Today I told myself that I would not gamble and surprisingly I stuck to it! I even had some scratchers that I cashed in (for a measly $45), but I am so sick of losing my hard earned money on this rigged game that I didn't buy a single ticket afterwards. Instead I spent 16 dollars one two bottles of wine to enjoy with my girlfriend after work. On the way to work it felt really good knowing that I was going to deposit AND SAVE the money I was going to make rather than blowing half or more on dumb pieces of paper once my shift ends. Gambling really does skew your perception of money over time and you begin to not respect it for what it is. I read a post earlier, here on this site, where someone had said that continuing to gamble is like cutting yourself over and over- this really made me think about how self-destructive of a habit this truly is. You know you are constantly hurting yourself yet you continue because of the sick compulsion to "break even" or "hit it big". All of us know that even if we were to reach this unrealistic goal of winning big that we would continue to gamble until it was all gone. Someone once told me "Why do people like to hit themselves in the head with a hammer?", I shrugged... they answered "Because it feels so good once you finally stop!"

I would like to thank all of you brave souls who have ever posted here because sharing your stories takes tremendous courage and a lot more humility than I think most people have. Reading these stories has really helped me today and since I discovered this site. I am extremely grateful :-D