Worth Titan
Tangos of Debt Accumulation: What are They Worth?
Watch Jane or Bob max out on their credit cards. Is that their partner Jim or Mary registering a half hearted protest? Listen to Spot bark and scratch his neck in befuddlement when Jim or Mary pay off the abused credit cards and then, look stunned when the sun rises on another spending spree? Was Spot’s ears playing tricks on him when after one of Jane or Bob’s rants about their partners not contributing enough to their respective households, then agreeing to take out a loan to renovate their kitchen? Could it be that this actually came out of Jim and Mary’s mouths; the same Jim and Mary who are in charge of the finances and know full well they will once again have to rob Peter to pay Paul this month? Did Spot really hear Jim and Mary say to Jane and Bob after screaming at Jane and Bob: “Don’t worry about the finances I’ve got matters under control?”
There is something definitely wrong with this picture so why is it that the parties to these financial problems keep the engines for these problems running at peak performance? Why do the seemingly more fiscally responsible parties speak out of both corners of their mouths as if they have two mouths? Does it seem odd to you that although, all the partners have an equal stake in these affairs Jane and Bob sound like children and Jim and Mary sound like parents who have abdicated their authority and lost control of their charges? This article will provide some answers to what has become a painfully common dance among couples throughout this country. I’ll name this dance: Tangos of Debt Accumulation.
Every couple dances in complementary ways. Some of these dances are healthier than others. All of these dances notwithstanding denials and protests to the contrary, are mutually gratifying on some level. Therefore, the dances do not deviate until someone puts his foot down; no pun intended and insists that the dancers agree on another dance or someone ends the dance by sitting the next song out. I’ve interviewed many of these dance partners and have often lost sight of the fact that they are separate people; two independent centers of action free to determine their own courses of action. It’s as if the partners become a fluid or seamless entity. Who is leading and who is following is anyone’s best guess?
This state of affairs reflects the ongoing confusion that stems from both parties using and depending on each other in ways that blur the boundaries between themselves, and deny their responsibilities for themselves and to each other. For example, both partners may have wishes and fears about being in debt and yet it looks like one partner is the culprit for all the debt accumulation and the other partner is fearfully helpless to stop the bleeding. Having worked with these couples I can tell you that if the alleged victim has watched his partner over spend many times and has not put his foot down then, he is tacitly giving his stamp of approval. Don’t be misled by their words. The two partners may have different agendas for perpetuating these tangos of debt collection. Nonetheless, it is safe to say judging by their actions that neither party is ready to see this tango of debt accumulation end.
Many of us out there require the illusion of complete control over each other. These dance partners are soul mates in that they have a mutual need to control each other so they can individually deny that they are out of control of their selves. The quid pro quo for these relationships is that they cope with their intense and unhealthy emotional dependencies on each other by synchronizing their efforts to ensure that each is held hostage by the other’s vulnerabilities to being held accountable. This is accomplished by alternating and effective uses of the carrot and the stick.
For example, one partner may use a credit card to appease and pacify another partner who is unhappy with his life and ready to point fingers. This may be a matter of both hearing the unhappiness as a personal attack to fend off as well as wanting to avoid getting in touch with his own unhappiness he doesn’t believe he can do anything about. The stick may be employed by one or both parties threatening to leave or giving the other partner the silent treatment. Curiously, only when they are about to tango off the cliff or sometimes after they have careened down the side of that cliff known as Mount Bankruptcy or Mount Foreclosure do they surrender to the realities of their co-created destinies.
Before the eleventh hour strikes, their collusive and conspiratorial ways can ensure that neither partner will insist on changing the dance, sitting the dance out or leaving the party. It’s as if the two dancers share an appendage and form a wishbone. To break them apart is to make a wish and OUCH!!!!!!!! I think you get my point. Up until this juncture known in the addiction literature as “hitting bottom,” these folks sit and fight about “if and when and on what” to spend money as the ship of their Titanic- like fiscal existence is slowly swallowed up by an ocean of interest payments. You might believe that they risk drowning in debt demanding that someone save them. Well, if you thought that you would in many cases be correct.
The folks who come supplied with life rafts and life preservers are often the money managers and debt consolidators. They may build vehicles for these dance partners to rebuild their fiscal lives but unless the partners learn to take their selves seriously and trust their selves as capable of rebuilding their lives, they will continue to over spend.
We all have indispensable needs to find meaning, joy, happiness and serenity in our existences. We all have needs to change and grow; to be transformed and to transform others by relating to our selves and other selves with love, acceptance, encouragement, compassion, empathy, respect and consideration. The more we use, value, nurture, and invest in ourselves and other selves the more we make reality for ourselves that we are investment vehicles with much greater promise than let’s say even shares of Google stock a few years ago. I say this because when we learn to trust ourselves, take ourselves seriously and invest in our most divine aspirations we create unimaginable riches in personal meaning, happiness, love, and joy that elevate and regulate our self worth, and the self worth of others in ways that are immune to the vicissitudes of the stock market.
