Hi Mav,
You have taken a massive stride in addressing your gambling issue, you don’t need me to tell you that gambling is the root cause of most of the negative stuff in your life right now, it certainly is in mine. Prioritising what is most important to you and your health is the important thing now. If you focus on everything that is negative in your life then you will get completely swamped, you’ll get into a depressive state and who knows where that road will take you. One thing is certain, it will be counter-productive.
If you address your gambling issues and focus on that, a lot of other things will fall into place in your life.
If you fail to save your current business, you can always start another one, and if your gambling issues are behind you, any new business will thrive as a result. If your health suffers, that may be irreversible and if you lose the people that are most important in your life, you may not be able to get them back. In the whole scheme of things, your business, as important as it is, it is not the most important thing in your life.
I am a master of letting everything that is negative in my life bog me down. It’s never done me any good, in fact it’s given me an excuse to gamble, which has just compounded my problems. Honestly, your business issues may seem massive to you at the moment and yes, they will need to be addressed, but try not to get completely swamped and awash in negative thoughts, focus on the great strides you’ve taken in addressing the root cause of your problems.
If you’re gambling free, your state of mind improves, your health improves and people will want to be around you, so that is where your energies need to be at the moment. That is how I see it from the outside looking in and from personal experience.
I have loved and lost twice, one a wife and another a long term partner and I’ll never get them back. I missed out on my daughter growing up, she’s 22 now, I lost my house and I am now in rented accommodation. Gambling was the root cause of all of this, but wallowing in self-pity and being awash with feelings of what could have been, feelings of failure, having regrets, always looking back instead of looking forward, also played a major part too.
It prevented me from focussing on the here and now and I totally lost sight of everything that was good in my life. If I carry on like this I’ll just keep repeating the cycle and I’ll never find peace and happiness.
Your business is so secondary in the whole scheme of things, even if you can’t see that now. Your health and your family and staying gambling free is what matters now, so feel good about what you are doing to address your gambling issues, don’t feel bad because your business may fail because of it.
If your family had to make a choice, have you back in their lives happy, spending quality time with them and creating cherished memories or having a successful business, they will choose the former. In an ideal World we would all like to have everything, but sometimes we have to settle for the things that truly matter, so please, don’t get bogged down in business worries, make a list of everything that is essential to keeping you happy and your family unit together and focus on those.
I truly wish you all the best
Charlster2