‘I’m a Recovering Addict. Will I Ever Recover, Financially?’

ONE THOUSAND AT A TIME –

June 29, 2023 – While I’m relieved to be in a place of relative stability, I know that I will be working to overcome my past for the rest of my life. One of the biggest ways it affects me is that my finances are absolute shit. My credit score is terrible (in the 400s, last time I had the courage to check it), I have student loans despite never finishing college (about $18,000, I think), and I owe about $9,000 in credit-card debt. I don’t even really know where to begin with this, especially since maintaining a functional life is relatively new for me. I can recover from my depression and my addictions, day by day, but will I ever recover from them financially? I feel like I’ll be paying for this for the rest of my life, and I’ll never really catch up.

get why your finances feel like an insurmountable obstacle right now. But as far as I’m concerned, you’ve already done the hardest part. Confronting and managing mental illness and addiction to build a stable life with a good job and a solid community? That’s the most soul-scraping work there is. I’m not minimizing your financial struggles, because I know they are stressful in a different way, but you’ve already assembled the tools you need to deal with them — namely, a support system, a decent income, a desire to be accountable, and a one-day-at-a-time ethos.