Controversial take yes I know.

So much of getting out of poverty is luck. Being at the right time at the right place or opportunity landing in your lap at the right time. Being born in the right place , time, and family. Nothing beyond your control can go wrong to push you further into poverty. (Disability, car breakdowns, deaths, getting scammed or screwed over, being a victim of a crime, medical emergency, natural disasters, etc). Of course society will blame you for that anyway.

You can do everything right and everything you’re supposed do but there is no guarantee of success or results. There are people in this world that have been reckless with their lives and don’t even do half what you do but coast through life simply because the life they were born into or getting lucky.

But they will tell you luck doesn’t exist when they got that job through mutual friend at right time that they didn’t meet the qualifications for , when a charity stopped them from becoming homeless, when medical issue didn’t turn into a permanent disability , when that natural disaster didn’t cause them to lose everything, when their car didn’t break down at the start of that new job or college, when they had support system, when they were born in a developed country, when they got access to public transportation when they couldn’t afford a car, when they live in safe housing that isn’t detrimental to their health and safety, when they don’t have trauma and PTSD, it goes on. Being poor is expensive and just causes further problems. You delay healthcare you can’t afford but experience more medical issues down the line. You go further into debt and poverty, then when you become homeless people will tell you pull yourself up by your bootstraps or what you should’ve done.

Don’t let people shame you when most of them couldn’t survive in your shoes for a minute. I saw a video on TikTok of this man did a poverty simulation with other affluent people. How he planned to put $300 aside but he couldn’t because things beyond his control went wrong. That the challenges kept piling on each other. Even he came to the conclusion poverty is NOT a choice.