updates...

Addiction truly becomes difficult to handle when there is a perceived benefit to it. Drunks use alcohol as a social facilitator, a liquid courage of sorts, the benefit is a lack of inhibition; drug addicts find the high too much of a pleasure to live without. Gamblers gamble for the same high - they become addicted to the highs and lows, the adrenaline rush that comes with big wins and even big losses. This itself is a strong enough factor to cause addiction. Now if there is a benefit to experiencing these highs, such as actually winning money, it becomes an even bigger struggle to quit.

I am playing poker online again. I know, I know. It's quite weak, especially after that last self-righteous post about not gambling. Now, that said, it is not all-consuming, I am not playing for hours on end, and I am not playing for huge money. In fact I am playing at almost the lowest stakes possible. Just enough to satiate the need. The problem is I continue to win. Now I know that this doesn't sound like much of a problem, but I find it much easier to quit when I am losing (eg. "hey, if I can win a few hundred dollars a month playing with very little risk, why SHOULDN'T I play?). I thankfully possess that bit of common sense telling me when enough is enough, the little voice inside my head that espouses reason and logic. And that is a lot more than "true" addicts have I think. I am thinking of emptying the account again...maybe if I do that a few more times I will just quit entirely.

Anyhow, needed to get that off my chest. Gotta wake up early tomorrow...I'm calling Dubai!


cheers.........................