Self Confidence? ...

Hi Reddy , I think everyone that gambles uses it as a form of distraction , weather it be to block out bad memories from your past or even to escape something that your going through right now , or maybe to deal with boredom or a mundane life that you feel is going nowhere ? . With me it was more about escaping reality for an hour or so by using gambling to focus on something else, a distraction really . Looking back , I could have done something else , walked the dog or gone to the gym but that would have been far too much effort for me , so I took something far more simpler that fitted in exactly with the time I had on my hands and that was gambling !.

The trouble is once you get that buzz and excitement from playing , winning, losing , and chasing losses , a dog walk or going to the gym just wouldn't cut it for me anymore , so now its become about lifestyle changes and choices to get my house back in order again .

Its a good one that Reddy. Low self esteem and lack of confidence do form gambling addicts.

You have to deal with quite a complex mind process. One philosopher said inside every gambler is a miser which is also true. we actually cant bear the thought of losing so chase and chase till the bitter end. The gambling process creates compulsive gamblers. I was ignoring the odds but still thought "how dare you do that to me" as the gambling trance set in

Gamblers are dreamers, escape artists, shy loners, lost in life, bored with life itself, misers, very depressed and it only takes one of those things to trigger a gambling habit. Im sure there are other factors I havent mentioned there

I feel each person has a set of demons in different combinations which trigger it.

Lack of money and even jealousy triggers it because we ignore the odds and only focus on the things we cant buy that week. Only gambling will make sure you cant buy anything because you wiill be left with nothing.

Material things can be another addiction and I was a shopaholic at one point. Only material things are often substituted for real happiness. I got to a stage where the pleasure of buying things was so low that that I just put the box straight into a cupboard.

The point there is we lose sight of what really makes us happy so we think we lose the value and meaning of money. Money really can be the root of all evil but obviously we need to live and buy necessities in our economic system.

I hope you have blocks on and keep talking about it

Best wishes

Thanks for the comments.

The two really are linked! Joy divider's post about the Miser in us and a line from Alan "or maybe to deal with boredom or a mundane life that you feel is going nowhere" are probably what relates to me the most. I would love to get more enjoyment out of the simple things in life and thats what I am working on.

Today is the day that I would normally be placing my bets for the Masters. I have been having thoughts about just doing it and hoping to win some lost money back but hopefully will stay strong and not bother. I do have the temptation however especially as I will be doing my Dads ones for him as he isnt aware that I had met my yearly gambing quota at the end of January!

Anyways off to do that now and hopefully the thought of my day counter will keep myslef away from placing any bets.