Moving into any apartment required first and last month’s rent plus a security deposit upfront. Thousands of dollars I had to come up with just about every year to stay housed and I was never lucky enough to win the affordable housing lottery. Each move cost about $2,500, so I set aside at least $50 a week from what little I had left, knowing I’d eventually need it for my next inevitable move. I tried to save, but unexpected expenses knocked me off balance. When my first 12-month lease ended and it was time to move again, I was financially drained.

When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, can’t afford food, and you’re not “poor enough” for food stamps, the only way left to feed yourself that I found was to open a credit card. How naive I was. Credit, for people with low income, creates a false sense of stability. First it’s just for essentials. Then one day you start using it for those unexpected expenses and it becomes a slippery slope into financial ruin.

Five years of that cycle — move, save, struggle — left me with $25,000 in credit card debt. Apple gave me 3–5% annual merit increases and my net income eventually rose to $30,000– not that it mattered. Once you’re trapped in high interest debt, you need a miracle to get out.

Fast-forward several years to today. I’m 30, I have no debt besides a mortgage, I own a home, I drive a new car, and I live a relatively comfortable life financially. And yet, when I look around at my peers, I feel self conscious about my position. So many people I know are still stuck in that same cycle I remember so vividly — move, save, struggle. There has to be a better way for society to function. One that lifts those at a disadvantage supported by those who already have more than they need.

Because let’s be honest: yes, I worked hard to get where I am today. Some would say that’s meritocracy rewarding me. But I know the truth — what I experienced over the past ten years was, in many ways, simply luck.

That’s what motivated me to become a Democratic Socialist. Because my story didn’t have to be this hard and neither do the stories of my peers. With stronger social programs, my early adulthood could've looked different. Affordable housing, real tenant protections, universal healthcare, guaranteed food assistance, even something as simple as rent stabilization or public broadband. These are socialist ideas that would've given me stability instead of uncertainty. They would've kept me out of debt, out of constant crisis, and allowed me to build a future without gambling my well-being on luck.

I believe that all deserve dignity who share this struggle. Not a world where survival depends on never slipping up, but one where we all start on steadier ground. Because if I’m being honest, the reason I “made it” isn’t that I’m exceptional. It’s that I got lucky in a system that constantly fails people who work just as hard as I did.

A better world is possible. We owe it to one another to build it 🌹