Will the program work for me?

[MajestyJo]

I am trying to overcome an addiction..it's not alcohol though, it's gambling...can I still participate here???

No matter what the substance is, it all leads to the same soul sickness, and the Steps are applicable to all areas of life.

It makes me sad when I hear someone say, "Well I am not using my drug of choice." So often when you use something else, it leads you back to your drug of choice or the new addiction takes you to where your old addiction did. For me, substitution didn't work. When I got honest with myself, I found those other addictions,that I thought were new, were there all the time, and it would depend on the time of my life, that I picked them up or set them down to pick up something else.

For me it was alcohol, pills, food, work, my computer, Nevada Tickets, Internet Games, shopping (Although I didn't think I liked shopping, I realized that I just didn't like shopping without the money to buy. Window shopping was not enough, it only made me want more.), bridge, TV, reading, my bed, etc. anything that would allow me to escape me and reality and allowed me to just shut down and shut the world out. I was back just existing, instead of living. Moderation is okay, but when could an addict have just one. i.e. I have 20 books out at the moment from the library. I never want to run out and I was always afraid of missing out, want to get everything an author writes. Like all things, it is the thinking behind my dis-ease.