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re: the latter - I know. :-) There's no need for the disclaimer. I have no personal experience with therapy, but plenty of vicarious and/or second-hand knowled

re: the latter - I know. :-) There's no need for the disclaimer. I have no personal experience with therapy, but plenty of vicarious and/or second-hand knowledge. My conclusion is that therapy cannot help with objective and concrete issues. Therapists can help with psychological and emotional issues, perhaps, but not with perfectly normal responses to objectively stressful problems whose solutions are worldly. Tax debt is paid with money, not with a different point of view or holistic mind-body wellness or what have you. I agree that writing can be therapeutic, though, and perhaps I ought to do more of it for that reason.

Mz 9y ago
I have done lots of therapy. It has its uses. But these days I find blogging and having a sounding board more useful. I notice you mentioned an expensive, horrible divorce. My divorce was amicable and low cost. We did it without lawyers. I am homeless and paying down debt and improving my income. Your financial problems are absolutely not worse than mine. On the upside, my last student loan payment should happen this week and next month my life should be easier because of that. So, FWIW, I think blogging about this has a lot of potential to help you sort things out and get your act together.
- abalashov 9y ago
  That's terrible. Sorry to hear that. Yeah, it's all relative, of course. Some would say these are luxurious problems to have in that they seem, at least for the moment, to be removed from the struggle for basic survival. That can change in a heartbeat when the IRS starts levying what little you have in your bank accounts, though. Last September I woke up one morning and found my checking account at -$1200; they assessed that levy based on some arbitrary day's balance of ~$1500 or something like that at some arbitrary point in the past. No rhyme or reason. And as you probably know, the cascade of consequences that come with that—the bouncing payments and so forth—are triply punitive if you have abysmal credit and really can't afford any dings with the landlords who generously let it slide...

Mz 9y ago

I have done lots of therapy. It has its uses. But these days I find blogging and having a sounding board more useful. I notice you mentioned an expensive, horrible divorce. My divorce was amicable and low cost. We did it without lawyers. I am homeless and paying down debt and improving my income. Your financial problems are absolutely not worse than mine. On the upside, my last student loan payment should happen this week and next month my life should be easier because of that. So, FWIW, I think blogging about this has a lot of potential to help you sort things out and get your act together.

abalashov 9y ago
That's terrible. Sorry to hear that. Yeah, it's all relative, of course. Some would say these are luxurious problems to have in that they seem, at least for the moment, to be removed from the struggle for basic survival. That can change in a heartbeat when the IRS starts levying what little you have in your bank accounts, though. Last September I woke up one morning and found my checking account at -$1200; they assessed that levy based on some arbitrary day's balance of ~$1500 or something like that at some arbitrary point in the past. No rhyme or reason. And as you probably know, the cascade of consequences that come with that—the bouncing payments and so forth—are triply punitive if you have abysmal credit and really can't afford any dings with the landlords who generously let it slide...