Money/Debt

When I was in the cycle, I thought money was the root of my problems…Money also seemed to be the only answer to my problems.

Many Compulsive Gamblers tend to exhaust all funds available to them. Family savings, college education or retirement funds disappear. We max out credit cards, we take out loans, we sell jewelry and other things of value...remortgage our homes....often, we do not stop until our resources are exhausted.

Over and over again, we realize how much trouble we're in...how out of control things have become and we vow to stop. We MUST stop.
If only we can get out of this mess....so we take out a loan or a second mortgage in order to consolidate our debts.

Relief.

All is well.

This crisis has passed.

Inevitably we begin gambling again....

only to find ourselves back in the same debt we were in before PLUS that consolidation loan :(

some of us are able to consolidate again,
and again.

Debt is often the reason that we seek help.

I know that when *I* attended my first g.a. meeting, I didn't want to stop gambling....I wanted a loan.

It feels like debt is the problem.
G.A. says this addiction isn't a financial problem (although we often have created them). They also say that our financial problems are often the easiest to solve.

As I sobbed through my SECOND g.a. meeting (several years after the first one)...I scoffed at that line....this financial problem was the biggest problem I had ever faced...and likely I would never be free of it.

Overwhelming debt is also the reason that many people relapse..thinking...I'll STOP this time..I'll WIN and I'll STOP...and then I can pay off some of this DEBT!

Gambling is not the way out of debt for compulsive gamblers.

I cannot play because even if I HIT...I cannot win.....because I cannot stop.

The first step to paying off our debts is to stop gambling.