I was poor in the developing world for years. Not begpacker fake poor. I had immigrated, put every dime into my business, and it took 3 years to make more than about 50 cents an hour after hard costs. There was no going back, so I went all in.
Let me tell you, it erodes at your humanity. One day, there’s either nothing left, or something cold and hard and hungry. If it’s the former, you’re done for. If it’s the latter, you are something else now, and it never stops being hungry, and it never goes away.
It just burns in you, like a flame, like an effigy.