Turning fully to the lifeworld, this chapter reads mental distress and substance use as embodied responses to unliveable conditions. With Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, I treat the body as subject, site of memory, protection, and protest. I explore how time collapses under trauma, how drugs can function as temporary horizons of relief, and why incoherence may be a form of sense-making under pressure. Vignettes and practice fragments demonstrate how “symptoms” often carry message and meaning. The chapter argues for service practices that listen to bodily sense, protect dignity, and accept ambivalence, thereby widening the space for safer, more truthful contact.