26 with over $40,000 in credit card and personal loan debt. What would you do?

Throwaway account. I had a self-reflective moment and sat down to look at my finances: with all of my credit cards (9), personal loans (3). I was shocked when I realized I had $42,000 in debt. I feel helpless and hopeless, but looking for advice to be debt free by 2030.

Im in my late 20’s, and frankly, scared and ashamed. This happened due to graduating in the beginning of the pandemic, 2 layoffs, 1 emergency move, medical bills, and good old high interest debt.

I am weighing my options, but I feel like I don’t really have any to become debt free. I thought that debt relief was the perfect solution - I would cut my debt payment in half every month, easily pay off my debts within 5 years, and no fees. But in doing more research, I found out that I would have to go into default/delinquency for all of these accounts, and it would be on my credit report for 7 years. I have to say - the reps at the debt “relief”/consolidation” companies are very charismatic and gave me a lot of hope until I did my research on what the long term implications are for their programs.

On the other hand, the options I’ve received from debt management haven’t been great. They would minimize the minimum payment only, and not address the high number of debt. Although these companies are more legit, I feel like aren’t addressing the core issue of debt pay down, especially since the minimum payments are fairly low.

I don’t want to file bankruptcy- Although I am young, can have a fresh start, and “debt is not a moral failing” I would feel upset that I couldn’t manage it well enough and would need to file chapter 7 to be debt free. Similar to the debt relief, this would stay on my record for 7 years as well, which would greatly impact future loans, cards, or applications for apartments/homes. In a selfish way, I also want to keep 1-2 of my credit cards with great perks and that I’ve worked so hard to get.

i’ve never been late on a payment- ever. I’ll rather make all of the minimum payments and feel like I’m drowning until the next payday. However, I feel like that is how the personal loans came into play- I ended up Borrowing from Sofi to pay Chase (or however the saying goes).

I try to budget but looking at all of the numbers was more than a sobering experience, it was scary. Does anyone have any recommendations on how I should move forward, or which options they have taken in the beginning of the debt journey? TIA.