If you have gotten in over your head in credit card debt, you are in good company. The Federal Reserve says Americans have accumulated nearly $1 trillion, a record amount, in what it calls “revolving credit.”

But while the financial experts are urging people to pay down debt — particularly expensive credit card debt — that is easier said than done.

It may help motivate you to look at your debt in a new light, said Hersh Shefrin, a professor of behavioral finance at Santa Clara University. Although many overstretched consumers think of paying off debt as a form of self-denial, Professor Shefrin said they have got it wrong. Debt, he said, is actually a form of borrowing against future consumption. In other words, paying off a credit card with a high interest rate now means you will have more money to spend on yourself later.

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