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...

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cloris
cloris
You would think with all the pain gambling has caused it would be easy to bypass the casinos. My goal is a GF 2012 so far I am doing so, but the last couple of days I have really been having to talk myself out of going in to a casino. I hope these urges go away, it has been a struggle, at first the thought of going in makes me sick but lately I find myself having to say all the reasons not to go in out loud. I probably look crazy talking to myself in the car, of course I was looking crazy when i would talk to the casino machines. However when I get home without going to the casino I am practically giddy with relief I did not gsmble. I hope gambling, both the urges and the regrets just get out of my head as I go forward with living.
deleted_user
deleted_user
great response eastwester, it is so true. i have went long periods gf before but i feel different this time. i appreciate and love my life and all the things i have now. i think it becomes a habit when we are in action to think negative about not hitting the big one so we feel like losers all the time. we base our lives on winning or losing money or the material this we are going to achieve with it. i have only been gf this time since august but i have truly been working the steps and learning to love me and my life. its not has hard as i expected it to be. learning to love myself and being grateful for the things i have has taken away the envy, the greed and the desire to punish myself or to zone into something to escape. i have a wonderful loving family, my own business that i enjoy doing and it gets me by with a little extra, a couple nice cars, and a great group of friends that i meet with twice a week (ga). im the happiest ive ever been and being grateful for that gives me my strength not to gamble today. cloris give yourself credit for the things you have accomplished and get the strength you need to fight the urges. you deserve it and you are doing great but it doesnt have to be that painful or hard. you deserve peace and happiness and you can find it in yourself and your loved ones or your ga friends. god bless
deleted_user
deleted_user
And it will, trust me! I know from experience. TRULY WANT IT AND TRULY DO IT.

Start something very different like BEING KIND TO YOURSELF and doing something for YOU.

To HELL with them, what have they done for all of US?

Keep your eye on the TRUE PRIZE!

YOU CAN DO IT!
deleted_user
deleted_user
You know the mental anguish this disease brings is probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do deal with. I have 23 days GF and have attempted to stay clean for about 2 yrs now. I am very grateful for my GA and family and would spend every evening with them if I could. The support and understand received for my GA family is absolutely amazing. The one thing I would like is to find is a sponsor though! I know if I stay away from the casino that my life transformation will be worth it. We have to just keep telling ourselves that we no longer want the pain and shame in our lives.
Stay strong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
deleted_user
deleted_user
keep up the hard work cloris.
great posts from everyone.
eastwester your posts are always just the medicine I need.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Cloris, sometimes it is hard to fight the thoughts that have led us there over and over. I can relate. The cycle of insanity sucks so bad. Doesn't it? Fighting the thoughts is way better than giving in. Good job recognizing what's going on in you and good job overcoming the urges and thoughts. I'm in the same boat. Let's take it one day at a time. Recovery may not always be the easiest choice, but it feels right, doesn't it?
deleted_user
deleted_user
It's so weird how easily everything we learn can be "thrown out the window". Geez! But we can only buy into those lies for so long. It's like dealing with a teenaged version of ourselves. I'm glad you are able to talk to yourself out of it - these days it looks okay anyways because people assume you are talking on speaker phone.

As far as talking to the machine, you probably could dance around a machine and cluck like a chicken and no one would care cuz everyone just wants to win money. I never yell at the television at home but I yelled all the time at the horse track screen (either for joy or in anger) and so did everyone else. I heard all kinds of things but didn't give a hoot cuz I was worried about my next bet.
cloris
cloris
Thank you all for your comments. Of course I feel much better when not gambling, and I actually have a list I keep with me of things gambling has done for me: stressed me out, lost money, lying to my spouse, and most of all the lost time with my family. This sounds silly but I need to get in the habit of reading it when I am feeling urges..I think if I just take a quiet moment and read why I have had it with gambling it would quell the thoughts in my head. I am so used to talking myself into a casino-you know "20 Minutes" or "I can just double this $20" I need to get into a new habit of talking myself OUT of going into a casino! I am keeping a journal of my gambling for 2012, some days I just write GF, some days I write more. I am still GF for 2012 and I can just imagine the let down of having to write that I gambled, I just do not want to start over at day 1, I have done that so many, many times. the only way not to do that is not to gamble, I am tired of it. That is why urges are frustrating!! All I can do is fight them. I tell myself I gave gambling way too much time, I used it up, its over.