It was not that long ago that I was new. Ive been in recovery since June of last year. The biggest thing that I have learned so far (and Im still learning every day) is that you have to put some actions into your desire to quit. The will to quit is probably not enough. No matter how strongly you feel it.

I believe we all came to gambling in a unique way and we all have got to get out of it in our own way but Ive noticed that there are some common threads that we share. That is comforting. I know that when I first came to this board I wanted someone to tell me what to do, what worked for them. I needed ideas. I needed hope. I got that here and much, much more.

I am here for you. I understand your pain and I am fighting this fight along side you. Together we are stronger. If I can quit, there is hope for us all. I also gambled about every 3 days towards the end. It got to the point that I spent my paycheck before it cleared the bank. I was sick all of the time with the stress of it. No one knew how bad it was and what I had done. I felt that I would rather die then be found out. I could not imagine quitting. I had tried a hundred times. I was terrified because quitting was plan A and suicide was plan B. I reached out for help, got into outpatient treatment and in the beginning I put every ounce of energy I had into not gambling.

There is hope and I can truly say that facing everything Ive done and dealing with the fall out of my addiction is a much better way to live than being a slave to those machines, than living as a liar, than not having any peace of mind ever.

Lets all agree that today we will not be slaves to gambling.