What I find interesting, and what people who tell you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps never take into account, is that even when you do finally make it, (if you ever do), the repercussions of having been that level of poor will still follow you around for the rest of your life, in health issues, and what is called a “poverty mindset”. because being that poor requires you to think about your life in a certain type of way, which all the wish fulfillment and happy thinking in the world can’t fix, and is much more immediate, and pressing, than if you had no money concerns.
One of my favorite authors, John Scalzi, wrote about what it was like for him not just growing up in poverty, but what it was like for him, mentally, after getting away from it.
