Hello Everyone,
How do you know if you are addicted? I have always been a card player, like the casino’s ect. I have online gambled for years. Do I spent a lot of money, yes but feel it is my entertainment. My bills are paid, I don’t borrow money, I have groceries etc. I just don’t save any extras. I got married a few years ago (second marriage) and my husband is livid with me. He grew up with a mother that has an addiction to gambling and I get it, it scares him. I feel sad when I gamble because I know it hurts him and so now, I do not tell him. I want to tell him but he just blows up. I get defensive and say, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I rarely go anywhere this is my only entertainment and then he says that is an excuse an addict would give. Lately I have played a lot more since I have been stuck at home. When I am bored and stuck at home alone is when I find myself doing it more. When I am out, on vacation, it doesn’t cross my mind. I do it out of boredom. His mom says that is addiction. So then I say to myself okay I have an addiction how do I stop playing, I don’t know what to do to fill my time. I grew up only knowing sports and now that I am 53, sports and my body don’t go well together. I was playing online games with friends (wow, rift) a lot quit and I didn’t want to start up again. I started teaching at a new job and so for the past two years I have been working a lot building my course. I feel at the end of the day, I am treating myself but my husband sees it differently. It has caused such a riff that if I don’t stop I will be divorced. So maybe I am addicted if I have to ask how to stop. I am lost as to what to do with my boredom.