Generally speaking, debt evokes strong emotions. Those strong emotions often keep people from filing bankruptcy. While these emotions are understandable, they shouldn’t be the reason why people keep slogging through years of debt related stress long after they should have sought help. The barriers we must overcome are:
Fear
Hardheadedness
Pride
These three emotional barriers keep people stuck in the cycle of debt.
Fear
It’s the unknown. While this kind of fear probably kept our primitive predecessors alive, today, there’s no excuse for not being informed.
People are scared that they may not be able to access credit, they fear being viewed as a failure, they fear that somehow, others will judge them. Those things keep people on the sidelines and stop them from seeking the help they so desperately need.
Some of this fear is irrational but most of it stems from heaps of band information. Some of this bad information is just a misunderstanding but a lot of it is deliberately spread by people who profit from your fear. Unscrupulous creditors seeking to keep you out of bankruptcy so they can squeeze just a few more bucks out of you before you seek the help you deserve.
In the end, fear of bankruptcy is understandable. However, I’m going with FDR’s thought. All we have to fear is fear itself.
Hardheadedness
Hardheadedness is a trait that you really have to appreciate. It causes people to finish the race, to follow through, to succeed against the odds. It’s a virtue. Sometimes though, hardheadedness keeps you from seeking the assistance you need.
You say to yourself, “I created this mess for myself, now I am the only one who can get out of it.” While that feeling may be honorable, it isn’t always logical.
You’ll keep trying to chip away at the mountain of debt you’ve gotten yourself in and you’ll end up neglecting the things you need to focus on. You’ll forego a real and important need that can make your life better and more fulfilling. Often people skip medical treatments, let their mental health suffer and they’ll often neglect the biggest thing you can do to improve your life…save for retirement.
Pride
“I can pay my debts. I’m not the kind of person who files bankruptcy.”
I hear that garbage all the time and I want to scream.
Well, who files bankruptcy anyways?
A lot of times it’s people you know. People just like you. People who have gotten sick, people who have lost their job or seen a decline in income, people who got sucked in by the flashy and expensive world we live in.
You don’t file bankruptcy because you’re immoral. It’s a legal solution that fixes an economic problem. After all, not having enough money isn’t a crime. Even Jesus associated with people who couldn’t afford the trappings of life.
Look at the people who have filed bankruptcy. Former Presidents, major corporations, even Walt Disney. Do we look at people or companies in a lesser light just for asking for help to start over?
For far too many people, it takes hitting rock bottom to get over the emotional barriers: when these irrational emotions are finally whittled away, rationality wins out and people seek the help they truly need.
If you need help, don’t wait. Call us today. We can get you the help you deserve.