How to Heal Your Relationship With Debt

I LOVE MY DEBT - said hardly anyone, ever. If every relationship has a love/hate dynamic, the relationship people have with their debt is definitely leaning more towards the hate side of things. But don’t feel singled out because we all hold some form of guilt, shame and embarrassment towards our debts. And I’m here to help you change that because the more you stay trapped in negative thoughts around debt, the more of it you will attract. In order to break the cycle and work towards a debt free financial future you first have to heal the relationship you have with debt. Your debt is not your identity - it is simply a circumstance of a situation.

The Struggle is Real

Money blocks create your actions and habits. These money blocks are made up of your negative thoughts and feelings towards yourself and towards your debt and they result in you continually taking actions that do not align with your desires of becoming debt-free. Debt struggles are a very real thing and here are a few examples of why people stay stuck in debt:

Enjoy their current ‘lifestyle’ more than their financial security - comfortable living outside of their means and numb to increased debt.

See the high balance and give up automatically - “I’ve made it work all this time, a little more debt won’t hurt.”

Focused on the short term and not actively planning for the long term.

Debt has become a norm in society and seen as a regular part of life - "Things are always so expensive, it's hard to afford anything on my income."

People want instant results and lack discipline to stick to a plan.

Believe it’s impossible to become debt free.

Not All Debt is Bad

Have you ever looked at your debt and said “thank you”. I’m not referring to the, “thank you credit card for paying for that new pair of shoes” kind of spending. What I want you to realize is that there is good debt, which has supported you, and there’s bad debt which, quite honestly really hasn’t been much support at all. Let me explain in more detail; Good debt is a debt that is used to purchase an appreciating asset and has the potential to increase your net worth or expand your financial life. Compare that to bad debt which is used to purchase depreciating assets or to support lifestyle purchases that do not lead to financial expansion or an increase in your net worth.

Why is it important to distinguish the difference between the two? Because the guilt you hold towards your collective debt indirectly applies to the debt that has actually helped you move ahead in life. Examples of good debt include student loans, a mortgage or other investments. So instead of applying your money blocks to these types of debt, you should actually be expressing gratitude because these debts have allowed you to increase your wealth in different ways.

Is Debt-Free even possible for me

The answer is YES! If you consistently pay down your debt which means paying more than the debt you accumulate each month, you’ll definitely be on your way to being debt-free. It’s also important to create a repayment plan and yes, it may take 5 years or longer but wouldn’t you rather know that at the end of that time, you will truly be debt-free? And finally it’s not a question of IF you’ll be debt-free (there’s that money block!), it’s WHEN you’ll be debt-free. Sometimes mindset shifts happen just by changing the words you speak to yourself.

A debt-free financial future is definitely in your future. Debt has served a purpose in your life and you need to thank it, and release it. Once you heal your relationship with debt and shift the money blocks, only then can you move forward and attract the abundance to help pay it off.

Journal Prompt: