Genetic Addiction

Hi Molehole, a very interesting topic and post.

I haven't gambled for around five years either, but I still have an addictive personality.

I eat too much and I drink too much but I am not an alcoholic - I don't feel the need to drink every day and I never drink indoors, but when I am out, I do tend to get carried away more times than not; i'm not falling over drunk, but I do drink far above the recommended limits.

There is little doubt that I drink more since I have stopped gambling; the positive thing is that I haven't swopped one addiction for another, but I have made a bad habit worse, which I need to work on. I have a stressful job which involves a huge amount of hours, which no doubt adds to frequent lapses of sobriety.

I was the same with the internet when it first arrived, and partly with video games when they first arrived on the scene in the late 1970's/early 1980's (although I got bored with most of these games quite quickly). I have tried drugs on very rare occasions but don't find them enjoyable - I am quite happy with who I am, warts and all; I don't like taking something that affects my personality to any great extent - I can see why others do but it has never really been for me and most likely never will.

There maybe something else that comes alongs that takes advantage of my addictive personality - like you say, it is in our nature. As long as I keep on without gambling, then I don't see anything else as being a massive problem - almost everyone has faults, almost everyone is flawed in someway; there are those who shop too much, do too much gym work, there are workaholics, there are those that are violent, there are those who spend too much time on their cars rather than be with their familes - the difference with us Molehole is that we can look at everything objectively, we know outr faults and our limits because we have plumbed the depths of our personalities - others will never see that, and will never want to, but it doesn't make them any different from me and you.

All we can do is place the prevention of gambling at the top of our list, and then work on the rest. There are certain things we can do like changing social circles and receiving counselling; it depends how much of a problem you think it is - I am certainly going to try harder to stop drinking as much as I do; it is unlikely that I am heading for an early grave but there is no doubt that I am not helping myself physically.

Thanks again for this post Molehole. I hope to hear from others too.

JamesP

Interesting post James, thanks for the insight.

But sometimes I just worry that you and me haunt this forum because even though we've got over our gambling issues we still can't let it go, so we give 'advice' like we are experts just to keep our heads in the game.

Thanks for your insight, but as you always tell other people not to get complacent when they've stopped gambling and think they're doing quite well, I'll say the same to you - why are you still here reading these posts if gambling no longer has any meaning in our lives?

I reckon the answer, my friend, is because we have addictive personalities and if we can't lose the money ourselves, then we want to watch other people lose theirs and give 'advice' after?

Food for thought? Or maybe I'm just drunk again and trying to find a reason not to gamble.