On the outside, she had it all together. A successful entrepreneur who made loads of money, dressed exquisitely, and lived in luxury.
But every morning she woke up feeling like “there’s ground glass in my gut.” Under her polished veneer, she was drowning in debt.
“I am making good money, but I have nothing to show for it,“ she told me. “I’m broke but nobody knows it.”
Our successful entrepreneur represents a raging epidemic—people who are professionally successful but financially strapped.
Most experts advocate budgeting as the best solution. But she had tried repeatedly to follow a budget, only to fail miserably.
The truth is, will power alone is never enough to stop compulsive behaviors. Because money isn’t the problem, but a symptom of something deeper.
Underneath chronic spending lies a gaping emotional wound, a profound yearning to feel good enough, important enough, loved enough. She, like countless others, use money as an anesthetic to numb the pain of inadequacy.
The advertising and credit industry preys on people like her. They market to the part of us that feels unfulfilled and depleted.
Fortunately, she was finally ready to admit the truth: she’d lost control of her finances. And no one was coming to bail her out.
Breaking through her denial was the crucial first step to recovery. She took the second when she made a deep-down commitment to change. And the third step was admitting she needed help.
I urged her to try Debtors Anonymous, a powerful 12 Step program that focuses on both financial education and emotional healing.
She resisted mightily at first, but as she began attending meetings, she started to notice changes. As she courageously began exploring her underlying pain, she miraculously started tracking her expenses, following a budget, negotiating with creditors, using cash instead of credit and saying no to herself and others.
She admits it wasn’t easy or comfortable. But she is profoundly grateful she had the guts to go to DA. She’s now on track to be debt free in a matter of months. Even more importantly, she finally found peace…which no amount of money could ever buy.
Have you experienced debilitating debt from chronic spending? How did you deal with it? Leave me a comment below.
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