Ask HN: What was the most humble living situation you had in your early days?

4 pointsrblion3mo ago3 comments

I currently live in a converted mail truck on the island of Kauai. I have everything I need and nothing I don't.

I feel like a warrior-monk every day as I do my morning practice (meditation, breathwork, mantra, reading while absorbing sunlight by the beach).

I feel like a 'starving artist' as I budget for healthy meals and fast at least 12 hours a day. I feel very healthy though, it's odd. I used to think I need a lot more food but really I just need high quality food.

I feel like an engineer/architect as I reverse engineer my vision of the future into very clear blueprints and schematics.

All together, I operate like a general leading an army of early adopters and gaining the support of smarter and experienced allies who have done the things I want to do in life.

I have been rejected from YC twice, once in 2017 when I was 17 and last May but I see why and it has not discouraged me. Not one bit. It only motivated me to learn more and love myself more for not giving up, being open to trying new approaches.

I'd love to hear your 'origin stories' that looked crazy to everyone else and how they ultimately shaped you into who are you today.

MAHALO :)

3 comments

onecommentman3mo ago

Condemned out of my first undergraduate apartment, first grad student apartment was the basement of an old former church that had been flooded with sewage too few months prior. But none of us can match the lurid pasts of the Four Yorkshiremen.

https://montypython.fandom.com/wiki/Four_Yorkshiremen

tellarin3mo ago

For a while I shared an old apartment with 3 others. Old building, 10th floor, cloth-wrapped wiring (no modern plastic/rubber/etc.), windows that didn't close, a condemned fenced-off balcony, and occasional rat visitors that could reach the 10th floor.

uberman3mo ago

When I moved to the bay area out of college housing was too expensive for me to manage even working for a large tech company. I lived in my buddy's dining room on the floor in a sleeping bag. After saving a bunch of money I was able to move out to a place where I lived in the bed room while two other guys lived in the dining room and living room. So technically an upgrade I guess.

Neither situation made me a better person but I can say I personally understand how uncertain housing and even homelessness can be a huge problem.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse