Author's name: Mel Robbins

At the age of 41, I found myself $800,000 in debt, unemployed, and watching my husband's restaurant business collapse before my eyes. Our lives seemed to have completely collapsed, and there was no sign of any way out of the debt trap.

My main strategy for dealing with anxiety and self-doubt was to ignore and escape. I avoided waking up by repeatedly hitting the snooze button on my alarm; I tried to numb the pain with addictive substances; I put the responsibility on my husband instead of taking it on; and I procrastinated in my job search in countless ways.

I watched with envy as my friends continued to thrive in their careers, while we barely made enough to buy food. I had just lost my job and had no clear idea what to do with my life. I had already experimented with several jobs and roles: I was a general counsel at the Legal Aid Society in New York City, a lawyer at a large firm in Boston, involved in several startups, a business development specialist at an advertising agency, a life coach, a radio call-in host, and I even opened a small pottery studio. Despite all of this, I felt completely lost.