Moving Back | Living In a Tiny House
By: Ashley Okegbenro Monkhouse
Tags: 2020, Depression, Tiny House, Happiness, Healthy Lifestyle

Last year at this time I would never had expected to be where I currently am, but I honestly wouldn’t change it. I am finally making good changes for both my mental and physical health, and I am happy with how things are turning out (for now). Let me explain a bit to get you caught up to speed…..

Hello, I am Ashley. I am a 22 year old and I currently live in a tiny house (the picture above). I do not mean I live in a small house, I am referring to a tiny house on wheels. The same kind that you can find on HGTV. My house is custom built and was first delivered to me in July of 2018. What drove me to get a tiny house is another very odd story that I can delve into another time. When I first received my house I loved it and lived in it until May 2019, which is when I moved in with my boyfriend. During the time I lived in the tiny house I was extremely depressed. So much so that I can not remember much of 2018 at all. That is probably what also helped push me to move in with my boyfriend in the first place. I was not coping well with the death of my mother which led to me making some not so very productive decisions. I am not held back by those decisions (LUCKILY!!!) but I still do like to acknowledge that I was not in the right mindset. I moved back into my tiny house December 2020, so I’m still pretty new into living tiny again. During the time I was not living in the tiny house (the 19 months) I was able to rent out my tiny house for rental income.

PAUSE! I first said I moved to live with my boyfriend and now I’m moving away from him? Yes that is correct. My boyfriend and I are still together, just living separately again. To make the long story short, we just decided that living separately at the moment is the best thing for our relationship. It allows us to be young and enjoy the time that we do have at this age. The main thing that COVID-19 has shown me is that life is short. You never know what will or can happen to alter whatever plan you have in store. Do what makes you happy and your best self now when you can, because tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Anyways….During that break living with my boyfriend I was still heavily depressed. I never allowed myself to learn how to cope with the loss or accept what has happened. I was able to graduate college, start my first full time job, leave that job to work part time, and then land the job that I am currently at while being extremely depressed and without motivation. It wasn’t until I started working where I am now that I learned how I can help manage my depression and deal with everything life has thrown at me. I’m not perfect and I am still trying to recover from all of the mistakes financially, but I am a long way from where I was at this time last year.

I am going to try again living tiny again with this new clear head of mine. I now have a full time job that I really enjoy, I have friends that I can rely on, a different relationship with myself, and a new goal/outlook on my life. I even applied and got into a masters program I am very excited for. I am starting to trust myself more with decisions and now my new one is to live tiny again. This decision does not come without problems, as living tiny is not for everyone and its not always easy. But with my new positive outlook and the changes I’ve made within myself, I think I can handle the challenges that will come in my way.