Meet Anita, middle-aged, confident, well-to-do urban wife, mother and hard worker. At this point in her life she is in a happy and well placed position in her society. Her colleagues and friends admire her most fondly and many wish to live her life just for one day.
But the truth is all of this is a façade, if she rips her mask of stability and good life, what her friends and admirers would see is a deep dark secret. A secret that unveils the fact that Anita and her husband are living dangerously close to the edge, completely drowned in debt.
Does this sound familiar? Has this happened to you or someone you know? Because people like Anita are everywhere, drowning in debt and can’t get out of it. And do you know what’s the reason behind getting so deep in debt that you can’t even breathe? More debt. Yes, it’s as simple as that, if you incur more debt to cover previous debt, you are making the worst mistake of your life.
The Shame:
A lot of you are living in debts of varying amount. Some of you might have a debt of a year paying through your credit card for a smart phone, some of you might have a sizable home or business loan that will take years to cover. But a lot of you are in a condition of being in a debt that has snowballed to such an extent that it is impossible to repay it in your current circumstances. What you then feel is “shame”.
The shame comes from the fact that you are now in a certain position in the society where people admire and respect you. For that you have taken a loan, and now the loan is unpayable and you take more loan to maintain that position which in turn makes your debt more overwhelming. So, the “shame” basically makes you more vulnerable to take more debt so that your status-quo in society is maintained.
The Pain:
What happens after getting stuck with a sizable debt is banks and other financial organizations offer to provide you some “easy way out”. And that is just more loans. Now, you are already feeling the “shame”, you are weak and edgy, what you do is accept the loan and make your situation even worse. The “pain” part of your life begins as you go deeper and deeper into debt without a proper plan to get out.
The solution:
The solution is actually quite simple. All you need is to have a timely wake-up call. What you need to do is firstly don’t take debt you can’t handle. No matter how much you get seduced by “upper-class” living and have an urge to buy things you can’t afford, stop yourself there. Take a loan when it’s absolutely necessary, don’t take a loan just for the heck of it, no matter how easily it’s available to you. And even if you do, don’t take another loan to cover the first one, pay one loan fully and then go for another.
I’m not saying don’t go ahead in life and choose to live frugally. I’m just saying take a loan when it is right for you, don’t stretch your limits. Cover your basics first, earn some extra, have a more or less steady financial future, then go for a loan. And more importantly, pay the first loan and be out of debt before you jump into another debt, because that is what is going to create a deep hole you cannot come out of.
