8 ms·

Great read. I have a "free spirit" in my family, a really gifted man who just couldn't settle. He's now in his 60s and does mosaics for people all around the U

Great read. I have a "free spirit" in my family, a really gifted man who just couldn't settle. He's now in his 60s and does mosaics for people all around the UK. He doesn't own a house and is constantly staying with friends and family. He tried working in construction jobs and other things, settling with a family and buying a house. However after his divorce and other things he is most happy with his campervan conversion and parking it on offroads from motorways. I asked him once, "Uncle, why can't you stay in once place". To which he replied, "Why do you have to stay in one place with brick walls?". Another famous Olympian, Eddie the Eagle spent a few years homeless traveling for winter qualifiers for the Olympics.

caymanjim 8y ago
I'm the "free spirit" in my family. I regularly take months or even years off between jobs, travel a lot, and I've never wanted to own a home. Usually, I'm fortunate to earn enough between travel stints to pay my own way, but I still end up camping out with family for a few months every few years, after relocating from another state or country. If I didn't have family to lean on once in a while, I'd be forced to stick with jobs longer than I can usually stand to. I'm really not that far off from a situation like Twigg's, except that I can tolerate the office work a little better.
- DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
  same here. I had to run all my life (both literally doing marathons and several ultras every year as well as moving to a new country every 3-5 years ... probably rooted in having to move every 2 years on avg as a child). I'm very sensitive to people on the edge. Mstly because I feel very much part of this edge. Reading Orwell's "Down and out in Paris and London" made me rethink homelessness. There is a lot of stigma around it and most people I know think this would never happen to them. All it takes is a couple of falls in their life, or events that are hard enough to upset what is a fragile balance. I think anyone (no matter the intelligence) could be sitting in the street without a roof, it has nothing to do with education, friends, or their intelligence, once life has just kicked them hard or long enough. Where I live right now (a former war zone full of people with PTSD from the Yugoslav war horrors) there are many homeless and even more close to the edge of it. Thankfully we have the dream of a EU membership making everything better for the people here, but which unfortunately does nothing for this places (other than create a massive brain drain that makes the situation even more precarious for those off-grid or those not wanting to be part of the system).
- Allower 8y ago
  As someone who routinely has family "lean on" me, I can tell you its an incredibly disrespectful and foolish thing to do. Your inability to see how you effect your family is disgraceful. You want to be a fuck off who cant support himself thats your choice, but running back to family whenever things get tough is nothing short of childish and parasitic. get a fucking life
nestorD 8y ago
Knulp, a short novel from Hermann Hess, is a good literary take on such caracters.
blinkingled 8y ago
> constantly staying with friends and family I wonder if truly free living is possible - looks like someone is always paying some price/ doing unfree things to make it happen.
- nextlevelwizard 8y ago
  Brings to mind the story about CEO who doesn't have phone, but then uses employees and friends phones when "absolutely necessary". The article was about how cool and freeing it was to live without a phone...
  - dkersten 8y ago
    Off topic, but I went without a phone for about 9 months (technically, I had a phone, it just wasn't connected, so it really just acted as a portable wifi device) and it really was quite liberating and freeing knowing that once I left home/the office, I was not contactable. I didn't use other people's phones, I just used the internet (on my home wifi or office wifi) to communicate with people. It did mean I had to plan things ahead of time instead of the usual quick call "hey, I'm at X, where are you" type thing, but hey, we did that before mobile phones too, without problem. The only thing I really did miss was google/apple maps. Eventually a family member got annoyed though and bought me a new sim. :/
- mikestew 8y ago
  Of course it is not possible, starting with the question of where to lay your head at night without payment. The only thing I come up with is U. S. National Forest or Bureau of Land Management land. Any other options I come up with are quasi-legal at best.
  - cr0sh 8y ago
    Many Walmarts allow overnight camping - but not all (and the ones that do are starting to change that policy as well). But you're right; most everywhere else is either quasi-legal, or require money to access.
hycaria 8y ago
I have nothing against free spirit and eternal roamers, but to me they usually don't really seem serene, unrelated to their living choices. Twiggs especially does not : she seems very anxious, her family wouldn't take her for a while. It screams mental health issues, as it often does in such cases.
wtdata 8y ago
The definition of "free spirit" is someone that lives their own life on their own means and accord while staying away from societies norms. Someone that constantly (or most of the time) depends on other people's work to sustain themselves and to have a place to stay, aren't free spirits, they are just piggybacking on the effort of people that live according to society's norms.
dpau 8y ago
I don't think this story is about a "free spirit". Twigg was a determined athlete who doggedly pursued her passion while she could and became the best in her field. But her success in sports didn't translate over to another career. According to the article, Twigg has only been homeless for five years, and she is currently 56 years old. Twigg wasn't really a "free spirit"- She held down jobs, had kids, and made a normal life for herself up until her 50's. So I feel that this story is instead about an older tech worker who has aged out of the workforce. As a 40-something developer who has already experienced age discrimination as well as the realization that many of my skills are becoming outdated, I feel for her. Without a nest-egg, many of us may very well be in her situation in our 50's.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dondawest 8y ago
  Less of a “free spirit” than a “treatment resistant homeless person.” Social workers know the type. She goes to pains to point out that she’s homeless by choice.
  - JustSomeNobody 8y ago
    It's because her brain won't let her. She suffered from trauma as a child. I bet if you did a brain scan on her, she'd have an overdeveloped amygdala. She's in constant fight, flight or freeze mode. There are examples in the actual article demonstrating this.
    - dondawest 8y ago
      A lot of people have overdeveloped amygdalas and dont choose to be homeless tho, for example me.
  - dpau 8y ago
    If she's resistant, it seems to be out of a sense of empathy for other people in her situation, rather than mental illness or some other issue: >“I felt at one time that I couldn’t accept housing because there were all these other people who need it” >“The point is not so much that I need help, it’s that there are a bunch of people who need help — 12,000 in this area, half a million in the country,” Twigg said. “Help should be provided for everybody, not just a few.”

