14-11-2010, 01:47 AM
Helen,
Very, very attentive of you and, firstly, thank you for praising me for helping others. It gives me a sense of wellbeing to do so. No, I don't attend GA meetings anymore, but it was those meetings that brought me to my path because I undertsand the effect and also how difficult it is to live "day by day" and get to the meeting with a small grin on your face to say those words: "my name is Barrie I am a compulsive gambler and this week I didn't gamble".
My circumstances though meant I didn't abstain more than 9 months on the programme and this was entirely due to the fact I had a partner to control cash.
That was 7 years ago. 4 yrs ago I made a huge change to my life and in part that was to stop gambling. The GA meeting is however my home....my mecca....my sanity...they always say you will always go back to your home one day.
To give me strength in this "Sad World" where much is valued on "Money"...much is valued on "possesions", I lived through very tough times so think from my heart...and speak with my mind.
It's a "greater purpose" for me to live a decent path....so day by day I don't gamble......
You say about me signing off with "good Luck"...there is a reason for me using this expression and I know it's the most commonly used term by someone talking to someone having a bet....but here's my logic!!
In the UK, you switch on the TV and its gambling shoved down your throats...you open the newspaper to have your daily read and its odds, odds, odds...Lottery Headline....you listen to any radio channel and it's in daily topics, you go to work and its raffle, you watch your football team and its "betting" accross their shirts...you cannot escape the onslaught of reminders...
No one ever said "good luck" to me because I hated gambling....when I gambled I didn't do it to win, I did it for all out destruction - no luck involved....I learnt one thing "you create your own luck".....
To sign off "good Luck" is because if people want to bet it's simple: "they bet" if they dont then "they dont", if something is killing you then you don't do it...it's about barriers to the above onslaught and I put a huge huge one in the way of me....believe me.
Life is about choices....and the hardest one that I needed the most "good luck" to do was to say enough was enough.....and even when things go against me and I have "bad Luck" I know it is "good Luck" that i didn't make it worse by gambling.
Ill post my story..so the world can read, then you will understand me...
B
Very, very attentive of you and, firstly, thank you for praising me for helping others. It gives me a sense of wellbeing to do so. No, I don't attend GA meetings anymore, but it was those meetings that brought me to my path because I undertsand the effect and also how difficult it is to live "day by day" and get to the meeting with a small grin on your face to say those words: "my name is Barrie I am a compulsive gambler and this week I didn't gamble".
My circumstances though meant I didn't abstain more than 9 months on the programme and this was entirely due to the fact I had a partner to control cash.
That was 7 years ago. 4 yrs ago I made a huge change to my life and in part that was to stop gambling. The GA meeting is however my home....my mecca....my sanity...they always say you will always go back to your home one day.
To give me strength in this "Sad World" where much is valued on "Money"...much is valued on "possesions", I lived through very tough times so think from my heart...and speak with my mind.
It's a "greater purpose" for me to live a decent path....so day by day I don't gamble......
You say about me signing off with "good Luck"...there is a reason for me using this expression and I know it's the most commonly used term by someone talking to someone having a bet....but here's my logic!!
In the UK, you switch on the TV and its gambling shoved down your throats...you open the newspaper to have your daily read and its odds, odds, odds...Lottery Headline....you listen to any radio channel and it's in daily topics, you go to work and its raffle, you watch your football team and its "betting" accross their shirts...you cannot escape the onslaught of reminders...
No one ever said "good luck" to me because I hated gambling....when I gambled I didn't do it to win, I did it for all out destruction - no luck involved....I learnt one thing "you create your own luck".....
To sign off "good Luck" is because if people want to bet it's simple: "they bet" if they dont then "they dont", if something is killing you then you don't do it...it's about barriers to the above onslaught and I put a huge huge one in the way of me....believe me.
Life is about choices....and the hardest one that I needed the most "good luck" to do was to say enough was enough.....and even when things go against me and I have "bad Luck" I know it is "good Luck" that i didn't make it worse by gambling.
Ill post my story..so the world can read, then you will understand me...
B