my debt, a generational curse

I have now reached my 27th birthday, and have been drowning in debt since the beginning of my adulthood. Growing up, I really wish I had understood what debt was. After all, It was all around me. I came to realize that none of the women in my family truly understood what debt was and the seriousness of it, although, they were swimming in it. I did not have much growing up, so it seemed that a credit card, according to the women in my family, was the solution. My mom,aunts and I lived the "charge it" lifestyle while only paying the minimum "$20" on each card. I thought that I had made it when I applied for and received my first charge card at 18. I did not figure at the time that it should have been necessary to have a stable income and not just be beginning freshmen in college. It is funny that they all started to roll in from there. Now I am 27, newly married and carrying the burden of a generational curse and trying to find my way out of debt.