Introduction to the I am Not a Gambler
Program
It all starts with questions.
Why?
When I was gambling, I didn't want
to be a gambler. I was basically doing it against my own will.
I wanted to stop, but was unable to. In other areas of my life
I could do things my way, but with gambling addiction it was different.
It controlled me. I would be driving home from work and suddenly
my car would pull into a parking space seemingly by itself and
I would go in and start gambling. It was an automatic habit and
when I would go home after losing whatever money I had in my wallet
I would think to myself, "how did that happen? I wasn't even
planning on gambling today. What is wrong with us compulsive gamblers?"
This started me on a journey to research
and learn more about the addiction of gambling. I don't have all
the answers, who does? But I do have some questions, and I've
learned that asking yourself positive type questions is better
than asking yourself negative type questions.
What I learned is that there can
be many paths to overcoming addiction and each person can create
and customize a plan that will work for them.
Here is the magic key: "It
depends on what questions you ask yourself."
In this website you'll read about
my story and the idea is for you to use some of the ideas on this
site to create your own unique story. You can stop gambling in
your own way. The seeds for this are inside you, you only have
to let them take root and grow. You're not one thing or another,
you're an adaptive being. You can get addicted to something and
you can get un-addicted. It all depends on what questions you
ask yourself and what you do to implement change. This is my basic
premise. It frees you from the self-loathing. The shame. The guilt.
It gets you started asking more appropriate questions. "Well,
if I got addicted, how can I get un-addicted?" See, isn't
that much better than "Why am I so bad? Why can't I do anything
right? Why am I trying to destroy myself?" Find out what
it is about gambling that gets one hooked on it, find ways to
retrain your mind to become a 'new you,' a non gambler. Do what
it takes to reinforce new habits, that of walking away from gambling
opportunities so that it becomes a part of who you are. Over time,
your mind will develop new pathways, you will transform yourself.
Say to yourself over and over, "I
am Not a gambler. Gambling is a bad business proposition. Why
should I continue with that? I'm not a gambler anymore. What's
it to do with me?" Start thinking like that and actively
walking away from gambling opportunities and soon you will find
that it becomes the way you are. You will find a 'new you.' When
you stop viewing gambling as something desireable that you must
resist and view it as something that is simply a bad financial
decision, you will no longer have to fight the cravings. You'll
start living days when you don't even think about gambling. You'll
get on with your life. You'll find new hobbies, new interests.
You'll learn that you are not one thing or another, you are what
your actions are proving you to be at this moment. Read the chapters
at the left. Print out the page which is the link named "Precepts"
and study it every day. It is so contradictory to everything we've
been taught that it will take awhile to sink in. Gambling gets
people addicted. But you can get un-addicted! There is indeed
hope. Start getting addicted to healthy living by changing your
thoughts and your actions. You are what you think you are.
Use the H.O.P.E. method of addiction
recovery to transform your life!