Gambling Addiction & Recovery Support Group

Compulsive gambling is an urge or addiction to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. A preferred term among many professionals is problem gambling, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word. Problem gambling often is defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others rather...

971 Members
6,389 Posts
0 Online
Addiction & Recovery
/ Gambling Addiction & Recovery Support Group

Forgiveness????

2mcdphnurse
2mcdphnurse
I know some of you probably will be offended by this but I read everyones post on a daily basis. I read a lot about forgiveness. I not sure if I agree. I think yes, forgiveness is good for the 1,2 and poss. third time gambling but if you con't to gamble then forgiving yourself its pointless unless you plan to really do some real changes in your life because after a while it is meaningless to forgive yourself. What I have found is that feeling bad about what I have done to my family, how much money I have spent and taken away from my family keeps me from going to the casino. I did the forgiving thing several times but con't to gamble. Staying mad at myself keeps me out of the casino. I think when I forgave myself and things in my life became normalize again it gave me the rite of passage to do it again. I want to stay angry @ myself because I do not want to ever be in the emotional distress I had been in the past. I know everyone deals with this issue differently but making those changes so you don't have to forgive yourself time and time again. I wish everyone here a gamble free day. Jackie
deleted_user
deleted_user
That really makes alot of since. Thanks for sharing. I no everybody does have to figure out what works for them.
jayd03
jayd03
Interesting post. What I would say is forgive, but never forget. Self anger is not the answer in the long run, because you need to build self worth in the long run. You need to depend on you and if you're angry with yourself, that can be difficult. In the more abstract way, however, never forgetting those parts of yourself that got you here is crucial. You can get angry at what you did, but not at yourself is the bottom line.
You can't change the past, you may not change the future, but you can live each day the way you know you need to and the way that will build a better past each day.
Jay
JohnnyZ36
JohnnyZ36
hi Jackie. great post. i truly believe in forgiveness for almost every aspect of life. holding onto grudges only seems to weaken your own heart....gambling is definitely a different beast though. i honestly wish i could forever hold onto the hatred i have for the casino. i have no hatred towards the employees at the casino.. most of them are really great people just trying to make a living. as time passes i always get in the passive mode of thinking the casino isnt that bad... and as we all know.. it really is. since the casino is a structural setup and not on a personal level .. i hope i can never forgive them for what they have done to me and alot of other people. as for real life please forgive and forget.. life is to short to hold grudges. as for the casino.. i could never recommend not holding a grudge! take care everyone and hold onto that casino grudge! :-) johnny
2mcdphnurse
2mcdphnurse
I kind of agree with all of you but after repeating the offense there is no point in forgiving. Maybe a good word would be "acceptance" and move on. There are only so many time you can forgive yourself and then forgiveness means nothing. I feel acceptance is a better choice of word. Yes, I think forgiveness is good if you are willing to do something about the behavior, right? I know for myself I just accepted what I did and move on and change that destructive behavior. It has now been almost 7months gamble free and I can tell you it feels great. Thanks for listening.