About 9 years ago, at 17 years old, I had found this website and used it to talk to many different people from all over the world. I wanted to escape home in Miami and see the world. I packed up all my shit with my guitar and set off on foot to hitchhike up to New Jersey where i had a friend who had moved. A few hours later, a few cops were bringing me back home. My mom had tracked me down somehow.. I guess I was too dumb to cover my tracks.. I was sent to a mental hospital to get evaluated and was released in a few days. My family (mom and grandparents) told me I was insane. I spent the next 9 years here living with them. Over the past 9 years I have been skateboarding regularly, making art, was part of a "spiritual" program, and have also taken about 40 college credits sporadically.. I love my family to death, but every time I have had an idea outside of working and going to school, it seems as if they do everything in their power to change my mind, it sometimes seems as if they work together to do so. Over time, I have begun to realize how toxic it is for me to be around people who bring me down constantly and tell me what I should be like. When I tell them about my dreams they laugh at me. I know to some of you this may sound stupid.. "why not just leave".. but Miami is all I know. I have some money from work and more coming in (hopefully) from a car crash I was injured in. I have my eyes on a Surly Long Haul Trucker I found used. My plan is on Saturday, after I go get my taxes done, to begin packing up and getting ready for a vacation from this miserable rat race that goes nowhere. I plan on using workaway to learn about permaculture gardening. Thank you all for keeping this forum alive.. I love reading the stories on here.