Success Through Paying Off Debts in Life
Welcome back everyone. I’ve been writing a series that was inspired by a Netflix show called How to Get Rich. Today, the inspiration comes from the idea of paying off debts. I’m excited to dive into it with you this week, so let’s get to it!
So, paying off debt is not a new or difficult concept to understand. You borrowed money from someone or an institution, and you do your best to pay it back. Common forms of debt include student loans and credit card debt. Depending on the amount of debt you have, it may take you longer to pay off that debt. A quick search showed that the average credit card debt is $5,733 per person in the US!
Paying off debt, especially when you have a lot of debt, is not a simple task. If you’ve somehow accumulated a lot of debt, there’s something deeper than just making too many purchases. In the show, you found out that people made purchases as stress relief, or as a form of escape. Then, that was followed by a sense of embarrassment and shame, which kept them from changing their habits, starting the downward spiral process.
So what caused all the debt? Obviously it was making the purchase, but what kept it going was the embarrassment and shame. So logic suggests that resolving those emotions is our get out of jail card, right?
So how do you resolve these emotions? The first thing is simply identifying them. For example, if you’re feeling sad, you actually say, “I feel sad.” If you’re angry, say, “I’m angry. This is actually a feature of the brain. While you’re feeling the emotion, you’re more reactive, but once you identify the emotion, it takes you out of the emotion and allows you to think abstractly. You then ask yourself, “why am I sad/angry?” and you’re able to start the problem solving process.
This is oversimplified, but hopefully you get the gist of it.
So how does this relate to life? I actually look at debt from the lens of personal baggage/trauma. Sometimes there isn’t much baggage, such as a bad break up or bad boss you had once. Sometimes, it’s a lot of baggage. Maybe it’s PTSD or being in a long term toxic relationship, or maybe you were taken advantage of in the past. The tricky thing is figuring out how quickly you can let that baggage go, or in debt terminology, how quickly it can be paid off. The more you “pay” now, the quicker it gets paid off. In life coaching, I refer to it as healing.
The healing process also mimics what I described above, which means we start with identifying the emotions related to your baggage. Depending on your situation, maybe you feel anger towards the situation. Maybe it’s resentment or shame, or sadness. Sit with the emotion long enough to clearly name the emotion. As a quick side note, if the emotion feels too intense, it may be a sign that you would benefit from professional support.
So what’s the emotion about? What’s it really about? What shifts do you need to make to address this emotion?
Now, what does “paying off debt” look like for you? What kind of baggage are you holding on to that needs to be released? What or who has hurt you in the past? Is there an area where you’re not able to move forward and not sure why? There’s some baggage there worth checking out. There is a debt there that still needs to be paid off. Please take some time to do the emotional work described above.
Now that you’ve identified how to pay off your debt, how quickly can you pay it off? What needs to shift or change so that you can pay it off faster? I’ll be honest, this process may require professional services, especially if you have a formal diagnosis of some kind. If you’re having strong reactions to some thoughts, definitely consider professional support. If you’d like someone to be a listening ear, I’m here for you, so please reach out to me.
Coach Kev helps people find calm, clarity, and confidence in their life while paying off debts as fast as possible. Contact him atkevinkoocoaching@gmail.com, or follow on IG and YouTube @kevinkoocoaching
