I am asking for financial support so I can leave a very stressful and traumatizing environment. The past few years have been challenging, and I feel like I'm losing the fight and am desperate for change. After years of therapy and medical support, and even making progress in my career, my debt has only grown, and I have no wealth to fall back on.

The pandemic hit me hard, but after losing my job in 2020, I tried to start my own business as a nonprofit consultant. I had to take on lots of debt but my income was going up each year. I was doing work I loved, believed was important in the world, and that I was good at. I was successful in helping nonprofits overcome challenges with their databases, allowing them to be more effective in their missions. I had to take out payday loans sometimes, but was usually able to pay them off quickly.

Things were going well until a traumatizing period in my life hit me around 2022–2023. I started investing a lot of time and money working with doctors and therapists. Unfortunately, I have not been able to overcome the symptoms of PTSD I experience nearly every day, including extreme flashbacks, anxiety, and depression, for almost 4 years. Today, even with medication to temper symptoms and help keep me on track with work, I am still suffering every day. I have spent thousands on therapy and have racked up medical debts I can't keep up with.

I have no wealth and no assets to sell. My credit cards are maxed, and the credit I had been improving consistently for ten years has fallen apart.

This week I tried to apply for a debt consolidation loan with a local credit union to address the payday loans I'm struggling with—over $3,000 in payday loan debt with over 50% APR. These are loans I have been struggling to pay off for years, and I am hemorrhaging money from the interest.

I recently received some financial support from family to pay down a large chunk of the loans, which I am both grateful for and feel terrible about. These issues have been a massive burden on them as well.

Asking for help in this way is embarrassing, but I don't know what else to do. I am still working hard every day, but I feel like I'm not making any progress. The situation I'm in is not normal, and I don't know how to get out of it. I feel trapped by both the debt and the trauma.

I'm seeking $500 to help me overcome the worst debts I have open—the payday loan debts.

I don’t expect to raise much, but if you can help, it might give me hope that I could be happy again one day. Please only give if you can truly afford it. Anything helps. I wish I could pay it back, but hopefully when I find peace, safety, stability, and joy in my life again, I’ll be able to pay it forward through work I still believe matters.

Thank you for reading and considering.