Galaxy S3 Still Encrypting after 12+ hours?

[usak90]

I have the AT&T Galaxy S3 (Garnet Red) and I heard you could encrypt the phone after putting a password lock. So I did. I first encrypted my external SD card and it took a little less than an hour and it was complete. So I decided that I would encrypt the entire phone over night. Now, I kept it on the charger and then started the encryption (around 1 am) and then went to sleep. I wake up around 8 am and I look at my phone and it was requesting the password for the encryption. I inputted the password and then let it continue. That was around 8 am, and now it's 6 pm and it is STILL encrypting! It's still on the charger, but it is not showing me any progress nor has it requested for the password again or anything. And while it's encrypting, the phone is completely unusable; can't see any texts/phone calls or anything. I NEED to use my phone sometime today, but there's no sign of when this encryption will end. I've read that if you interrupt the encryption process then it can erase ALL of your data. I don't want to risk that, but if it isn't finished before midnight, then I will have to do just that. If anyone can give me any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. If anyone has gone through anything similar, please let me know and what you did to resolve it. I know the encryption is supposed to take 1+ hours, but this is ridiculous! PLEASE HELP! Thanks in advance!