Learning How To Deal With The Homeless
Thank you for reading,
From the IOCDF
October 11 - 17 is OCD awareness week. This year, we’re asking you to help us spread the word with That’s OCD.
This has been an extremely busy week all the way around. Work was crazy with stuff breaking or happening along with the children being a little crazy due to the fact our Fall Break is this week coming up. Friday I got to come home right after work all the rest of the week I had something or something came up like a nail in both of my back tires.
I wrote in my OCD gratitude journal about getting my tires fixed. How I just got in the car without wiping stuff off, and drove home.
I saw Rachel this week. It was a good session. We talked a little about God. How I’ve been saying short prayers which has helped me not to think so much of how I fear God so much. I still fear him a lot, however it hasn’t been on the front of my mind as much.
I talked about my new massage therapist that I went to last Sunday. I handled seeing the new massage therapist better than I thought I would. My OCD was still there, however it was more calm. How my massage was just okay. I’m going to try someone else next time.
I’m not a big Halloween person, on the other hand where I go dancing they said we could dress up. I thought I should do something different this year and dress up. I asked Rachel if she had any ideas on costumes I could dance in that are not expensive. She suggested I go to Savers. I cringed for the reason Savers is a second hand store. I told myself on the way home that this will be good for my OCD. I took off work next week, so I will look for a costume then.
Let me talk a minute about changing things up. I changed the date of the play I was going to see on the 30th to the 24th at noon to go to dress up in a costume at the dance place. On the 24th I’m going to Tai Chi in the morning, then to the play. Now, I signed up for a dance workshop from 3 - 7 p.m. with social dancing afterwards. This messes up church and my laundry night. You know I started worrying about how am I going to get my laundry done, what if something comes up and I don’t get my laundry done. I know that I need not worry about this right now. Everything will be fine. If it isn’t then I will deal with it then. This sounds good here, but my head is still saying something different. OCD never quits.
I watched this Ted Talk, The Other Side of Ego | Jonathan Gravenor. This Ted Talk along with the podcast Rachel told me to listen to really had me thinking this week about how I think about homeless people. The heart comes out at night, by Rev. Monique Ortiz. It’s on the Meditative Story podcast. First, I told Rachel I have known since a young age I would help people. I feel in my job of over thirty years of working for school districts that I have helped teachers, students, and others by keeping the places as safe as possible, and by helping them with all of the many other things they have needed from me. Second, in the back of my mind I subconsciously try to help others whenever I can. I have said in the past that going up to a homeless person scares me.
That all being said, the Ted Talk is about Jonathan talking to a homeless person he avoided for a long time. They became friends. What I took from this Ted Talk was I only see what I want to see. There is so much more to a person than just the way they look. All of our stories are different and unique. The homeless person had a sign. He wasn’t begging for money. He was trying to raise money to help others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g72SmMdFBpk
The podcast, The heart comes out at night, by Rev. Monique Ortiz. She goes out ministering to people at night. She goes out between 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. What I realized was you might not be able to help everyone, however you can show them love. Love comes in a lot of forms like giving them a blank, water or just listening. You may never cure them of their addiction although you can still love them. To me this just doesn’t go for people I don’t know, but also people I do know.
https://meditativestory.com/people/rev-monique-ortiz/
I believe that the Ted Talk and the podcast is telling me something about how I’m dealing with homeless people wrong. Yes, I’m scared of them. I think in the back of my mind that I truly want to help fix them, so they are not homeless anymore. I also believe that I’m not seeing them for who they truly are, or what they need, which for each homeless person could be different. I’m going to have to figure out where I go from here with homeless people. I see that I have more learning to do.
The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings - words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out. - Stephen King
Here are some websites to find help with your OCD.
In Arizona
https://ocdandptsdtherapy.com/
United States & Global
Please remember that I am not a therapist, but a person who has OCD, cares about others, and wants to help any way I can. I am not giving advice. I am just telling my own experiences, and praying my experiences help someone. If you need help please go get the help you need.
Until next time,
Tracy T. Agnelli
