The Month of November: Surviving Winter in Poverty

In my home province, Fall is beginning to shift into Winter. Some of my relatives up home have posted on social media about waking up to the first snow fall of the season.

In my home town, winters can get pretty brutal.

We're talking deep snow drifts, frigid temperatures and wild storms that block your vision. It's not easy to dig yourself out when the blizzards bury your house and car, and that's a common enough situation as to be frustrating in the extreme.

Having grown up relatively poor, I remember the struggle that Winter brought down on our household.

Heating is expensive, and a poorly insulated house will eat money like a vacuum cleaner. Everything seems to be more costly in the Winter, and everything takes more effort just to get by.

For those who live homeless, Winter can quite literally be a death sentence.

Being caught outside in life-threatening cold is a nightmarish possibility. Not having enough space at the local shelter to get out of the cold, or not having anywhere to leave a beloved pet to keep them safe, are both real dangers that many face.

Food shortages, heating costs, poor insulation and access to healthcare are all issues that could cause serious harm even to housed people in poverty. The awful depression and anxiety caused by Seasonal Affective Disorder can also be exacerbated by poverty and the struggle to survive.

All of these issues, and more, are on the docket for discussion this month.

This is a very personal issue for me, given my own experiences and the place where I was born. I've got plenty of things to say about it, including lots of practical tips on how to help out your community in the depths of the Winter cold.

If you were hoping that this month would be about the upcoming election in the United States, I'm sorry to disappoint. But I am happy to report that you won't need to wait long; I'll be moving on to that subject in December.

By then, we'll have largely settled the issue of who won and the results won't be in question– except for the nutcases who still insist the 2020 election was 'stolen.'

We'll get to talk about the insanity and frenetic feverish energy of the election cycle with the bracing gift of hindsight, rather than the crushing fear of uncertainty.

Thanks for stopping by to read, y'all. I'm looking forward to the next few months.

Solidarity wins.

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