enough is enough !!!

Hi Marc, welcome to the Forum,

You are not stupid my friend - you have found something in your life that you are effectively "mentally allergic" to, and that is ok, as long as you recognize it and deal with it.

Gambling is a lose-lose scenario for you and always will be - if you win, you will be thinking about that next big win, and want to play again within hours, maybe even minutes (which invariably leads to losing) - if you lose, then you face soul-wrenching desperation to regain what you have lost (which invariably leads to losing).

No matter what you do and where you go in life, that will always be the same for you. Accept it, live with it and move on with your life my friend - you are 20, and there are a lot of open doors at that age - the alternative is compromising the best years of your life and the lives of those you care about most.

You are worth more than that my friend. Urges come and go, they soon pass - nothing is worth what you feel right now, nothing is worth that sense of hopelessness when you are standing there, receiving a pittance for your personal items. I did the same many, many times in my twenty years of gambling before I stopped over five years ago.

Draw a line under this experience - it is a painful life lesson but it will stand you in good stead if you stop now, for good, forever. Judge for yourself as to how you feel in these coming days and weeks - do you need help? Would GA help you? Analyze yourself, see if there is anything that drives you towards gambling.

I hope you can get there my friend. You are not stupid, you are not a bad person but you have something in your life that needs to be addressed, and you have to ensure that you do it immediately.

JamesP

Hi Marc,

Welcome to the Forum, and thank you for sharing your story. It seems clear to me that you have addiction problem; being aware of yourself that the big win you’re looking for would never happen and you still continue to gamble confirms it all.

Saying you’re at a stage now where you find it necessary to pawn majority of your items, and also cancel your long awaited holidays just to feed your gambling addiction sounds rather worrying to me.

I’m advising you to try and seek professional help immediately to overcome your addiction problem. At age 21, you’re still young, and thus possible to have many years ahead of you where you can be gamble free, and thus lead a normal life.

Gambling addiction gets worse if you don’t do anything about it. Don’t try to chase your losses because you won’t get those monies back; at worst it would lead you into deeper debts. It pays to cut your losses now, since there’re no guarantees that you’ll win some money.

This is the time that you ought to focus on your studies at the University, and achieve your aim in life. I’m sure you wouldn’t want a future where you can hardly afford to pay for your basic necessities, and to have creditors chasing you everywhere for their money due to your gambling addiction. Making efforts to stop now will give you a better chance in life where you can then use your hard earned money for your needs and proper enjoyment. You seemed to be a hard working person (as a student, you’re also working f/t), and you should know that you deserve better in life.

I’m encouraging you to contact our free phone Helpline on 0808 8020 133 for some detailed professional advice regarding strategies and boundaries that you can put in place to help you overcome your addiction problem. There’s a lot of help and support to help you in your journey to recovery.

We can also offer you 12 sessions of free counselling nearest to where you live if you think it will help you to overcome your addiction problem. Perhaps you’ll like to open a diary here and update yourself with the progress that you are making.

Thanks once more for using the forum, and please keep posting.

Regards,

Beatrice

Hi thanks for the replys the information is taken on board thanks for your help 🙂 day one gamberling free.

Hi Marc,

Im also 20 years old and coming up to 21. Its a horrible situation to be in, this is my 3rd day gambling free and im feeling a lot better. Im clearing my debt first then I will be enjoying my youth with the boys, you can do the same as well. Come on here everyday and you will find support.

Good Luck!

Jack

Hi Jack,

pritty much in the same boat then :/ at least we're beginning to turn oup lives around. well done on getting to your 3rd day keep it up.

Hi Marc welcome to the site. As you can see from the posts your story sadly is a familiar one amongst us all. I’ve struggled for years with gambling and it certainly doesn’t get any better only worse. Recently I’ve placed software on my pc to block me from gambling sites which is helping. I’m also going to GA. Today I’m in with a chance to rebuild my life so long as I don’t place that first bet.

Take care.