Thank you for your honesty ujju. I too am dealing with the exact same thing. No one in my social circle nor family tree knows that I am currently dealing with a heavy gambling addiction. The ones who did know about it at some point (during times I’ve dealt with it in the past) think I nipped it in the bud long ago, but they don’t know I am still dealing with it now (some may suspect I am dealing with it). I have the same fear, that if I let people in my social circle and family know, some may cut me off, especially the ones who I borrowed money from (they are not aware that I borrowed either due to gambling losses or to gamble).
The person I keep in touch with from Gamblers Anonymous knows. Outside of that, not many people know. I have told some people who I am not close to because at times it is easier to express ourselves to people who are not close to us. Nevertheless, it is hard to share this addiction problem with other people (especially if they have not dealt with this addiction) because many of them may look at you like you are a complete idiot for risking money (or throwing money away) (especially with something where the odds are stacked against you like casino gambling or gambling in general) because money is needed for things like food, a roof over your head, warmth, and other survival necessities / things essential to living a healthy life.
Regardless, I think it is important to find someone or find people to talk to about it so it isn’t lingering in/on you alone. This can be others you are not close to, a counselor or therapist, a Gamblers Anonymous member, someone who has or is also dealing with gambling addiction, etc. And even more importantly, we must express our struggles with this addiction to God (He knows already, but it is important for us to be honest about our sinful addiction and important for us to truly repent, because we not only hurt ourselves when we gamble, we hurt others, we often lie, and we throw away money (almost as if we forget how hard people work for money)). After doing this, we must take the steps and put the effort in to live a gamble free life. The casino, the stock market, or whatever you are doing your gambling through, it has no feelings. It will take your money and allow you to be addicted to it until the day you die. If we are not diligent about staying engaged in the things that help us stay away from gambling (such as prayer, Gamblers Anonymous classes/sessions, keeping our faith strong, connecting with people of God who can help us with this), then we will continue to fall victim to this addiction, and like I said, whatever we are doing our gambling through has no feelings towards us when we lose all of our money there. I wanted to share this because I also deal with being afraid to tell some people about this addiction and am still dealing with refraining from gambling. It has only been 2 days since I last gambled (although it’s important to remember that even if one of us relapses, the clean days we had still count as clean days, but in knowing this, we still need to understand that it literally only takes one relapse with gambling (and other addictions) to destroy several things in your life (it can cause you to start back at 0 or negative financially (some have lost homes and have even taken their life after a gambling relapse))). Nevertheless, we can win this battle and fight off this worldly/adversarial temptation and live a life free from gambling. Others have done it and we can do it too.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by wewinwhenwedontplay.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by wewinwhenwedontplay.