When thinking of those who are experiencing homelessness, many think of park benches or cardboard boxes, spending their time on one or the other. Furthermore, many of us get put in a box all our lives from childhood to adulthood. But if we stop and think about it, we all have our own boxes that we have to experience every day. We all have boxes of some kind that we must fight to get out of every day for these boxes influence how we see ourselves.

Some have the box of trying to be a good parent while trying to instill good values in their children and still make a living. Some have the box of working at a job that does not allow them to afford a place to live or get ahead. Some have the box of falling health to deal with…a box of sickness, if you will.

Some fight the box of living upon the street, and some just give up. Some say things will never change, so why try? But life is all about change. I was a child, then a father, worker and homeowner. Now I’m called a writer, artist, something outside the box, but still in a box of homelessness and changing health.

For change to happen, we must leave our boxes and think outside of them. I know from personal experience. I got outside my box and reinvented myself as an artist and writer. Two things that I never dreamed I’d ever do.