About Bella and The Anything But Simple Life
The Anything But Simple Life is a blog written by Bella — a lived-experience advocate and digital content specialist who writes about homelessness, the housing crisis, addiction and recovery, reentry after incarceration, and what it really takes to rebuild a life after trauma.
This blog doesn’t come from theory, research papers, or outside observation.
It comes from survival.
Who I Am
I’m Bella — the writer behind The Anything But Simple Life. I use a pseudonym to protect the privacy and safety of my family, but every part of my story is real.
After serving 7 years and 3 days in prison, I was released into a world where my felony conviction determined almost everything: where I could live, where I could work, and whether people even saw me as human.
Expungement was nearly impossible because of punitive state policies designed to ensure that even after completing a sentence, people continue to face a lifetime of barriers. A judge may sentence you to a set number of years, but the state makes sure you serve a lifetime of housing and employment discrimination.
Homelessness, Survival, and Starting Over
When I walked out of prison, I boarded a Greyhound bus to a state where I knew no one and where I was instantly homeless.
For more than three years, I lived:
- first in a shelter
- then in a minivan
- then an old RV
- and finally a 1980s travel trailer shared with my partner, Irish, and our dog, Barney
During that time, I faced the daily fear and instability of homelessness — and the constant discrimination that comes with having a criminal record.
Addiction, Crisis, and the Turning Point
Irish, my partner, also spent many years incarcerated and was fighting addiction during our homelessness. His addiction led to multiple arrests, each one adding emotional strain to an already fragile life.
When he was jailed for six weeks during his final arrest, I made a decision:
Our homelessness had to end.
I had been working as a freelance writer for eighteen months, earning a modest but steady income. I saved everything. I applied for rentals. I contacted housing resources agencies. Despite meeting qualifications, I was denied again and again because of background checks.
After six months of searching, one community manager finally said yes.
That moment changed everything because it was a true second chance.
Irish entered treatment after we moved into stable housing. He’s now been sober for more than two and a half years, is completing an associate’s degree in Addiction Counseling, and is interning at the same treatment center he once attended.
Rebuilding, Writing, and Advocacy
For the past four and a half years, I’ve supported us through freelance work. I began as a recipe writer and grew into a digital content specialist — but freelance income is unpredictable, and losing a client can threaten not only financial stability but housing security. Because of that, the trauma of homelessness is never far away.
Through this blog, I write honestly about:
- navigating reentry
- finding housing with a criminal record
- living alongside addiction
- managing the emotional aftermath of homelessness
- building a life from the margins
- calling out current policies that make the promise of “second chances” a lie
The Anything But Simple Life is more than a blog.
It’s a testimony, a record, and a voice for those often unseen.
What This Blog Stands For
- Lived experience over theory
- Truth over perfection
- Survival over simplicity
- Resilience over silence
Nothing in my life has been simple.
Nothing has been handed to me.
Everything has been earned, fought for, and survived.
This blog exists so others living through similar battles know they are not alone — and so those who have never experienced this world can understand it a little more.
If you’d like to learn more about the issues I write about, explore my posts on Addiction & Recovery, Homelessness & Housing, Reentry After Incarceration, or Entrepreneurship & Financial Recovery.
