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10 Things that Complicate Life for the Homeless

Things that make our lives a little — or a lot — more difficult

Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.
9 min readDec 23, 2024
homeless man digging through shopping bag
Image by Christelle PRIEUR from Pixabay

I recently had my homeless-versary — one year without a permanent place to live. I’ve spent many nights in shelters and quite a few wandering the streets.

Obviously finding such a permanent home is the greatest challenge people in my situation face. Getting enough to eat is another obvious concern.

There are many more challenges we face, however, that our housed counterparts may not be aware of. Some are merely nuisances; others can kill us if ignored.

I invite you to take a deep dive with me into life without a home.

Swollen feet

This complication is making my life difficult right now. There are a variety of reasons feet can swell. A doctor told me several years ago I have peripheral vascular disease (PVD).

Most of the time, my feet are normal. Once every few years, though, they (especially the left one) swell up. The condition tends to last 1–3 months and then goes away.

During previous bouts with the disease, I was housed, and dealt with it by wearing shoes as little as possible. But now I spent most nights in the shelter, where shoes are required except when in bed or in…

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Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.
Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.

Written by Paul Ryburn, M.Sc.

I write about writing, ideas, creativity, homelessness, intuition, spirituality, life lessons. Ex-college teacher Twitter: @paulryburn

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