It helped me realize that I was struggling and fighting to sustain a life that I hated anyway. Three weeks of the month I was working just to pay bills. Even when I type and read this now it feels absolutely insane to me that this is what most people experience. 40 hours a week isn't just 40 hours at work. It's the hours preparing for work. Thinking of work. Planning around work. Cancelling plans for work. Driving to and from work. Structuring your entire life around the need to be somewhere making someone else money. Having free time for just a few weeks and living as wealthy people already do has changed me.
And sure there is still anxiety to be felt and dealt with. Rent is at an all time high. I'm constantly on the verge of losing my apartment. But you know, I always was if you think about it. Nothings changed in that regard. The embarrassment of not being able to buy friends food, drinks, gifts is crushing and is the worst part of it all. I'm eating one meal a day but it's pretty healthy overall. So fuck it I still live better than most people in all of human history.