Hey! Call me Liz. I'm a queer mentally ill girl facing post-college life and an abusive family. After taking an extra year at college and working hard to complete my coursework, I still wasn't able to earn my degree. My parents cut off my driver's education years ago, and despite job hunting efforts, I haven't been able to find work. I have a little money, but not enough to cover my student loan payments. I submitted an Income-Driven Repayment form for my federal loans, and when the current administration stopped accepting those forms, they put the loans in indefinite forbearance. However, I also have private loans. I contacted them to retroactively apply a forbearance to my overdue payments, but those payments have resumed and are piling up again.

My living situation right now is also horrid. My parents are letting me stay with them for now, but they've been refusing to provide enough food. They have plenty, but I have to ask permission to eat any of it besides instant ramen, and occasionally some bread or whatever leftovers my parents don't want anymore. Sometimes they'll share things with me, or buy me prepared food I like when it's on sale, but the uncertainty of not knowing whether I'll have real food from week to week is degrading. There's no health reason for this restriction. It was imposed as a punishment for not cooking rice for my mom once in January, when she wanted some but didn't tell me. Since this rationing started, I've lost a lot of weight, to the extent that I can see my own ribs and hip bones without stretching. The page image above shows me in 2023, before moving back in with my parents, compared to me in 2025, and the difference scares me. I'd love to pick up some shelf-stable foods I can keep in my room, but we live in a car-oriented neighborhood, so I'd have to spend hours walking in the heat and across busy roads. I can't currently afford to order food delivered.

My parents have always been extremely hostile, and they repeatedly threaten to kick me out, even though I have no income and there are no shelters in our area. They also go out of their way to make me miserable. They would punish me when I was little by hitting me, depriving me of food, and confining me to my room for days. In the more recent past, they've pulled stunts like cutting off my access to the family credit card to spite me when I needed food (they still haven't undone this) and threatening to call the cops on me if I came home. Living with them is near unbearable, due to overwhelming verbal abuse, aggression, and controlling behavior.