Decompression: the art of escaping homelessness

If you're a SCUBA diver, or have watched lots of Jacques Cousteau shows as a kid, like me, you know about decompression.  As you see in this video, divers who are extreme depths for a period of time can't just rush back up to the surface and continue on with their day.  They have to come up slowly, wait for minutes at certain depths, and in this case, go into a decompression chamber to let the nitrogen built up in their blood escape slowly.  If they don't, they get a horrible reaction called "the bends."  Decompression sickness is the official name for that.  Divers can die, or experience agonizing symptoms, if they don't take the proper precautions AFTER THE DEEP DIVE ITSELF IS OVER.

One of the many things most people don't realize about homelessness, is that things aren't all unicorns and roses as soon as you get into a house or apartment.  There's an intense psychological mindset that keeps you alive as a homeless person.  It's a survival situation, but not like the TV show Survivor.  Survivor is a game.  It's intense, physically grueling, and takes a heavy psychological toll, but it's still a game.  In the back of their mind, the people on that show know they are going home.  They know their are people watching over them, that medical attention a few hundred yards away, and that a helicopter that can airlift them in case of serious disease or injury.  Homeless people have none of that. Yes, in extreme cases a homeless person can go to the Emergency Department, if they can get there. 

There are many different levels of homelessness, as there are many different levels of housing situations.  The "deeper" a person goes into a homeless lifestyle, the more of a "decompression period" is needed to re-acclimate to everyday society.  That's where I am right now.  A few nights ago, I was alone, in a tent, in a patch of woods nobody cared about... until they realized I was camped out there.  I had no actual weapon.  I did have a couple of fiberglass tent poles I could swing at a small animal if I needed to, but no gun, no knife, no RPG, no AR-15, and no pepper spray.  I walked out to my tent every night, in the dark, alone, unarmed, knowing that I could be attacked in any number of ways by humans, animals, or severe weather.  I laid down to sleep, every single night, not knowing if I would survive until morning.  That's a whole different mindset than on a survival reality show.  It's intense.  and the mindset it takes to cope with that is much different than the mindset it takes to work my way out of homelessness, or to operate as an artist and writer (my particular talents) in everyday life.  The transition doesn't happen overnight. 

It's not the same, but soldiers coming back from a dangerous deployment have similar issues, I imagine, as do people who've just survived dangerous events, serious addiction, a severe car accident, a house fire, a physical assault, or time in prison.  I now have a futon in a cool apartment to sleep on, I have a really cool guy letting me crash there to help me get back on my feet.  But it takes some time to get my head out of "survival mode" and into "normal" society. 

Because I've been in and out of different levels of homelessness for years, and because I've survived a lot of intense forms of assault on my life and well being, I'm fairly well seasoned at this.  I know this transition is necessary.  I can do it faster than a lot of people coming out of a tent could, just because I've done this kind of thing multiple times.  But I know I need to take my time, deal with each day and what needs to be done, and get used to the new situation until I'm functioning in working artist/writer mode and not artist by day/survival mode by night. 

So for everyone out there wondering why some people have trouble staying clean after quitting an addiction, leaving homelessness, coming out of intense military deployment, incarceration, or a serious individual trauma, this is part of your answer.  Don't overwhelm people in these situations, even if you have good intentions.  Give them time to decompress and get their mindset into the new life situation.  Future success has a lot to do with making through the transition period well.