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‘Hope your Step Meeting went well Monicau?
You seem to have a brilliant sponsor. I never got a sponsor. Don’t know why.
I watched a few You Tubes. One was a very good interview by a psychologist called Tom Lavin with the director of an addiction Centre called Denise Quirk His Programme is called “New Skills for Living”, if you want to have a look.
I’m plugging out everything in ten minutes. Planning to take a train journey to meet an old friend tomorrow. Sleep permitting!
Well done on taking the dog for a walk or should I say well done doggy for taking Monica for a walk!Bumping you up to the top, Bettie!
When you feel up to it , it would be nice to hear how you are keeping.
Also Jen and that gorgeous baby.
We miss you on GT!Haven’t seen a post from you for a while Shaun. Everything ok?
Hope the kids are settled back in school
Roll on Christmas! HA HA!How are you doing Dabbers?
Just touching base.WE only have Today, Monicau.
Glad to hear your pain has subsided. When some of the stress is removed it helps our physical state.
I have had a few unproductive days. I’m doing nothing except flicking from phone to laptop on different sites. If I could get 6 hours sleep I would be a new woman!
There is a GA Awareness event near me tonight ( 40mins drive away)but I can’t go.
Where are you watching the GA Speakers? You Tube? Is there a link?Sorry to hear you are under the weather, Micky. Real life sucks sometimes, too!
The old Chinese “salt and water gargle cure” works for sore throats.
All “First World ” problems compared to gambling but they still drag you down.
I’m still bobbing along in my imperfect world, Micky. One day at a time. Nobody can stop time moving on. In one way I’m impatient to get all my debts paid but I’m acutely aware when that goal is reached I will be 3 years older.
EEEKS!! I hate getting old!When “our game is up”it brings relief but we need to step up on our awareness. Even after I owned up and admitted to my husband that I had lost a fortune, I still managed to run a side show for about 6 years . I continued gambling. I reassured myself that because I had “come clean” I was no longer at risk of being caught. I fooled MYSELF. In the end the secrecy took it’s toll. It was far more damaging than the gambling itself. At this point, I had narrowed down my “significant others” to only the few who would enable me . I had pushed everyone else away. I think a CG has an innate ability to target the vulnerable .
GA helps to keep members grounded. It is very humbling when you meet someone who is illiterate and yet displays more wisdom than the so called big shots who boast about their academic achievements. GA is a simple programme designed for very clever people. I have met more interesting/intelligent people in GA than I did in any other walk of life.
I still have no idea how GA works!Well done I did it!
One day at a time!Hi Sandy. I read your story but this will be just a short comment. I hope you don’t think I’m being too blunt.
Compulsive gamblers cannot gamble without money.
CGs run out of money fast , so enlisting enablers is the only way the addiction can be “fed”. A Compulsive gambler cannot control their addiction in the active phase. Enablers prolong the agony by making gambling possible. That is not to say you are in any way to blame for your mother’s addiction or for her debt. CGs will surround themselves ONLY with people who can make it easy for them to gamble. Everyone else will be pushed aside. I know you don’t want to be disloyal to your mother but if you want to help her I would suggest you tell her that you are going to inform her enablers of her situation. She needs family intervention before she destroys herself. I think the family has a duty of care to the CG. Arranging an Intervention may or may not be the answer but at least it brings the problem into the open without being disloyal to the CG. We are all only as sick as our secrets. I am, as your mum is, a Compulsive Gambler. If the family had blown the lid on my secrecy long ago, it would have prevented a lot of misery.Glad to hear you made that trip to see your dad, SJ. I know it means a lot to you and to him too, I’m sure.
Glad too, that you weren’t one of those suckers who have more money than sense!!
Well done!
Talk soon!same here…chronic insomniac
playing slots in casinos until 3 am paved the way for that. among other things…How do you feel today Jon?
Most CGs will want to gamble every now and then. It comes with the territory.
The urge is strong because we are CGs. Non CGs don’t get gambling urges. Many CGs don’t get urges either.When my need to gamble became greater than my need to win, the urges began to subside.
Can you figure that out? Food for thought!
Hello Monicau,
Sorry to hear you are in pain. I hope the medication kicks in fast.
Diet, too plays a part and I’m sure you don’t need any lectures on smoking but they don’t help either. (Just sayin’!)
I can’t point any fingers….just back from a weekend family event and I spent last night in agony in a hotel bed from over indulgence. Like gambling, it’s so not worth it!! Of course when the suffering subsides we tend to forget and quickly return to the “pleasure” that caused it.
Gambling caused ( or certainly exacerbated)a lot of health issues for me. CGs tend to ignore warning signs and use the “Poison chalice” as a cover up. Without it we are left with many open wounds, some emotional, some physical. In the Serenity prayer I think the “biggie” is “The wisdom to know the difference”.
Despite your many on going issues, I sense a huge change in your outlook since you started this thread less than a month ago. I don’t know if you have chaired a GA Meeting ever but that IS a cathartic point in recovery (I chaired two meetings this week!) GA is a great leveller. We get to meet so many people from different walks of life. It can be both humbling and uplifting to realise we are no different from anybody else.
Our lives are in God’s capable Hands. I have found when I sought joy and happiness in the wrong places, things always ended in tears. Of course Real Life is not a bed of Roses. My belief is that we are just passing through this Life and there is something far better in store. The Gospel today was “You cannot serve two Masters” Matt. 6. How true! I’m glad Gambling is no longer our ruthless master.
Keep posting Monicau. You are doing well
By the way, I’m glad you like my poem. Thanks for your gracious comment.Thanks for posting to my thread, P.
Listening to gamblers face to face in a group is different but its always great to get a post on GT.
I met lots of distressed people in casinos too. Strange how gamblers pour out their troubles to each other.
When we are in action we are numb not only to others’ pain but also to our own.
I’m glad to see you posting again P.
Stay focused.
Life goes by too fast.