I got my very first credit card last year, when I was 25. Before then it was strictly debit, or check, or cold hard cash. I had never felt the need for a credit card - if I didn't have the money, what was the point of tempting myself with the thought that I did? I believed credit cards were for people who wanted to play pretend and live beyond their means.
I didn't know anybody who had credit cards without having long-lingering frivolous credit card debt. Everyone I knew seemed to have a few thousand outstanding, at best. And years later, they were still paying off some trips to the mall or some dinners out at 20%APR. I wasn't willing to live like that, so I avoided credit cards altogether thinking that was the smart thing to do.
Well, it was at least not the dumbest thing to do. Turns out the smart thing to do is have a credit card and pay the balance every month. Now, I have the power of a charge-back and other consumer support. I also have the ability to keep my cash stowed in an interest-bearing account, so that when the credit card payment rolls around I've earned a few morning coffees worth in interest meantime. And if I have an emergency and therefore no cash? I have the safety net of being able to carry a balance. Turns out that credit cards are these really amazing and tremendously helpful little things...if you are just as financially conservative with one as you would be without one.
I used to be hysterically afraid of debt. Taking out student loans for college horrified me; I felt like I was being smothered with a pillow. At 18, I didn't know how I could live with the knowledge that I was going to owe almost 20k by the time I graduated. It seemed like a small fortune that I would never be able to outrun. But, there is nothing like not getting a free lunch to motivate you. Taking on debt in addition to paying out of pocket every year, I was determined that the very expensive piece of paper I would have to show for it would include the words summa cum laude. And it did. Now I've paid off nearly half of that debt, and it doesn't seem nearly so crushing as it did at first.
And I started to understand that debt is, fundamentally, good. Debt DOES let you live beyond your means; and as long as you appreciate that fact, debt is your bitch. Debt, when utilized well, is like bus fare - sure it costs you to get somewhere - but in the end, you get somewhere. Too many people are paying the bus fare, and then sitting on their asses watching the bus go past. No wonder they feel cheated.
I don't fear debt anymore - I simply respect it. And I'm grateful that it's there to give me a lift when I can't get somewhere on my own.