When we spend as if we have limitless resources and experience ourselves as if we are not worth anything more than the retail value of the goods and services purchased, we are devaluing our self interest and devaluing the self interest of all those impacted by our excesses. I have learned in my years of practicing psychotherapy that debt accumulation is an expression of an unrealistic wish to try and buy what can’t be bought with money. Debt accumulation simultaneously reflects the fear of paying a very stiff price should reality intrude on our denial of needing others. No one can buy love, appreciation or self esteem. Many folks have a fear of being taken advantage and taken for granted. We simply will not leave such a dreaded apprehension to chance. We dance in tandem to make our worst fears a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The dancers conspire with each other to preserve sacred and self defeating patterns learned early in life. They are impoverished by their unwillingness to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence that the gospels that have guided their lives were written by false prophets; imperfect family members like everybody. The fear is that if they reflect on and reevaluate how flawed and self defeating are their dance steps that they will be lost as to how to dance with each other.
By helping my clients to appreciate and use their selves to grow beyond and free themselves from feeling devalued they learn to invest in and create lives of prosperity. Then, their engines of debt accumulation are shut down. This watershed event leads to the willingness to develop new skills that may eliminate their tangos of debt accumulation for good.
About the Author
Please visit Mitchell Milch's website at www.healthymindsets.com for more information on his psychotherapy practice in Ridgewood, NJ and to read more of his articles.
![]() 2012 Worth 454 Titan Reload Softball Bat SB454R 34 285 US $132.50
|
![]() WORTH TITAN SOFTBALL BASEBALL PANTS WHITE W RED BLACK PIPING EXTRA LARGE US $9.00
|
![]() 2011 Worth Titan Slowpitch Softball Bat SBT542 34 28oz US $102.50
|
![]() NEW Worth SBTU 54L Titan 120 05Reload 34 265 Advanced Player Series SP Bat US $139.99
|
![]() WORTH RESMONDO TITAN 34 26 US $107.50
|
![]() 2011 Worth Toxic Titan 10 33 23 Fastpitch Bat US $150.00
|
![]() 2011 Worth Toxic Titan 10 31 21 Fastpitch Bat US $150.00
|
![]() 2011 WORTH SBTNC2 TOXIC TITAN COMPOSITE MULTI WALL SLOWPITCH SOFTBALL BAT 34 26 US $91.25
|
![]() 2011 WORTH SBTNC2 TOXIC TITAN COMPOSITE 54L SLOWPITCH SOFTBALL BAT 34 27 New US $89.99
|
![]() 2011 WORTH SBTNC2 TOXIC TITAN COMPOSITE MULTI WALL SLOWPITCH SOFTBALL BAT 34 28 US $89.99
|
![]() 2012 Worth USSSA Titan 54L Composite Softball Bat 34 27 SBTUS Brand New US $138.50
|
![]() Worth Toxic Titan Composite 11 Youth Baseball Bat 28 17 US $40.99
|
![]() 2012 Worth USSSA Titan 54L Composite Softball Bat 34 26 SBTUS Brand New US $152.50
|
![]() Worth Toxic Titan 54L SBTNC2 Slowpitch Softball Bat 26 US $59.99
|
![]() Worth Resmondo Titan SBTRES 34 27 Slowpitch Softball Bat US $100.00
|
![]() 2011 WORTH TITAN 54L 31 21 US $75.00
|
![]() 2011 Worth Toxic Titan 98 Slowpitch Softball Bat 34 28 US $110.00
|
![]() WORTH 454 RESMONDO TITAN 27 OZ US $71.00
|
![]() 2012 WORTH SBTUS 34 28 TITAN 54L USSSA SLOWPITCH SOFTBALL BAT NEW USSSA STAMP US $103.39
|
![]() 2011 WORTH SBTNC2 34 27 TOXIC TITAN COMPOSITE SLOWPITCH SOFTBALL BAT W WARRANTY US $51.00
|
![]() 2012 WORTH SBTUS 34 27 TITAN 54L USSSA SLOWPITCH SOFTBALL BAT NEW USSSA STAMP US $114.50
|
![]() WORTH TS140 RHT TITAN 14 INCH SOFTBALL GLOVE RHT RIGHTY US $.01
|
![]() Rolled 2012 WORTH TITAN 454 This bat is HOT US $190.00
|
![]() WORTH TTNBAG TITAN 54L BLACK LARGE BAT EQUIPMENT BAG FOR BASEBALL SOFTBALL US $34.95
|
![]() 2011 WORTH TITAN RELOAD 120 SOFTBALL BAT SBTU 34 285oz US $20.50
|
Worth Titan article







































































































































































































