Thought for today: Once the downward spiral of compulsive debt takes hold and is left unchecked, our issues with money will only get worse, never better. But what do we do? People will naturally resist admitting that we are different from others – the same people we see in stores who seem to be able to use credit […]
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Thought for today: Some of us have gone through painful bankruptcy. Cross-examined by attorneys in judge’s chambers can be leave us feeling humiliated. People who are professional at arguing against debtors do their job, and years of dread can bubble up into a “fight-or-flight” responses and we want to run. Some of us begin to cry, get angry, or cower, […]
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Thought for today: The holiday season is a challenging time for compulsive debtors. We find ourselves inundated with commercials to spend. All our friends are spending. We feel compelled to overspend. It’s a time tout down the credit cards if we are using them. It’s time to remember the Twelve Steps, starting with the First […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: If nothing changes, nothing changes. If we don’t find a way to let go of debting once and for all, we know it will return. But how do we really change? A member shares: “I am a debt addict. I have an allergy like the one they talk about int he Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous. If I try […]
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Thought for today: The Twelve Steps are really a process of letting of our addiction to debt, under earn and/or overspend. That process involves three basic layers to this “surrender”: The first surrender is Step One, “We admitted we were powerless over debt—that our lives had become unmanageable.” We need to let go of the idea that […]
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Thought for today: “Purposeful forgetting” is one of the ways we stayed in denial about our financial and emotional losses. Nevertheless, compulsive debting, reactive spending binges, and self-defeating under earning are forms of insanity, and they only get worse over time. Until we start to deal with our debting, let go of denial (pride) and admit powerlessness over debting, […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: History is strewn with stories of people denying their need to change, resisting to the end. Dictators have fought to the last breath. Alcoholics sometimes need to lose everything to try recovery. What is it about denial that is so blinding? Embarrassment, spurred on by pride, keeps us in denial. It’s embarrassing to […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: We all want abundance, right? A chance to get ahead in life, have security, happiness. The problem comes to some of us who choose to use credit as a shortcut to abundance. For whatever reasons, the problem is the same: Compulsive debtors are powerless over the intoxicating effects of unsecured debt. No leverage is ever bought with […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: The Steps and the Tools work together in recovery from the disease of debting. Let’s take a look at how intertwined the Tools and Steps actually are. A member shares: “I can’t handle debt. It’s like quicksand to me; once I’m in it’s almost impossible to get out. “Until I admitted that I […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: Newcomers often arrive at DA looking for a way to escape the effects of unchecked debt, chronic under earning and/or years of overspending. Many of us have felt isolated in our grief and desperation. Once the downward spiral of compulsive debt takes hold, we are defenseless against it. Left unchecked, our issues […]
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