caymanjim 8y ago

I'm the "free spirit" in my family. I regularly take months or even years off between jobs, travel a lot, and I've never wanted to own a home. Usually, I'm fortunate to earn enough between travel stints to pay my own way, but I still end up camping out with family for a few months every few years, after relocating from another state or country. If I didn't have family to lean on once in a while, I'd be forced to stick with jobs longer than I can usually stand to. I'm really not that far off from a situation like Twigg's, except that I can tolerate the office work a little better.

DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
same here. I had to run all my life (both literally doing marathons and several ultras every year as well as moving to a new country every 3-5 years ... probably rooted in having to move every 2 years on avg as a child). I'm very sensitive to people on the edge. Mstly because I feel very much part of this edge. Reading Orwell's "Down and out in Paris and London" made me rethink homelessness. There is a lot of stigma around it and most people I know think this would never happen to them. All it takes is a couple of falls in their life, or events that are hard enough to upset what is a fragile balance. I think anyone (no matter the intelligence) could be sitting in the street without a roof, it has nothing to do with education, friends, or their intelligence, once life has just kicked them hard or long enough. Where I live right now (a former war zone full of people with PTSD from the Yugoslav war horrors) there are many homeless and even more close to the edge of it. Thankfully we have the dream of a EU membership making everything better for the people here, but which unfortunately does nothing for this places (other than create a massive brain drain that makes the situation even more precarious for those off-grid or those not wanting to be part of the system).
Allower 8y ago
As someone who routinely has family "lean on" me, I can tell you its an incredibly disrespectful and foolish thing to do. Your inability to see how you effect your family is disgraceful. You want to be a fuck off who cant support himself thats your choice, but running back to family whenever things get tough is nothing short of childish and parasitic. get a fucking life

nestorD 8y ago

Knulp, a short novel from Hermann Hess, is a good literary take on such caracters.

blinkingled 8y ago

> constantly staying with friends and family I wonder if truly free living is possible - looks like someone is always paying some price/ doing unfree things to make it happen.

nextlevelwizard 8y ago
Brings to mind the story about CEO who doesn't have phone, but then uses employees and friends phones when "absolutely necessary". The article was about how cool and freeing it was to live without a phone...
- dkersten 8y ago
  Off topic, but I went without a phone for about 9 months (technically, I had a phone, it just wasn't connected, so it really just acted as a portable wifi device) and it really was quite liberating and freeing knowing that once I left home/the office, I was not contactable. I didn't use other people's phones, I just used the internet (on my home wifi or office wifi) to communicate with people. It did mean I had to plan things ahead of time instead of the usual quick call "hey, I'm at X, where are you" type thing, but hey, we did that before mobile phones too, without problem. The only thing I really did miss was google/apple maps. Eventually a family member got annoyed though and bought me a new sim. :/
mikestew 8y ago
Of course it is not possible, starting with the question of where to lay your head at night without payment. The only thing I come up with is U. S. National Forest or Bureau of Land Management land. Any other options I come up with are quasi-legal at best.
- cr0sh 8y ago
  Many Walmarts allow overnight camping - but not all (and the ones that do are starting to change that policy as well). But you're right; most everywhere else is either quasi-legal, or require money to access.

hycaria 8y ago

I have nothing against free spirit and eternal roamers, but to me they usually don't really seem serene, unrelated to their living choices. Twiggs especially does not : she seems very anxious, her family wouldn't take her for a while. It screams mental health issues, as it often does in such cases.

wtdata 8y ago

The definition of "free spirit" is someone that lives their own life on their own means and accord while staying away from societies norms. Someone that constantly (or most of the time) depends on other people's work to sustain themselves and to have a place to stay, aren't free spirits, they are just piggybacking on the effort of people that live according to society's norms.

dpau 8y ago

I don't think this story is about a "free spirit". Twigg was a determined athlete who doggedly pursued her passion while she could and became the best in her field. But her success in sports didn't translate over to another career. According to the article, Twigg has only been homeless for five years, and she is currently 56 years old. Twigg wasn't really a "free spirit"- She held down jobs, had kids, and made a normal life for herself up until her 50's. So I feel that this story is instead about an older tech worker who has aged out of the workforce. As a 40-something developer who has already experienced age discrimination as well as the realization that many of my skills are becoming outdated, I feel for her. Without a nest-egg, many of us may very well be in her situation in our 50's.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
dondawest 8y ago
Less of a “free spirit” than a “treatment resistant homeless person.” Social workers know the type. She goes to pains to point out that she’s homeless by choice.
- JustSomeNobody 8y ago
  It's because her brain won't let her. She suffered from trauma as a child. I bet if you did a brain scan on her, she'd have an overdeveloped amygdala. She's in constant fight, flight or freeze mode. There are examples in the actual article demonstrating this.
  - dondawest 8y ago
    A lot of people have overdeveloped amygdalas and dont choose to be homeless tho, for example me.
- dpau 8y ago
  If she's resistant, it seems to be out of a sense of empathy for other people in her situation, rather than mental illness or some other issue: >“I felt at one time that I couldn’t accept housing because there were all these other people who need it” >“The point is not so much that I need help, it’s that there are a bunch of people who need help — 12,000 in this area, half a million in the country,” Twigg said. “Help should be provided for everybody, not just a few.”