Topic: Recovery journey from gambling addiction. - page 12. (Read 2693 times)

Well, I want to first congratulate you for being able to recover from the damage to your gambling activities almost cost you. I've seen a lot of gamblers that went down the trench immediately they lost control of their gambling habits. I guess it wasn't an easy journey for you considering you lost so much fund that were meant for some important aspects of your life.  Thanks for sharing your experience as well with the forum as it would serve as a lesson to some newbie gamblers who might think that they would be able to get rich through gambling or rather control their gambling habits. Gambling is addictive and the sooner or later you minimize the rate at which you gamble, the easier for you to know when you lost your self control...

I feel almost the same or maybe the same as your friend. When I am in a state of enthusiasm to gamble, I sometimes can't stop myself from gambling, especially when I have some funds in my account, my hands itch to use them to gamble, do all gamblers experience this or not, I don't know but I feel it myself.
Actually we have other things to fulfill such as paying bills, yes that's right and others, if we do have bills to pay then we must be able to prioritize them when we have money, but with those who are addicted it will not be easy to restrain themselves when they have money even though they have bills to pay but the strong desire to gamble will make them prioritize gambling rather than having to pay their bills.

In my opinion, the most important thing in getting rid of gambling addiction is strict control over your gaming expenses and having a hobby that will occupy your time. If you do not control your gaming expenses, this often leads to many dramas. Conflicts in the family, divorces, stress. But the paradox is that often a person comes to the idea of ​​​​strictly limiting expenses only after some dramatic situations, such as losing large sums of money. This is what makes a person sober up and get rid of illusions. The second important thing is having a hobby or a favorite job. Both allow you to distract your attention from gambling. The more your mind is occupied with gambling, the more likely you are to return to addiction.

It's actually good if they have the awareness to stop their addiction, it's just that it's not easy to leave a habit that is already firmly attached to the mind. But where there is belief there is effort and results that will occur, like OP and myself because I myself feel that I have experienced where I was addicted to gambling but I was finally able to recover by no longer having a great interest in gambling because previously I always wanted to gamble and in any circumstances I would try it but now not anymore.

It is indeed difficult to have awareness and stop gambling, even with those who are already addicted there are dangerous actions that are carried out even though it will clearly make them suffer losses, but still do this, it's very sad.

Even with medication it can't be controlled, if the person isn't ready to do it. Counselling is a major means through which people were made to self realise the mistake and then keeping themselves active on other things makes them come out of addiction.

Seeing gambling as a means to make money was the cause of my addiction. It was even the reason that I started to gambling. But after I quit the addiction, I did not get a job for like 2 months but I did not gamble again until after a year. So probably the job I got was one of the reasons I stopped the addiction but also if I do not get a job, I did not think I will be addicted again because I know the bad sides of it already. But the job that I got really also helped me though. You are right about that.

It depends on the stage of gambling addiction and it will be individual for each player. Since gambling addiction is a medical disease that is included in the International Classification of Diseases, it is accordingly treated only with the help of medicine.

I do not have any addiction to discuss but I want to ask you a question,  why would you choose to go back to gambling because I believe it dealt with you in your story. I understand that you like the fun in the game but don't you think you are going to endanger yourself with it? A gambler is always a gambler, you might fall into it again and that will be more devastating. IMO I think you better look for other jobs than continueing with what caused you some pain.

To get rid of gambling addiction, you must first prepare yourself. If I cannot quit gambling on my own, I will never be free from gambling addiction. If a person addicted to gambling does not work, if he is always involved in gambling, then first of all, the person addicted to gambling must find a good job. If he can find a good job and do it, he will be busy there. If a person is busy working, he will not have much attention to gambling. When he is focused on work, he will slowly come out of gambling.

Secondly, focus on religious activities. If an addicted person has good work but is still addicted to gambling, then he needs to focus on religious activities. If a gambling addict can devote time to religious activities, he will eventually come out of his gambling addiction.

Thirdly, you should always live a happy life, never think about unrest in your mind. If you know sports, you should play sports in your free time. Playing sports definitely makes your mind very good. Especially in the afternoon, you should play football with friends in your free time, play cricket, and create attention in various sports. If you can continue to do religious work and find good work to keep yourself busy, then you will definitely be free from gambling addiction.

What type of job do you have to give you that more stress than gambling? 

I think that it is a high-paying one and that's why it's too stressful for you. Going with a company really helps us do something better when we feel that we've been stuck into a thing that we used to like but not anymore due to the effects that it gives to us.

That's music to my ears.

Actually it's very good you realized your errors earlier, so many gamblers might have taken their own life's because of how miserable they ended up just because they wanted to gamble and make money. However, as an experienced gambler, you really need to be mindful on how you gamble and try very hard in a way that you won't become addicted again.
Basically it's very important to have more than one good paying jobs so that you will not focus on gamble for profits. Most addicted gamblers only focused on how to win and never considered getting another jobs and some of them are also jobless, so they put their hopes on gamble, believing that one day they might win huge money.

