Bankruptcy seems like it’s very situation-specific. (To the extent you’re comfortable talking about it) what sort and size of debts did you have, and what made you ultimately settle on bankruptcy? Did you reach a breaking point, did things slowly slide in that direction, or was it some third thing?
I'll gladly tell the whole story! I've actually done some various interviews about it over the years, for articles that were on websites that don't exist anymore, naturally.
I had the classic problem of being in my 20s, having bipolar disorder and a traumatic brain injury totally wrecking my impulse control, and having access to credit cards and the predatory system that kept raising my limits until I was around $24k in debt. My mother passed away in 2009, and between her life insurance policy and the proceeds from selling her house, I was able to pay off that debt.... and then spend through what was leftover, and then due to the lifestyle I had become accustomed to in the act of blowing my inheritance, ended up BACK in about $24k of debt. Listen, mom would have approved of all the ways I blew that money.
So, my late 20s/early 30s were full of massive anxiety and terror about money, but also I found a therapist, who eventually got me to reach out to my dad for help. I'd actually gotten very distant from him precisely because of money anxiety. My dad grew up poor and it made him very thrifty and serious about money as an adult1, which made me too ashamed to tell him about the state of my finances. But therapy made me finally go 'dad I need help' and he advised me to file for bankruptcy, and helped me with the filing costs. And hey, side bonus to me getting out of all that debt, now I have a good relationship with my dad again!
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as a side note I've found it interesting that when friends talk about their immigrant parents' thriftiness habits, I'm like, huh, that sounds exactly like my dad, who just grew up poor in Indiana in the 40s and 50s. Turns out the vile curse of money makes people from different backgrounds act in similar ways!