From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Help Me Rebuild My Life After Loss and Begin Again

This past year has been one of the most heartbreaking, humbling, and transformational chapters of my life. I'm not usually someone who asks for help—but right now, I really have no choice, and I have to admit that I really need it.

Last summer, after 13 years of renting the same home on a month to month lease, my landlord gave a 30-day notice to move out & I lost my sense of security due to gentrification.

My spouse and I had to move out quickly and throw away most of our furniture. At 44 years old, I was officially homeless for the first time in my life. We lived in a wallet draining extended stay motel for a month before moving into a temporary furnished place for the past 9 months where we had been trying to stay afloat and rebuild a sense of normal.

Recently, my partner of 14 years walked away from our relationship without any warning at all. No words or explanation, just gone. Overnight, everything shifted. I lost not just my relationship, but the home and life we had built together—and now, I having to move again, with no financial support or safety net.

My finances are completely tapped out as the anxiety and depression has taken it's toll on my health to the point that I've barely able to work (taking customer service calls) without breaking down. It will be another week before my appointment to be able get treatment for my anxiety and inability to focus. 

I’ve worked for the same company for 24 years. In July 2020 I ended up with CV19 which ended up wreaking havoc on my health for years causing a couple of long medical leaves from work & having to empty what little I had in my 401k just to afford to live while I was on leave. The department I was working in dissolved during this time & due to that, I've been demoted back to the same position I held when I started there back in 2001. Although grateful to have a job, talk about cutting me down a few notches.

I’ve spent years giving everything I had to my job, my kids (now grown), and my relationship. And now, for the first time in my life, I’m choosing me. I'm finally pursuing the life I’ve always dreamed of—moving to Texas to start a heart-led business with my best friend, doing work that brings me peace and purpose. 

But I can’t do it alone. I am seeking financial assistance to temporarily help with living expenses as I transition jobs and rebuild. This would also be helping me with moving costs from Kansas to Texas, including securing a storage unit to keep the few belongings I still have & will also need help with basic furniture (bed, couch, kitchen items) for my next place.

I also have two beautiful cats that have been a big part of my world that I am going to have to leave behind. My oldest, Mal is a 13-year-old cat, who may need to be humanely put to rest if I can’t find her a new home as she has been suffering with digestive issues as well. I'm going to need rehoming support for my younger cat Luna who is four years old and is chipped and spayed. 

This isn’t the way I imagined starting over—but maybe that’s the point. Sometimes life has to fall apart before it can fall together. I know I’m meant for something more aligned, more meaningful—and this is the leap of faith I’m finally ready to take.

If you’ve ever had to start over from scratch, you know how hard it is to ask. But if you’re in a position to help, even a little, I’d be beyond grateful. Every dollar will go directly toward helping me rebuild a stable, peaceful home and begin this next chapter with dignity and hope.

Thank you for reading, for caring, and for believing that people can rise—even when life knocks them down hard.

With love and deep gratitude,

Heather