How Anna Martin Overcame a Paralyzing Gambling Addiction

She tried to justify the addiction, telling herself that she could stop whenever she wanted. But Anna spent all her disposable income on gambling. “There were times when I couldn’t pay bills. There were times when I had to borrow money to exist,” Anna said. No filterconfessing that he even considered stealing.

Then, a sentence from a stranger changed his life.

“It was one night when I was sitting in bed at home crying with a knife next to me, thinking, ‘This is enough, I can’t do this anymore,'” she said. “‘And if my family ever found out what I’ve been through, it would be easier for me not to be here.’

“I realized I couldn’t do it to my mom, and I couldn’t do it to the people around me who I knew would be there for me if I needed help. I stopped and said, ‘I need to get – it help'”.

So Anna called ‘Lifeline’ and talked to a woman about her addiction.

“I’ll never forget what he said,” Anna told Mia. “She let me talk, she let me cry, and she said, ‘Honey, you’re going to be okay.’ And I remember saying, ‘No, how do you know?’ She said, “Anna, you have survived 100 percent of your bad days and you will continue to survive.”

It was a simple sentence from a woman she had never met, but it was the beginning of a new life for Anna.

“He talked me into putting the knife back in the kitchen drawer, told me to take a shower and go to bed, and said, ‘This is what you have to do next.’ And he made a plan which I believed saved my life.”

The woman gave Anna a list of therapy services and told her who to call if she felt unsafe. The 25-year-old also joined the self-exclusion program for gambling, which involves a person voluntarily banning themselves from places where they can gamble.