My head is riddled with reasons not to, and to be honest the more I go through them the stronger the urge is to go against them. Weird, isn't it! I will refer to the gambler in my blurb below as "you" - This does not mean that I am not talking about myself, because I am. It is just easier to read and write this way...
You put in a little bit, you get a little bit back. Then you lose. So you put in a little bit again, and you win a little bit again. Then you lose, again. Now you're down financially. Time to attempt to break even...
Put in as much again - immediately lose.
Do it again - Lose again. We're all familiar with this series of events and yet cannot overcome the urge to recover losses. The idea of winning is too great.
I blocked all my accounts and relapsed last week, and subsequently won a few hundred and withdrew it. I got my account by creating a duplicate of myself which was naughty - Against the game's rules. And now they are doing everything they can not to pay out. Funny really because I lost far more than I won. They know that. But they don't want me to have it. It's as though they know I'm trying to quit so they don't care for me anymore.
This has become a rant but it (as I am sure we all know) is good to get it off your chest.
I need, for myself, a list of reasons not gamble. One that I can refer to when I get the urges. If anyone else finds this list useful that is great 🙂 If you want to contribute to it even better! Or you can just read it, that is fine too. I will add to the list as I think of the reasons - I come up with so many that I forget the good ones (that is probably my mind making it easier for me to make excuses).
OBVIOUSLY the money. Keeping cash works well for me because my problem is with online gambling. Asking someone close to you to look after your finances will work well too.
Relationships. I have always found that when gambling, nothing (and no person) else matters. I have no time for my partner, I don;t want to eat, drink, toilet break... It has a dramatic impact on social life and for many spirals into (or worsens) depression. Stay close to people.
Socialising. It is hard to have fun with friends without money. An evening in the pub, drinking tap water? No thanks. A trip to the cinema, that's a tenner I don't have. I find that arranging (and paying for) these things well in advance helps me structure my life and gives me focus.
They're crooks!! They're not actually crooks. Although this is how I visualise them (I am talking here about the people behind the online games and bookies etc). They pray on me, I submit, they win. To me - crooks!
I read on this forum yesterday about the "TIME - MONEY - LOCATION" triangle. I set the words as my wallpaper on my phone and on my laptop and it does seem to be encouraging me to make sure I never have at least one of them.
Does anyone else have reasons which you would like to share?
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Thanks for your reply Robert.
Checking your bank statement is scary. I dread looking at mine and fear even more anyone else ever seeing it. 20 in, 20 in, 30 in, 50 in, 100 in, 35 to *mobile phone provider*, 20 in, 20 in... you get the picture. But maybe that enormous negative can be a positive... a way for me to look to rectify that and not be so frightened of my partner opening the monthly letter. It's food for thought.
Another reason not to...
Every 20 in is a bouquet of flowers for her 🙂
... I want my life to be like that.
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