Most Americans have to deal with debt at one point in their lives.

Even if your only debt is in your house and your car, it can still seem too overwhelming. Just know this: debt by itself isn’t always a bad thing, but when it starts spinning out of control, it’ll get harder and harder to crawl out of the hole that you’ve dug for yourself.

Unfortunately, when people get overwhelmed with debt, they often fall directly into a state of blissful denial. They avoid opening credit card statements and they put bills aside when they don’t have enough money to pay. The out-of-sight, out-of-mind trick only works for a few months, however, before life begins to tumble down around these victims of debt. So if you are worried about your debt, you need to start asking yourself the hard questions, and stop ignoring the problems, if you ever want to relieve yourself of it.

Some great questions to ask: “Are my bills being paid on time?” and “Should I consolidate my high-interest bills into one low interest one?” With this knowledge, you can then either choose to go at it alone, with a bit of online research, and hope things turn out for the best, or you can hire a non-profit debt counselor to help you through each step of the way - the choice is ultimately up to you. However, be cautious of the so-called “non-profit” places that are really commercial salesmen looking for your last few pennies (note: they are all over the web).

One last thing you should always keep in mind when it comes to debt is too search high and low for the best credit advice and then use it to help answer these hard questions for you (regardless of whether it comes from an internet search or from a professional credit counselor). Then after you find out that you are similar to many other post-debt consumers, you’ll begin to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Just remember this: everything that is broken can usually be fixed!