Among the many interviews I have watched with gamblers who have recovered from addiction, there is a common feature - they say that the danger of starting to play again remains with them for life. It's like a stigma that always stays with you, and you can't get rid of it - you feel that you have to control yourself, and you need to avoid all kinds of gambling. In no case can you even play on a demo account, this is one of the rules of self-control. It is believed that a demo account is one step towards starting to play for real money again. Of course, it is much easier to control yourself if there are native people nearby.
This is something that happens to every single person that has experimented an addiction, as despite the fact that they know that going back to their former addiction is something bad, they cannot help but to crave for those sensations again, now this is very problematic for those that are addicted to illegal drugs, but it should be many times worse for those that got addicted to something that is legal, as the source of their addiction is everywhere and every single day is a struggle for them.
Therefore, you should always stay within the limits. And it's actually quite simple. But our human essence requires us to look beyond the edge and cross it. We never believe someone else's experience, and we won't believe it until we suffer from breaking the rules ourselves. From the decision they made themselves, turning a blind eye to the warnings of other people and the sad stories of people addicted to games. Therefore, it is very important to be able to control yourself and know your weaknesses. We need to be able to look at ourselves from the outside and admit that we are not perfect, and we ourselves may be in the narrator's chair about his gambling addiction. A lot of different circumstances can break us, but now we have no idea about them, because every person has his life experience limited, and expands throughout his life.
Curious people, right? Always trying to cross lines. We naturally consider "What if?"
Why is it that we still believe "That won't be me" even after hearing horrific tales about addiction? I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly a few times. Our ego, our stubbornness, our need to be right – it's crazy how often these things get us in trouble. Really, how many times do we need to be told this? But no, we always think we're the unique like that, right?
I agree that self-awareness is really important. I've seen friends get hooked on and lose everything. It looks bad. We don't really understand something until we're in the middle of it. Know what your limits are. Trust me, you're not as strong as you think