Labor Day- No Rest for the Addicted

Gambling is such a powerful drug that we chase the high despite the countless financial losses, the unmeasurable guilt, and the loss of self esteem.

It is not any different than the crack addict who risk his or her safety, financial ruin and personal collapse to chase down the next hit for the intense high it brings. Gambling is more dangerous in that the denial of its destructiveness is more institutionalized because of its economic impact. Politicians are the pimps and the gambling institutions are the whores waiting with open arms into which we run. But it is legal. Casinos, race tracks, card rooms and lotteries exist as though there are no problems. But we all know that underneath the fragile smiles of gamblers lies an an uneasiness. It is as if the gambler knows he or she is walking on a narrow bridge when at anytime she can fall into the abyss. Scratch the surface of any gambler with small talk about their gambling and you get the nervous laugh or cavalier response which belies the denial.

Gambling, like any addiction, will find the chink in your emotional armor. It's a strong drug for the uneasiness with which we all live and the daily struggles. I realize that now, but still breaking the addiction and resisting the attraction of that powerful high is hard. It is so easy to get on that merry go round of chasing the high, and God forgive you if you go on a winning streak, because the addiction grafts that much stronger to your emotions.

The longer you stay away from gambling that is one day less the addiction has hold of you.

Good luck on this Labor Day.