Hi Kathryn,
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. And thanks for saying congrats. It hasn’t been easy but I’m proud to say today is day 175 without gambling on anything including any friendly bets. 🙂
Question – Unfortunately I haven’t been doing more in my recovery accept for not gambling. I have been to GA over 30 times in the past. I did buy gamble block for my computer and phone but never actually installed it for some silly reason. I did give my finances completely over to my mom for a few months while I was in the thick of it. I cancelled a few credit cards and worked with my mom to put my complete financial picture out there in the open to someone that I cared a lot about what they thought about me.
As much as I appreciate having a system in place to not gamble I ultimately believe that one has to have self control in order to beat any addiction. Having someone say have blocks in place for urges is understandable but not going to stop anyone who is set on doing something. We all know this. If I was an alcoholic am I not supposed to go shopping at any store that has alcohol in it? Should I go to every store in the world and let them know I can have the alcohol there or is it on me not buy that alcohol and drink it. I think it is and stick to my guns on that. No matter what barriers I have in place or have had in place I can always figure out a way to hurt myself with gambling. The only truth is is that I need to not let that happen. I can either do it or not. It’s that simple. Interesting how not doing something harmful is so hard to do. 🙂
Very best,
Jon