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...
Have you asked yourself this question? I bet many times but what is your answer? I do not feel I gamble because I feel like I am going to win. I gamble to forget what the real issue is. My issue is probably with my own unhappiness. I need to find something to make me happy or to forget my problems but we con't to torture ourselves by putting ourselves down and makes ourselves feel horrible with gambling and losing. I would like to know what makes you happy and what would it take to make you happy to keep you from gambling. Please respond. Sometimes we know the answer but we avoid it because it is too painful or not willing to change our lives to keep us from destruction. I am just curious what other think.
1. The thrill of making huge bets and the rush
2. I needed to keep people thinking I was not being beaten (my ego would not let that happen)
3. I did it because I was bored (yet I love to do many things)
There became a point where gambling has physically made me sick ..........this happened a few months ago after being free of it for 15 months. I went with my buddy up to Laughlin and I was just riding the wave runners and watching the football games and just enjoying the time away. Well he was like cmon put a few bucks in the video poker machine it won't kill ya..........So anyway I put in a $10 bill and after the first few draws I seriously got up walked into the bathroom and puked!! The reason I believe this happened is because instead of gambling the previous 15 months I had been investing my money in the stock market and steadily been watching it grow. As the days gone on and I saw the money increasing I felt more in control of my life :) I bought myself a nice telescope and been on a few vacations I've always wanted to take because of all the money I had been saving. From investments and saving it has come out to $40,000 in 15 months. So that day when I pissed away a few bucks it tore me apart. It took me from the time I was 21 until I was 37 to realize OMG WTF am I doing to myself.
I always felt like I needed a lot of money on me immediately to feel confident and to feel like that monkey is off my back as the feeling of being invincible would take over.
Now I go star gazing at night, I watch interesting documentaries on netflix, I go on little mini vacations once a month, and I am actually buying stuff for me!! .....I used to torture myself and think ok my bills are paid now I have $500 left over hmmmmm lets go to the casino and BLOW ALMOST ALL OF IT knowing just how much I needed for gas and groceries to get by until the next check and heaven forbid some issue like a car repair would come about.
I wish i could tell you what made me unhappy in my life because i can't exactly pinpoint it. I will say though I wish I could have time back and do things over again but I cannot. I also feel like I'm kinda rambling :) but I'm hoping whatever I am writing hits home a little bit????
What kind of things make you happy? What do you enjoy doing?