I don’t think gambling starts off as a problem, it starts off as an escape. Well it did for me. It was something I could do on my own and forget about other things in my life while I did it. I think because we turned to it more and more for escapism, we fed the habit and unfortunately it gradually got hold of us and became an addiction. There was something fundamentally wrong with my life before I gambled and I’m intrigued to see how the GMA therapy dissects that side of the problem and addresses it. Perhaps, if you analyse your life, you may find reasons and triggers as to why you turned to gambling initially in the first instance. It will require people with greater powers and insight than we possess to clarify things for us.
I turned to gambling for 3 reasons, escapism in the first instance, then for chasing my losses and ultimately to self-destruct. Depending on my mind-set at certain times it could be any one of those 3 reasons or a combination of all 3. Very rarely did I do it for fun. It was only ever fun in the very early days. It soon became a chore, hard work and hardly ever pleasurable. Even when I won, I don’t remember being overly happy. I got brief highs, but small peaks were always followed by deep troughs and that pattern has remained constant right up to the present day!
The gambling industry really does need looking at. I don’t mean penny arcades at the seaside. Even as a compulsive gambler I would hate to see those go, but mainstream gambling is far too easily accessible and too over exposed to the masses. I’m not one for living in a nanny state and feel we should all be responsible for our own actions and lives and not be constantly told what to do, but to have gambling rammed down our throats during every commercial break is wrong and should be looked at and regulated by law.
Anyway mate, I could go on for hours, hope you’re feeling as good as you can under the circumstances. You’ve only got just under two weeks to wait until you start to be given the tools with which to help you build the next chapter of your life. Much happier times await, so keep the faith.
Charlster.