frankly soul destroying) family would not support this study and insisted I got a ‘proper’ job. So I did. Misery ensued for many years, including 18 years of single parenthood, and general derailment, but I always worked and was a ‘very good girl’. Life wasn’t always miserable, but I was a long way from my purpose and that is soul destroying. In 2008 I was finally in a place to obey the calling and did my Fine Art Ba (Hons) degree and loved every minute. Lots of debt and poverty etc etc, but finally made a tangible something of the calling and found the evidence I needed that there was some kind of ability there. I graduated 2 years ago and wham, back into the misery of reality and jobs to pay the rent. I came across the Wishcraft book in 2011 and loved it, and using the tools and goal setting I set myself the task of developing a congruent and well paid job that would essentially support my wish to paint and cover basic living costs without making me use this gift for financial gain as that is destructive. This turned out to be an 18 month project setting up a Community Interest Company running art workshops for adults with learning disabilities and was funded by the Arts Council. I was paid part time and badly and had to work at it full time to enable it to get off the ground, but this was part of my investment and I was happy to do it as success was in sight. It was brilliant and I was on course to achieve my wishes, but then the recession hit the funders and we didn’t get the third grant that would have given me the solution I needed for the next year at least. So essentially I have lost this job last April and failed all around really, and I am currently looking for work again. I have also had to give up my home and I have got into some debt and lost the deposit on the house. I am looking at having to move back to my parents (the cradle of all creative negativity) and I have nothing. I am no closer to my wishes, further away in fact, and I am utterly heart broken. The only solution I can come up with is to either a) kill myself, b) get a full time job, live with my parents and maybe one day go into some shitty bedsit sometime where my dream of painting dies or becomes (horror of horrors) a hobby. Yeah, killing myself looks really tempting this morning, which sounds as hysterical in my head as it does looking at it on screen, but I cannot figure out a way to get to what I need. Everyone in my life thinks I am insane and I should just get a job, pay rent and be normal. What is the point of living if that is all there is? I was put on the earth to paint – and yes I know that reads as hysteria also. I have little hope, zero energy, about a hundred weight of stress and I am about to become dependent on my family which is certain spiritual death. I can also hear my own whineyness and general self pity too which I apologise for. All thoughts much appreciated.
argh, my lengthy response above was to you, Helen. And I also got the intent behind the ‘a) kill my Self’ thing, I didn’t think it was an issue, I know what it’s like to be flailing around and that dramatic and intense. I’m not being flippant either, my brother killed himself in 1986, I just got more of the passionate and creative fear in your post than anything else. 🙂
Barbara is in a careful legal position as host and owner of this site, so she has both her own personal perspective AND legal obligations when responding to certain material. It’s part of the nature of this litigious world and I fully get that. 🙂
Dear Rimfire,
I think at some point in these times, we have all desperately flailed, but any time anyone says that they think there’s no known way out except to kill themselves, or that killing onself is an option, this has to be taken very, very seriously. I’d never not do so. I’m with Barbara on this, and I’m not the owner of this site. It’s not so much about litigation as it is about saving lives, and helping an individual return to a greater state of balance, where hope and options begin to replace despair.
Mary Ann Leberg, LMSW
Dear One,
These things are not whiny self-pity. These things are your real soul, crying aloud! You are here on this Earth because you Must Paint, period!
Laying aside what I have already said about getting into therapy ASAP: See if you can find a Section 8 program office inside your County Housing Authority office in your area, your nearest town. If they have a waiting list, get onto it, even if it seems hopeless–like 3-5 years long. Section 8 is a wonderful rent subsidy program. It’s federal, so it’s all over the country. It’s the only reason I ever made it through grad school. I couldn’t live in the dorm on campus. And I have no family. I’ve been an orphan for a few decades. So go find Section 8. And get on the waiting list. When I’ve been utterly down and out, I have house-sat, when I didn’t have a place to go. I house sat in some wonderful, gorgeous, beautiful places. All it took was to keep the plants growing, the cats fed, the dog walked and fed and loved, and loving the animals helped my mood, too, because there was someone who genuinely loved me back. So that is definitely one option. I have no idea where you are, rural or urban, or whatnot. But if you live within a 50 mile radius of a university, they always have off-campus housing. You find out about it through the university’s student housing office. If they’re real jerks, like at my school, they’ll tell you that they don’t maintain a list! Whereupon, like a knight going into battle, you lower your visor, grab your lance, jump on your trusty steed, and make your way, with jaw set with determination, from one campus bulletin board to the next. Particularly in the buildings where students congregate most, like the Student Union. Also, check out the campus newspaper classifieds, if there is a campus newspaper. This is how to find a room. I just did this, because I was considering going to UNM, Albuquerque, for a second graduate degree. But you don’t need to be a student! That’s the beauty of it! Anyone can rent a room. You will need to ask some cogent questions, of course, to make sure that you aren’t getting into a drug/alcohol den. And that you are reasonably safe. As a woman, my feeling that it’s better, as a rule, to room in same-gender households. Especially if feeling vulnerable, and if safety is an issue.
Section 8 is well worth waiting for! It’s a wonderful program, if you can get it, and when you get it. When I was in school, they paid my rent to my landlord, totally. My little house had to be upgraded a little bit, because Section 8 houses have to be well-repaired, and there are good standards to provide decent housing. They also paid my propane company a stipend of $175 a month, for propane. The great part about that is that I never burn that much propane in a month, so, as we speak, I have over $1500 in credit with the propane company! How wonderful is that? I won’t have to pay a propane bill (which are expensive) for the forseeable future! Wow! I was renting the house to begin with, and was able to convince the landlord that Section 8 would be a good deal for him. It is, as long as the place isn’t a dump. But then, we don’t want to live in dumps, do we? He quickly realized that he’d be getting guaranteed rent every month from them, and he has.
I can empathize. Since graduate school, I have been unemployed for 2 1/2 years as I keep looking, looking, looking for psychotherapy jobs. I am on this planet to be a therapist, and a few other things. This economy is wicked. I was on welfare when I began school, and am also physically disabled. But you know? Where there is a will, there is a way. When you do get onto Section 8 waiting list, then call them every month, without fail, and tell them you’re still interested in the program. If you need help with food, the place to go is the Welfare Office, and in different states, it’s called different things. In Washington State it’s under the DSHS (Dept. of Social and Health Services). In New Mexico, it’s called the Income Support Division. I got food stamps. It’s the way I survived and ate when I was first disabled. It’s a federal program, but is administered very differently in different states. In New Mexico, I got $200 per month in food stamp money, to be spent exclusively for food when I was disabled and when I was a student. This is because I had no income, and, when first disabled, couldn’t get out of bed, let alone work. They can help, and will be able to help you with something. There are also churches and food banks, but the food stamp program is the best bet.
By this time, it is September 5, and I realize that you made your outcry for help clear back on July 28. I hope that things have eased somewhat by now, and that some of the misery is less than it was. I just began dealing with this part of Barbara’s website today. If you are still are having food issues at this point, please contact me via my e-mail, and I will ensure that you get my food storage plan for how to eat when you’re poor and on food stamps. There is utterly no reason to have to revert to a toxic situation that is likely to “stuff you in a jar” and kill your creativity. I value every word you’ve said, and I care.
Mary Ann Leberg, LMSW
rubydragonfly2@yahoo.com