Bankruptcy Lifts the Weight Off Your Back

Listen to Jennifer’s expression of relief after filing for bankrupty.

“Thank you for everything. I feel like this huge weight and horrible burden has been lifted off my entire body.

I am starting to feel like a person again. Maybe by September or October when I have enough to live on it will hit me altogether.” 

Jennifer finally took the advice of her boss and her banker. She should have filed for bankruptcy a year ago, but like most debtors, she continued to rob Peter to pay Paul.

She struggled to pay her bills to the detriment of her health and her family.  She was paying her credit cards through a credit counseling agency, which left her without precious cash to buy food or pay her doctor.  The astronomical electric bill for the worst heat wave since the 1930s Dust Bowl gave her the courage to say enough is enough and call a bankruptcy attorney.

Filing bankruptcy lifted a huge weight off Jennifer’s shoulders. The bankruptcy stay stops all collection so Jennifer can live without the fear of lawsuits and garnishments. It stops the phone calls. She can answer her phone again. It stops the threats. She can sleep at night.  She can BREATHE!

Now she can move forward with her life instead of wallowing in hopelessness and misery trying to do the impossible. It won’t be easy for Jennifer. She has a challenge ahead to get her financial life back on solid footing of living on cash and paying necessities first. But she can stand a little taller, free of the crushing debt burden.

Jennifer’s tremendous relief for filing bankruptcy is a common reaction. No one wants to file bankruptcy. It is hard to admit one’s finances are out of control. It is hard to stop trying to pay bills you can never pay. But like going to the dentist to end a painful toothache, seeing a bankruptcy attorney can ease your financial pain.

“Bankruptcy is a way of recognizing the mistakes you have made in the past, accepting them and making the changes you need so you don’t continue repeating them,” Gene Melchionne posted recently in his 5 Signs You Are Headed for Bankruptcy. “Bankruptcy is not a mark of personal failure, but rather a mark of acknowledgement and a chance to fix your mistakes before they are too late.”

Here some previous posts by my Bankruptcy Law Network about the emotions debtors feel about filing for bankruptcy:

3 costly emotions that keep you in debt

the real reason to file for bankruptcy

bankruptcy is scary – can it save my house?

bankruptcy and your emotions

bankruptcy is not a dirty word!

Photo Credit: Flickr Jumping for Joy by AJC1