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...
I have been going to meetings since July and I really thought that these meetings were for me and my recovery. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that there can be GA drama as well. When I first got there (literally the first night), someone reached out to me and we developed a friendship. I was very vulnerable and he took advantage of me. Nevertheless, it's over now and I didn't change rooms. Recently, I developed some new friendships. One of my new friends is visually impaired so he obviously needs help here and there. Even though he tells me what a bad person this other guy was for taking advantage of me, he now thinks that it is my job to drive him everywhere, walk him everywhere, and put all of this food on his plate. I am a good friend and I would help anyone with anything, but this guy is clearly interested in being more than friends. He tried to take me out for a Valentine's Day breakfast, he bought me a birthday present... he asks me if he should wear cologne...I really thought we were just friends but a week ago he flipped out on me at a funeral for a GA member's father when he felt I deserted him when leaving the funeral with another GA friend. There were at least 10 other members there so he was not alone. He met us at the luncheon afterward and yelled at me and told me how terrible I was for leaving him like that. It's tough being a woman in a room that is 99% men so i attempted to befriend a woman. Unfortunately, she is very unstable because she actually snapped at me at the funeral for no reason at all. I understand that we are all addicts and have issues, but come on already! I didn't sign up for this BS. I just want to recover and enjoy the rest of my life. It bothers me that I feel like I need to change rooms so I can continuously run away from these people who rub me the wrong way when there are so many people in the room that I have grown to care about. Just needed to vent!
It is not worth complicating your recovery right to begin with to relieve your loneliness. I suggest that you find some other social outlets and maybe another group if you can't nip this overstepping of boundaries in the bud.
Unfortunately, any place there is a group of people there is likely to be Drama. You can choose how much of that you are going to allow yourself to be embroiled in and how you will react to it.
take care of yourself, and keep your guard up.......
I find that one of the areas I struggle in is with boundaries. I do not know appropriateness in relationships and I am 57 years old! Sometimes, I think I need to make friends with everyone at GA and at other times, I think that I don't want any of them in my personal life. It is one thing that the 12 steps of recovery have done for me...given me the opportunity to make a decision, although I feel very tentative, about whether or not I want to get into a friendship or relationship with someone. I am not referring to romantic relationships but relationships with anyone.
Because I often do not go to the local GA meetings, I always call into the Wednesday meeting and sometimes the Friday and Saturday meeting, too.