My debt keeps me up most nights. It wasn’t always that way though. It seems like forever ago, but I used to be positive about my debt. I know what you’re thinking. How can I say positive AND debt in the same sentence? I assure you it’s possible to feel positive about your debt. I did it for years. I got myself on a debt elimination diet. It was going down! Yay! I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. But then a couple of unexpected expenses came up AT THE SAME TIME and the light began to dim. Then the light disappeared completely and I tried not to panic. What the FROG is touching my leg?!!! I really am afraid of the dark. Are you struggling to stay positive about your debt? I’ve been feeling overwhelmed for the past 14 months until I remembered my financial services training last week.

Last year around this time I was curled up on my bed staring into space. I had just paid off my Chase credit card. I was excited about having more money in my budget to pay down my debt faster. But then my beloved Beetle, the one I had just fixed before I went to Puerto Rico on vacation with Daniel, decided to get worse. Driving back from the airport, I didn’t think we’d make it home! It felt like Mr. Blueberry Salsa was going to fall apart at any moment. After I took it back to the dealership, I was told that the transmission was not worth fixing. I could try but it might not fix the hard shifting. What?

How to buy your dream car.

Sigh. Did you ever have a car give out on you before you finished paying it off? I was not prepared to have to look for a car before I had finished paying off my Beetle!

I prayed on what to do. I ended up buying a brand new car a model year older. So far so good. However, I wasn’t prepared to spend more on a monthly car loan payment, a higher car insurance bill or a higher car tax bill. To make matters worse it started to get slow at work and I was working on a type of commissions system. Less work coming in meant less money in my paycheck. My total debt started to climb higher and higher. Did I mention I’m also afraid of heights?

I wanted to share with you my journey to financial freedom earlier but I felt ashamed. But why?

I kept thinking of all the things I should have done differently in my life so I would NOT be feeling like everything was passing me by because of my debt. If I hadn’t gone on that last vacation. If I didn’t gain weight I wouldn’t have needed to buy clothes that fit. If I had eaten healthy when I was younger I wouldn’t have had to spend all that money on personal training sessions. Could you think of a few things to add here?

5 Things I Tell Myself to Keep Positive About My Debt:

1. Things are always going to come up in life that we want to do but have to pass on
2. Emergencies happen all the time
3. Debt is temporary
4. A debt elimination plan is in place (Do you have one?)
5. It took years to accumulate so it will not go away magically over night (right?)

I know for a fact that there are many of us out there who feel like they’re drowning in debt. Whatever choices we made for our debt to accumulate doesn’t change the fact that the debt is there. If we stay focused though, we can pay it off! We just have to stay positive. Last year I worried so much about it that it seemed to bring only more debt accumulation my way. If we do it together though …can we keep each other motivated?

Over the next couple of months I’ll be sharing different topics I learned when I decided to take control of my finances. I’ll also keep you updated on my debt elimination progression. I hope that during this journey we learn together and turn that feeling of anxiety over money into a feeling of hope and optimism.

How do you feel about your personal finances? What do you do to keep from stressing over money?

Until then,