People are doing this!

I once thought this couldn't be done.

Not only did I think *I* could not do it (nor did I really WANT to).... I didn't think that ANYONE (like me) could stop.

at g.a. I met a handful of people who seemed to be, at one time, very much like me (stuck in my addiction....and in a helluva lot of pain).

so then I thought.....most people canNOT stop....but the few that have...have done so using g.a.

but as my horizons broaden, my position changes.

I thought NO ONE could do it because I wasn't exposed to anyone who had (well...I wasn't exposed to much of anything or anyone...I was spending all of my time gambling)...

then

once I was exposed to people who had broken free....it just so happened that those people were in the rooms of g.a.

makes sense really.....

but then....one day....I was paying off (finally) a payday loan that I had been renewing month after month....so I was sort of familiar with the man who worked there.....he knew that the loan was a secret from my husband (please don't ever call my house!)...but he probably thought it was from shopping (or something)....ANYWAY
this day...I am paying off the loan....he tells me to come back if I ever need another loan...I smile and tell him I won't be coming back. The loan was because of a gambling problem...and I'm not gambling anymore.

Really?
he says.

then he tells me his story.....alcohol.

how he drank every penny he had for years....his health was bad, his life was terrible...then one day, for the umpteenth time, he said, 'I have to stop this' and he did.

i drove away wondering....maybe he wasn't a REAL alcoholic? that he could just STOP that way....I know I couldn't quit gambling all by myself?

then....later.....a friend mentioned a book to me, entitled Sober for Good -- it told the stories of many people who had stopped (drinking)...using all sorts of methods....including just stopping.

and I started thinking...

if there are people out there who have stopped gambling without using ga....I just don't know them because....well...only because I don't know them.

it makes sense that if I'm going to g.a. ..... I'll find some successful people there....but if I'm not travelling in the same circles as those OTHER guys....how would I know?

that's unfortunate....step 12 of g.a.....carrying the message to the compulsive gambler who still suffers....that's a good thing.

i think....even those of us not working the 'steps'...need to do that.

once I found online groups...NOW I was someplace other than ga. where people were trying to stop...and guess what? NOW I knew people who were stopping without attending meetings!

my point is.....

if you have tried to stop on your own and have been unable....then find others who are doing what you desire to do......listen to what they have done.....find a way to make it happen for yourself.

they are out there.