Often, many people who do suffer from being in severe debt struggle to figure out how exactly to tackle the situation. They must both live and budget for the usual every day expenses of eating, paying rent or mortgage, using electricity and water, all while insuring their belongings and car and so on. Despite these costs, they must still worry about their accumulating debt. No wonder people sometimes just give up under all of the stress. Sometimes they feel like they have nowhere to turn for help or inspiration.

Yes, there are all sorts companies and consultants out there to offer those who are in debt help in dealing with their financial struggles. And blogs, such as this one, offer inspiration to people as well. What I'd like to suggest is that those of us who struggle with our debt also look elsewhere for inspiration. Think of all the people out there who every day must struggle against enormous odds to accomplish their goals. In a way, their tasks are similar to the task of someone working hard to get out of debt. Here are five role models that we can learn from as we clear away our debt and become financially safe once again.

Neil Armstrong:

Neil Armstrong, the man who famously took that one small step onto the surface of the moon, risking everything in order to benefit all of humankind. Had he not taken that risky first step onto the landscape of the moon, he would not have had the glory and success he enjoyed that moment and for the rest of his life. From Neil Armstrong, we learn that the first step to solving our debt problems is to face risk and the unknown, and to fully commit ourselves to solving the problem.

Ray Bradbury:

Ray Bradbury, the famous science fiction writer, once said to aspiring authors, "You must write every single day of your life." Without doing so, how could any writer expect to write a book in his or her lifetime? Bradbury's quote shows us the importance of establishing a routine. If a writer wrote a page of text a day for an entire year, he or she would have a book ready to publish. Likewise, if you can follow the routine of saving some small bit of cash every day, either by depositing it into a special savings account or sacrificing your morning coffee and bagel each day, then your routine would have helped you keep a little money to put towards your debt.

Mother Teresa:

Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize for her charitable work in India on behalf of the impoverished of that nation. In order to successfully help others, she had to sacrifice much of her own comfort. From her example, we learn that sacrifice is sometimes necessary if we wish to accomplish the toughest of our goals. Perhaps we should sacrifice and give up some of our modern luxuries, such as cable, and put that money towards paying off our debt. We'll be better able to enjoy those luxuries again when we are debt free.

Wilma Rudolph:

Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman runner to win three gold medals in a single Olympic games, the 1960 games in Rome. Of her sprinting to three victories she said, "I ran and ran and ran every day, and I acquired this sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never give up, no matter what else happened." From Wilma those in debt should keep in mind that confidence and the determination to never give up will help us achieve a debt-free life.

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This guest post is contributed by Kate Willson, who writes on the topics of best online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katewillson2@gmail.com.