I can’t help that Gold’s Gym only paid me $25/hour for one hour per week. But it also meant a free gym membership to every Gold’s in Northern Virginia & Washington DC so I spent every waking minute of every day enjoying all those gyms. And I didn’t have a car. I was biking all around Northern Virginia and Washington DC to get to all these gyms. It was beautiful & the healthiest I’ve ever been in my life but bittersweet & maddeningly lonely, only exercise endorphins kept me sane. Then the Autumn rains began and biking became uncomfortable & demoralizing, then the winter snows commenced and biking became impossible. So I had to start walking & running to the gyms.
Exercise was my passion & my joy & my antidepressant, and without endless exercise all day I would spiral into depression. Even at night when I got home after all that I would go running a few miles around the neighborhood before taking a shower and being able to fall asleep. That winter I hit rock bottom and internet people suggested I look into my veterans benefits since I am a military veteran. So I was able to get into the VA Medical Care system, was hospitalized for severe depression, and they’ve been taking care of me ever since then.
was a yoga teacher for 3 years earning $25 a week and no man wanted me […] in Northern Virginia & Washington DC […] And I didn’t have a car.
TL;DR: even with treating your body like a temple, having a low income and low transportation mobility makes one unattractive in the DC metro.
In that region, single-income setups have low viability due to the egregious cost of living in the area, so people actively seek to partner up with high-income earners. Plus, the whole suburban sprawl is designed, and ultimately requires, cars in order to get around. You’d think that location would matter - and it does for schools and employment - but nobody lives near anyone else they want to date, and not being hyper mobile by driving all the time is practically a social death sentence. It can be a brutal environment that is hostile to most activities outside of earning an office-job income.
For example, the NoVA subreddit had recurring threads started by young professionals looking to move to the area. Every time, they’d ask where the nightlife is and what rent is like in those neighborhoods. Cue the entire subreddit throwing buckets of cold water on OP, as they’d get a reality check that as a post-grad, they’d be able to afford rent anywhere from 40-60 minutes (by car) from any such hot-spot. Oh, and the same would go for their commute too, and work might be just as far from said nightlife as it is from home.
I can’t help that Gold’s Gym only paid me $25/hour for one hour per week. But it also meant a free gym membership to every Gold’s in Northern Virginia & Washington DC so I spent every waking minute of every day enjoying all those gyms. And I didn’t have a car. I was biking all around Northern Virginia and Washington DC to get to all these gyms. It was beautiful & the healthiest I’ve ever been in my life but bittersweet & maddeningly lonely, only exercise endorphins kept me sane. Then the Autumn rains began and biking became uncomfortable & demoralizing, then the winter snows commenced and biking became impossible. So I had to start walking & running to the gyms.
Exercise was my passion & my joy & my antidepressant, and without endless exercise all day I would spiral into depression. Even at night when I got home after all that I would go running a few miles around the neighborhood before taking a shower and being able to fall asleep. That winter I hit rock bottom and internet people suggested I look into my veterans benefits since I am a military veteran. So I was able to get into the VA Medical Care system, was hospitalized for severe depression, and they’ve been taking care of me ever since then.
TL;DR: even with treating your body like a temple, having a low income and low transportation mobility makes one unattractive in the DC metro.
In that region, single-income setups have low viability due to the egregious cost of living in the area, so people actively seek to partner up with high-income earners. Plus, the whole suburban sprawl is designed, and ultimately requires, cars in order to get around. You’d think that location would matter - and it does for schools and employment - but nobody lives near anyone else they want to date, and not being hyper mobile by driving all the time is practically a social death sentence. It can be a brutal environment that is hostile to most activities outside of earning an office-job income.
For example, the NoVA subreddit had recurring threads started by young professionals looking to move to the area. Every time, they’d ask where the nightlife is and what rent is like in those neighborhoods. Cue the entire subreddit throwing buckets of cold water on OP, as they’d get a reality check that as a post-grad, they’d be able to afford rent anywhere from 40-60 minutes (by car) from any such hot-spot. Oh, and the same would go for their commute too, and work might be just as far from said nightlife as it is from home.
Ah, you were a don’t-stick-your-dick-in-crazy.