what is my self-worth?

I have debt...shhh!
Don't tell anyone ok? Because I know your not suppose to talk about money, it is a "faux pas" right?

well screw that...I am going to talk about it!

I have just finished my online banking this morning, and there is nothing like your debt to make you feel like your self worth is about as low as it could possibly go. I absolutely hate debt! But really who do I know that likes it?

In most cases, Debt is the reason you have all the "stuff" that you want, and will pay for later. I know that is the case with my husband and I (plus school and life getting in the way of our financial master plan). I can tell you one thing, it has gotten a lot  better since we have had the twins. My husband and I have debt but we are not allowing it to grow anymore. We are taking the long road of letting it shrink and making it smaller. There is nothing like two little lives depending on you to snap you into reality and to make your situation better for them.

Of course, some of our debt (like many others) is just bad luck, like you need to get your car fixed and have no money, you lose your job (or it a slow month) and need to use credit to pay the bills. That is the purpose of credit. To use for emergency situations. But society has definitely changed that. Especially for my generation.

Everywhere you go it seems to be pushing "buy now, pay later". Our generation is bombarded with images of all the stuff we want and well aren't we lucky, we can have it now and worry about paying it later!
So can you blame us for having debt?

Media shows us images of all this super cool stuff, with ad campaigns to make us feel like our self worth is dependent on the stuff we have. Mix that concept with lack of patiences and you have created a generation of debt making machines.

I know I am generalizing and not all people are in debt or follow the trend of "buy now, pay later" but there is no doubt that that occurrences of this is much higher.

With all of this debt in the world, and in our own lives, how do we not let it get to us?

Well to start, do not let debt dictate your own self worth.
So maybe you have debt, maybe you have made a few mistakes in your choices but there is always a way to fix it. Always.

Remember that we do live in a time were there is a lot of cool things out there, but the concept of saving up till you can a afford it still works (I am really trying to implement this on in my life :)

But the main one being, you are a wonderful person with a full life and your debt does not define you. Do not let your online banking make you feel bad! You will someday be able to look at your bank account and feel happy to say you have no debt :)
(* that last part was obviously directed towards me, but if you are in the same situation as me, it is directed to you too!)

Have a great day!

Much love,

Jessica