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Well done on taking the first step on the road to recovery, David.
Thanks for reminding me of that empty feeling when we walk out, battered and bruised after losing our last cent.
I did it for years.
There IS a different route you can take. David. You know that a CG will never win. That’s a start. When we realize that fully, we will never gamble again.…is a common trait among CGs, Tina.
It’s hard to “fess up” because then we really have to let go.
None of us can foretell the reaction to “bad news”.
Exploring why we procrastinate so much often helps us to come clean.
The consequences of “telling” might not be as important as the reason for keeping our issues secret.
“WE ARE ONLY AS SICK AS OUR SECRETS” is a very true saying.Last day of November.
As Magnus Magnusson used to say
“I started, so I’ll finish”
No gambling for me today.
Shaun, I sincerely hope December will be a better month for you.
We all have to face “ups and downs”.
Gambling solves none of them.
Never give up quitting!I hear you Laura!
We do need balance in our lives.
I agree that we need to protect ourselves from the next bet. We also need to shield ourselves from the fallout of the last thousands of bets.
Every year I bought lavish Christmas presents for everyone. Even when I was losing heavily. …especially when I was losing, I think. I would borrow more and SPLASH out to prove to myself that everything was fine.
I know now that I gambled, precisely because things weren’t one bit fine. I was fooling myself and others .
This year I’m drawing a line with presents. Partly because I don’t feel well enough to enter the crowded shops and partake in the frenzied hustle and bustle that I thought I loved. It’s like gambling. Frenzied buying has lost it’s appeal
The buzz has gone out of both.
No thrill=no hangover!!!JP, you are most likely feeling numb from the shock of your financial loss.
Take time out. Talk to somebody. Surely there are therapists available in the hospital? Keep asking for help. Don’t ignore your debt. It won’t go away.
Can you get somebody to address your creditors on your behalf, explaining that you are ill? Get sick certs for you work. You can’t lose a job through illness.
Avail of all the help that’s out there.Unfortunately, Monica the consequences of gambling do last a long time. I wish I could give you a magic wand to change your situation. Things are not as bad as you originally feared though, are they?
I have been off the radar all week. A close relative of my husband passed quite suddenly from Life to Eternity on Monday. Death puts us in touch with our own mortality and helps us to see things in a different light. There are things in life worse than death, methinks!
Hope your bruise is subsiding and that Pete found his wallet?I seldom get urges, P, as you know.
I think not dwelling on thoughts. Not allowing the second thought to enter my mind, prevents the first thought becoming an urge.
Try quashing the first thought, P.
Quash them, one at a time!
You can do it!Amen to that Micky.
I just read that Stepchange has given you a remedy of hope.
It is so important that we cling to that hope, Micky, one day at a time.
Keep posting.Hi 3racer!
I’m happy to hear that the counselling sessions are helping you to see the importance of living a normal life. It is only when that pain of gambling becomes greater than the pain we tried to relieve by gambling, that we will say “enough is enough”. For years, I sought relief. Relief allows us to continue in our misery . A “cure” is painful but when we wake up and work through all that pain it brings an end to our constant misery. It is a slow process. A type of grieving and it cannot be rushed.
I haven’t been around for a while. A close relative of my husband died unexpectedly in the early hours of Monday morning so we have been involved travelling to the funeral etc.
When everyone recovers from the shock there will be a huge VOID. This person played a very big part in my husband’s early life and indeed in the earlier years of our marriage….until I took up gambling as a “hobby”.
I was actually shocked when I met family members (in laws) whom I had totally forgotten. I spent 15 years gambling and for the past two years almost, I’ve been focusing on “recovery”. During that time everyone else moved on with their lives and here I am, on the fringes.
Yes, you are right, 3raser, gambling is a very debilitating disease. It has taken a lot from me.
Let this be your opportunity to kiss it goodbye, forever, one day at a time.
I wish you well!No gambling today
No gambling planned for 28th or 29th either.
I have to post in advance, as I will be away.( 23 months tomorrow since my last bet!)
To Monica
The BIG Day has arrived!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY and many of ’em.
Sixty is the new forty.
Let it be a New year, a new opportunity and a new blessed and fruitful, Gamble free Life
XIt did occur to me Micky , that it was a poor show that not one GT member offered their condolences on the death of your dear sister.
Life has become very insular.
I witnessed a member in GA one night sharing, with deep sadness that he had lost his sister the day before. He was shattered.
NOT ONE MEMBER SHOOK HIS HAND.
What has happened to our caring/Christian world?
Do humanists not empathize ? Have humans morphed into robots?
I’m baffled!I was interested to read on another thread, Monica that the visual images faded when you attended GA.
My mind was flooded with those images when I was in the throes of gambling. Most of my non gambling time was spent “dry gambling”. I would withdraw, deliberately, to an inner space for hours on end and even in my dreams, I would visualize my hand placing a note in the slot; then the amount of credit would be displayed and I would set the machine (in my mind)on MAX bets and off I would go for hours and hours, silently feeding my bad habit.
Those visual images always preceded a gambling binge.
I have trained my mind NEVER to dwell on such nonsense but what do you know, out of the blue, one night last week I was held up in city traffic just outside a casino I had the misfortune to frequent on many occasions. Suddenly a flashback came before my mind’s eye and I began to figure what each “image” was worth. I won’t use the exact “terms” in case it tempts or haunts another Cg but I can honestly say, I could not remember the “value” of each line of symbols. I didn’t rack my brain for any more than a second, because I know too well where “stinkin’ thinkin’ leads me. I wonder has my attendance at GA wiped the memory slate clean? In all the groups I attend (about 7 different venues) the person doing the chair selects passages from the “Red Book” and members read, in turn. More often than not , it goes over my head but subconsciously messages seep in . I know this because when I read posts here or when I hear or think of gambling, an answer from that literature flashes to mind.
Strange how the human brain works, isn’t it.
“Just for today, I will not be a mental loafer”!
I hope you enjoyed the “stolen” curry.
They say “what’s seldom , is wonderful”.
Reading about your sparse food intake makes me feel guilty. It also makes me realize I eat FAR too much.Time is moving so fast I skipped a day so for 25th and 26th I did/will not gamble
and that’s not a lie!!
Thank God that your cry for help has been finally answered, JP!
Best wishes for the future.
One day at a time.