The Weight Of A Dollar Bill

Climbing from the Bottom: What It Really Takes to Escape Poverty

People love a success story. They talk about grit and hard work like they’re magic words—as if getting out of poverty is just a matter of putting your head down and grinding. But they don’t talk about the nights you don’t eat so your kids can. They don’t talk about choosing between gas and electricity. Or the way poverty doesn’t just live in your bank account—it gets in your head, your habits, your self-worth.

I was born into a life where money was always just out of reach. Not because we were lazy, but because the odds were already stacked by the time I took my first breath. Broken systems, broken homes, and broken guidance. You grow up fast when you realize no one’s coming to save you. I remember watching my parents stretch every dollar until it broke—only to still come up short. I remember the stress, the silence, the fights that always started and ended the same: there’s just not enough.

And when you try to climb out of that pit, people act like it’s simple. Like just getting a job is the fix. I’ve worked jobs most people wouldn’t blink at—delivery driver, waiter, fast food, corrections. Some weeks I clock 100 hours and still walk away wondering how the hell I’m going to fill my tank and feed my family in the same breath.

But poverty isn’t just financial—it’s emotional. It’s mental. It’s the voice in your head that says, “People like you don’t get out.” It’s the anxiety that comes from never having a safety net. It’s the guilt you feel when you finally have a little and wonder if you should save it—or spend it so your kids can finally enjoy something.

There have been moments—dark ones—when I wondered if all the effort was worth it. When I felt like I was trying to climb a mountain with bricks tied to my back. But then I look at my kids. I think about the legacy I’m trying to change. And I remind myself: I’m not just fighting for me. I’m fighting so they don’t grow up thinking this life is all there is.

People say poverty builds character. I say it builds warriors. Because to keep going when nothing’s guaranteed? That takes something deeper than ambition. It takes soul.

I’m not out of the hole yet. But I’m climbing. Every damn day. And when I do make it out—when I look back—I won’t just see struggle. I’ll see proof. Proof that you can come from nothing, and still give everything.