Thank you Seanraj, Steev and Vera
Seanraj, today your posts about positivity keep coming into my mind – and it reminds me that is so easy to be positive when we are gamble free. It also leaves little room for others to make negative comments.
I always found negative comments set me backwhen I was gambling. – they made me feel hopeless and somehow incapable of change.
Such comments were often delivered under the guise of “straight – talking” or “telling the the things we don’t want to hear” or even “challenging us”.
Of course that was never their purpose – their purpose was to give the poster a sense of superiority/power or some other personal pay-off.
After a number of months of counselling I see the world differently – I understand that the negativity of others isn’t about me – it’s about them and I can only change me!
And so it is in life- I had come to believe that I needed to change because my “issues” gave others the right to treat me with less than respect.
I no longer believe that – no one has the right to be disrespectful to me- if they don’t like me as I am, they must make their own decisions about that but I deserve respect whatever their feelings !
Vera you are so right – having a gambling addiction causes huge mental stress. What I hadn’t considered was that we were gambling in the first place to escape mental stress. Counselling has helped me shift some things which were stuck – and has given me freedom so there is no need to escape anymore !
Steev thank you for your continued support – you were a huge anchor for me in the early days of recovery when I was in danger of drifting away !