taking my life back

566 Posts
82 Users
0 Reactions
40.3 K Views
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
 

Hello Peg, This has little to do with ga but I was going over your posts and read that you program computers. Don't know if this is your domain or not but I've just had a flash which may or may not be brilliant with regards to Web Site design. I'm not up with that sort of thing so my idea may have been around for years but if it hasn't then who knows. Won't say any more unless you're interested.

 
Posted : 15th March 2007 10:15 am
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
Topic starter
 

It is work gams, but it *is* possible (I didn't always think so) and it is sooooo worth it. 🙂

TTNY - I program large computers, business applications...no P.c. or web design here...plate is already full 🙂

 
Posted : 15th March 2007 12:21 pm
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
Topic starter
 

I just received an email from a friend..started to respond..thought this might be good food for thought for some (was for me)...

There's been quite a bit of discussion on the forum lately about what made us gamble...

Many of us refer to ourselves as escape gamblers (I do) but it became much more than that (because this *is* a progressive disease).

I am using the ga 20 questions as a guide here:

After losing, I felt I had to return as soon as possible and win back my losses.

After a win, I had a strong urge to return and win more.

I gambled to escape worry or trouble.

Arguments, disappointments and frustrations created within me an urge to gamble.

I got an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling.

So...while I started out gambling for FUN...then began gambling for COMFORT..eventually...that is all I wanted to do was gamble and everything in my life revolved around when I could next gamble or fixing the problems that I created when I last gambled.

xoxoxo

 
Posted : 15th March 2007 10:38 pm
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
 

This is how *I* see it. Peg *you* taught me * * thank you it's a useful tool.

A 70 year old who had never gambled in their life before, becomes a ga not long after fruit/gaming machines are introduced. A person with all the material possessions anyone could want starts gambling & becomes a ga. Someone like myself who started gambling because they thought it was an easy way to make a buck becomes a ga.

Sure some of the people in the categories above would have been lonely, bored, under financial pressure, emotionally stressed but not all! There are countless people who carry the same troubles but don't become ga.

No doubt in my mind that problems fuel ga and that it is harder to give up if you have problems but I don't believe it is the only reason why people become ga.

To explain myself created a scenario:

Two friends go on a holiday together, they have known each other all their lives. All aspects of their lives are equal. On their holiday they both play the fruit/gaming machines for the first time in their lives. Betty loses ВЈ50 and stops while Wilma keeps playing and loses £200 before she stops. The next day Wilma is back there playing while Betty and no inclination to play whatsoever.

You could argue that Wilma lost so much that she had to go back and try and win it back. But why did Wilma lose so much in the first place and why didn't she learn her lesson from that loss?

Wilma is on her way to becoming a ga and Betty's life resumes as normal. Why?

Thanks for the homework.

xoxox

 
Posted : 16th March 2007 2:02 am
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
Topic starter
 

the way *you* see it... you're welcome, TTNY, I find it useful also.

lol flinstones...cute 🙂

well...regarding betty and wilma...am sure different people would argue different things..(old peg would argue SOMETHING..just cuz she argued) lol

but I will throw something out there to think about....

I have mentioned my addiction dr. before......on my first visit..our conversation:

Dr. asked me some general information then he asked 'Do either one of your parents have any addictions?'

My Dad.

To what?

All kinds of drugs...I haven't seen my father in nearly 20 yrs so I don't really know details or the extent at this point.

Do you have children?

Two boys.

Are either of them A.D.D (attention deficit disorder)?

Both of them have been diagnosed and are medicated for it.

Do you have any siblings?

One natural brother and one adopted brother.

Your natural brother...what is his drug of choice?

*********************

Did you catch that? He did not ASK me if my brother had an addiction...he KNEW....the answer....is alcohol.

P.S.

statistically, people who are a.d.d. who are not medicated for the condition, almost always self-medicate (drugs, alcohol)...I am certain that I am a.d.d. (I only know about a.d.d. because of my children).

 
Posted : 16th March 2007 4:37 am
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
 

Is this the room for an argument? I've told you once! No you haven't!

I agree with what your Dr. is saying and the precise point I was attempting to make in the scenario put. From the posts I've read family surrounds the majority of people on this site, but family does not surround Martin who joined us just recently and myself, yet we all have a ga. Different situations yet same ga problems. Hello! Here I am thinking if my Mother hadn't died when I was 3 years old I wouldn't have ga but would I? I'm not so sure now. The more I think about it, to me the simpler it becomes. If you can't swim (and some if not all ga will never learn how to) you don't go in the water. Unfortunately for me I had to almost drown far too many times before I realised that.

Flintstones you got that one 🙂

oxoxo

 
Posted : 16th March 2007 7:56 am
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
 
 
Posted : 16th March 2007 7:59 am
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
Topic starter
 

(((TTNY))) Sorry about your mom.

 
Posted : 16th March 2007 12:42 pm
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
 

Hi Peg

just to let you know..Last wednesday went really well. there were four of us there and it was a great meeting...a much better start than i anticipated.

take care

Jim (last bet 22/04/06)

 
Posted : 16th March 2007 12:51 pm
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
Topic starter
 

a friend said this to me in an email...loved it 🙂

I am focusing on the reasons why I no longer gamble. Oh the "rewards" of not gambling far outweigh any "rewards" of gambling. Wait, there weren't any "rewards" gambling. 🙂

 
Posted : 16th March 2007 1:06 pm
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
Topic starter
 

i've been thinking about that...no rewards...they sure try to make us THINK there are...casinos sending limo's to pick up high rollers...free hotel rooms...meals..credits in gift shops....I have clothing, leather bags...

I have had vacations where I didn't pay for a thing!

Yeah, RIGHT....it was free.

 
Posted : 16th March 2007 9:55 pm
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
 

Because you give so much.

Immediate Family none of which is my Mother:

1 alcoholic (recovered), 1 drug addict (deceased), 1 alcoholic/ga (recovered) and myself ga (recovering)

oxoxox

 
Posted : 17th March 2007 8:29 am
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
Topic starter
 

Thank you for that ((TTNY)). I find that, even in giving, I am helping myself..truly.

You should be really proud of yourself TTNY.. I'm sure that your Mother is.

xoxoxo

 
Posted : 17th March 2007 12:17 pm
(@Anonymous)
Posts: 0
Topic starter
 

There was a time when I had a problem with that...the never gamble again thing..

THe Gambler's Anonymous Program tells me that ever is too big to think about...to focus on today...

BUT

There is a man in my local g.a. group...an 'old-timer' (what we call people who have a lot of clean time and have been in the program practically forever) and he once told me this....

Sometimes...if I really get an urge to gamble, I tell myself that I will go to Las Vegas next year.... blow it all...one year from today...if I get through this day... and the next year, one day at a time, then, one year from today, I will go celebrate.

This works because, Tomorrow never comes 🙂

There is a sign hanging in a local bar that says

FREE BEER TOMORROW

 
Posted : 17th March 2007 1:09 pm
Paddy1961
(@paddy1961)
Posts: 80
 

Hi Peg,you always seem to be there to help and pass on a good word.There is no finer gift than giving without reward.There are days where it all goes pear shaped but when I ask myself is gambling going to make my situation better,no chance.Thanks to everyone who posts,we need everyone.

Thanks ((((Peg)))

 
Posted : 17th March 2007 1:51 pm
Page 9 / 38

We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.

Find out more
Close