I love the honest words shared by op, I have not experienced addiction funny enough I know a lot about gambling addiction due to shared story I read online let’s consider the op as an example. What most people usually encounter and how they escape addiction is so complex meanwhile a large population of people still battle with addiction till date. A long vacation with no internet connection can help aside gambling this experience is a great one used for depression etc where you’re relieve from pains, I mentioned this first because I have seen people share their wonderful experience from stress after a wild thought, addiction also this vacation might be considered time taking due to the long duration a person is expected to stay. What op mentioned above is important and common, staying busy and exploring new activities is important.

What happened is that you do not longer place priorities in gambling rather your new jobs, and most people still can't leave gambling because they sees it as an easy way to make money without knowing that it kills so easily because when they try to make it happen as they think and it's not forth coming it turns to addiction. Yes, I agreed with you at least a specific amount not more than what he usually spent should be used to gamble instead of gambling with huge amount with the hope it would win big one thing day.

Why did you take such a big risk? every game is unpredictable even i think betting in football is more dangerous because we don’t know what happened in the last moment, i lost in some game where match result is changed in the last a few seconds, so i will never bet in football, i would like to bet in only cricket events. You shouldn’t take a risk with such amount, because after losses which you can't afford it.

Op thanks for sharing your experience, this will help lots of gambler to ease their hunt for the money of chasing after wins and losses.  I've read several stories about addiction and recovery but yours sounds different,  I can feel real pain only by reading your writing.  Well I'm glad you've  come to realization before it gets too late for recovery.  However gamble without self control is definitely a broad way to regrets, addiction in the first place begins when  there is no discipline, I believe those with similar experience who managed to recover from addiction are likely to fall for it again. Sometimes experience is indeed the best teacher as it can shapens ones thinking faculty towards greatness. Well done op, I hope you recover full of you losses.

@OP, it was your decision to control yourself that frees you from the grasp of gambling addiction.  I know it is really hard especially when we are adjusting ourselves from those gambling activities we used to do.  I experienced it myself but I am so lucky that I noticed it before this urge to gamble controlled me.

It is indeed helpful to focus to something else if we feel that we are getting more hooked on gambling every day.  In my case, I divert my attention to watching movies in my free time or reading manga just to occupy my free time, and to control my bankroll I refrain myself from holding my money so I let my parents keep it.

Distracting yourself with other things will be the best approach when it comes to this so that you will be able to make yourself that getting distracted on playing gambling because on the moment that you do find yourself having those kind of aims and thinking about doing gambling then you will really be just that eventually keeps on playing or going back into it. Also, if you do really mean out on quitting or stopping gambling then you can really just that stop midway. Somehow it wont really be that so simple on this case when it comes into this aspect specially on the time that you are really that being addicted into it, then it is something that gives out that urge that you will really be liking to play no matter what. Self control and discipline o which you will need.

It is unlikely that self-control is in any way dependent on a person's free time. In my opinion, self-control depends more on the gambler's understanding of the real situation at a certain point in time and discipline, the development of which takes a lot of time and effort.

I don't have a problem with gambling, so I don't see the point in forbidding myself this entertainment. If I realize that I have some problems, I will try to stop gambling completely. I already have experience in this, because I completely gave up entertainment that I liked, but brought problems because at some point in time I could not control them.

In my experience, keeping myself busy with work and always spending free time with my family after work and also on weekends is the most effective way. Because it makes me have no time to gamble and focus more on work and family because it will motivate me to do both well and make me excited to get money, and besides that I will think long and do research before doing it if I use money in the wrong way including gambling.

Actually, in any way if we have a serious intention it will definitely work, do it consistently and keep yourself busy with positive things it can also help reduce or overcome excessive gambling activities. Because people who often gamble or are addicted because they have a lot of time to gamble which makes them unable to control themselves.

 This is very interesting and I must commend your dedication and determination to quit gambling as a lifestyle. As you have said, taking such steps means one being disciplined and focused on achieving their goal of quitting gambling.  I actually have analyzed the steps you took and I must say that your modalities were a good one to start with. I wish you could dedicate a page after you have been able to scale through the process which you have stated with you explaining the process one after the other with the details of occurrences and incidence and how you were able to overcome with each measures you have stated.

Looking at the aspect of discipline, I believe many gamblers are really tackling this aspect of their addiction and this is a particular perspective that would really need to be looked into so that addicted gamblers can be able to overcome their addiction. If a gambler can consciously be disciplined and making sure they follow their laid down measures as clearly stated, they could be able to achieve their sole aim of doing away with addiction  just like you did. May I request you to create a special thread as you were able to tackle your addiction or you update this thread in full details one after the other and sequentially how you were able to overcome the situation so that others tackling with such would be able to learn from your experience too.