Debt has frequently been compared to a mountain. It can be massive, just being present it can cast a shadow over anything else, and it is difficult to remove. The best way to get rid of a mountain of debt is to chip away at it a little bit at a time. It won’t disappear quickly, but eventually it will no longer shadow your life.

A mountain is a fair metaphor. There is little question what somebody means when they talk about working on a mountain of debt. Yet,to me, it is not the best possible comparison. Better may be: Debt is a canyon. I’ve talked a little bit about this before in my post Debt Analogy that was inspired by Blunt Money’s Debt & the Grand Canyon post. I want to go into more detail this time.

Our lives can be viewed as living by a river. The river represents the money that flows out of our hands for anything: the groceries, rent and mortgage payments, speeding tickets, new clothes, etc. When we are debt free, it is like living in a small valley. Sometimes the river may flood, but it is not too much work to fix everything up and keep on living. If you have a lot of money saved up, it gets even better, because it is like living on a hill or mountain by the river - even when it flood, your home is never threatened.

Living in debt though, begins to look like a canyon. The river keeps on eating away at your resources and digging deeper and deeper. It also gets more powerful the deeper it cuts. The financial equivalent are the interest payments and fees that you experience because of being in debt.

The deeper that canyon gets, the harder it is to climb out and the longer it is going to take. To get back to the nice river valley - much less the mountain - is going to take a massive amount of rock and soil. Even as you fill in the canyon, the river is still going to be there trying to cut through everything you are dumping in there. If you don’t keep shoveling, eventually the river will win through again.

The worst part is that, just like a canyon, it is much easier to get in than out. The downhill is simple, and if you slip going downhill, it just takes you further in. Climbing out, you have to put in all the effort - gravity hinders getting out. Any slip sill stop your forward progress and may even move you backwards.

If you are struggling out of your own canyon, may good luck and hard work see you out as soon as possible. I’ll be working right along side you for a while more. For those in the river valley, may fortune favor you building your own hill or mountain for added safety. And for those on the mountains looking down, your advice and assistance are always welcome.

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