<prompt> Human: Ill make this part brief to begin with, but I spent the past 6 months drinking excessively every single day and intentionally ignoring all of my responsibilities in a wildly self-destructive manner. Ive now gotten help and treatment, but Im in the process of picking up the mess that my life has become.I lost my job when you cant get out of bed for weeks in a row, you cant stay employed and I ignored both of my credit cards. One of them, my Chase card, was quick to close my account with a 6k balance. The other, a Capital One card, has been sending me emails to fix the balance on my card. Both cards were maxxed out when I stopped payments.Where do I even go from here? Whats my best move to fix my credit, open new accounts eventually, but clearly NOT now, and bring my credit score back up? Does paying a collections agency help? Do I call the credit card companies directly? Im employed again and want to feel in control once more. Please, send me recommendations of what I should do. Thanks, guys.  <response>: Step 1. Start Accepting responsibility again. Take a look at all your accounts, no matter how scary it might be to. Write down the balances and make a decision right now that you are going to get out of this situation no matter how long it takes. Step 2. Find yourself some income. You said youre employed, thats great. Keep growing. Dont settle for your current income level. Keep building. See it as a challenge. The more income you can generate, the faster you can pay off your debts. Step 3. Visit your bank, and confront the issue. Go to your bank and sit down with a banker. Explain to them the situation and see if there is anything they can do to help. Maybe lower interest charges on the debt for a small period of time? If they cant do anything however, dont blame them. Remember, its not their fault. Its your fault. But, youre also going to be the savior of yourself. So its ok. Step 4. Make payments on the debt Start making payments greater than the minimum balance on all your debt. Dont spend all your income, because obviously you need money for food, water, living expenses etc. Make a mangable amount. Step 5. Give it time. This is going to be a process. You can get into debt ALOT faster than you can get out. But with time, you can become anything. So focus on being the person you want to be, and everything else will come into place. Just build strong habits and personal values. Remember what doesnt kill you makes you stronger. So youre stronger now than you have ever been. Im glad you were able to get yourself back on track. Many people never pull them selves out, so youre already doing great. Just keep working, be patient, and everything will workout. : 