Big up on dumping the alcohol, and I have confidence that'll you'll beat this too. Good luck out there!
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I wish you the best in the future, and from the sounds of it you are doing the right thing in the circumstances. I've had my own problems with drink in the past and it's still something I struggle with - I've stopped short of losing jobs or my home but it's something that has certainly cost me friendships and respect. I'm irresponsible with my finances but I've stopped short of spending money I can't afford on giveaways. But some of the things you talk about sound dreadfully familiar regardless. You were already on my whitelist and you shall remain there if you ever feel the need to come back and leech - but right now focus on the future that you can build for yourself and your family rather than letting your past drag you down.
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I wish you luck in your real life. Sorry to see you go but sometimes you have to do what you need to do.
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WOAH - This is some heavy stuff
I didn't knew about it.
I can only wish you luck! And karmic return of all good things you did, so It was all not futile
😀
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sad to see you go, but given the options this is for the best for yourself and everyone around you.
hope things get better in real life, don't let addictions take control of your life.
💜💚💙💛🍉
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Sadly, I didn't get to know you, but I wish you a lot of luck. I have a close family member who is an alcoholic so I know how hard it is. It looks like you are taking some positive steps forward and I think you'll do great in the future.
Good luck!
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You would always be welcome even if you're not making giveaways, although I get that being here might make it hard so it's also ok if you choose to stay away completely. The most important thing is yourself and your family, so take as long as you need.
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Sorry to hear about all you've been through, man. Can't say I've seen you around here but I'm not as active as I used to be so I'm not surprised. Good luck to you and take care!
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Wow... I'm very honored to receive your recognition, Admiral.
I'm sad to hear about what you've been through, but glad to hear that you are gathering the strength to take action and better your life. While your presence will be missed, your family, life and health comes first and it's a very good thing to put important things before leisure/entertainment.
I wish you the very best in your future endeavors. But if you go back to drinking or some worse addiction, I want you back in here, you hear me? :D
All jokes aside, thanks for being part of what made SG such a great place. My respect to you, and good luck!
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I don't think I've ever heard of an addiction that involved giving until you had nothing left. An odd one you have, where it seemed to benefit many but at the cost of yourself. Hope you find that balance in your life once again!
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knowing one's big and small problems is one thing but actually fighting them is something else. that's the struggle we all face.
good luck!
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That's a lot of names. D:.
Will be waiting for ya!
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Good luck in the future. Stay safe and take care of your family :)
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So long, wish you all the best in life ^^
Thanks for sharing with us... with ga and your story... Better make a prioritize in life
Please take care of yourself and family first, maybe sometimes drop here ^^
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It's great that you had this epiphany before things got even worse. I wish you and your family the best!
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Thanks for sharing your story. It sounds like a break will do you some good, and I hope you are able to return one day with a more casual approach. Perhaps set yourself a small limit at the start of each month, and don't allow yourself to go over it. Everyone on here has different situations and I appreciate some people are exceptionally generous with their giveaways - I had never considered how it might have gotten out of control for some people. I wish you the best of luck. Take care of yourself and your family! :-)
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So sad to see you go.
So happy to hear your life is changing for good!
Best luck to you for your choices and your future!
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I hope you will find balance in your life. After all, our lives outside of SG (or internet in general) are most important.
But I won't say farewell, as I hope you will sneak in forum / GAs comments from time to time. We need positive people, as without them everything is dark and gloomy.
So till next time ^_^
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It takes a strong person to recognize that you have a problem and an even stronger person to address that problem to try to fix it. I respect you for taking that step and I know you can get it under control my friend. We await your return in moderation! :D
Take care of yourself man!
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Wow.
Good luck on your journey and getting well. You're lucky to have your family and friends stand by you.
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On October 10th, of 2014 I joined SG. Today I must leave for a bit after just over 2.5 years.
Some of you may know me, and I know that for some of you I have developed a great deal of admiration and respect in that short time.
However, over the last couple of months I have been grappling with one of those bitter truths we never want to accept. I have a lot of faults. As some of you may know, I was a prison guard for nearly fifteen years. What most of you do not know is that the career (along with many other factors) drove me to drink excessively. That affliction cost me my job in mid-2012. It was the end of the Great Recession, and there was little work. That was especially the case for a recovering alcoholic - especially since I still had not accepted that I was an alcoholic and obviously was not yet in recovery. The handful of jobs I was able to land were short lived. Who knew people did not want you to show up sweating booze all day (yes that's sarcasm)? My family and I ultimately lost our home. I didn't accept my condition and begin sobriety until January of 2013. I finally found steady work again in July of that year.
So back to the bitter truth; after a year of full time employment I stumbled upon this site from a reference over at CheatHappens.com by a friend there. I got hooked pretty early on. Don't get me wrong, I like winning, but the real hook for me was giving. I loved the thought of some person I did not know at all getting a game they may have really wanted... and thinking that perhaps that made their day... or even their week. That's a large part of the reason I was usually pretty picky about what I gave away. There was a short period I veered from that goal, but the enjoyment I got was less. So I went back to trying to give primarily AAA games or games that were high on wishlist counts. Sadly though I have come to the realization that this giving (for me) has just become another alcohol.
There have been too many months over the last two years where I dumped money into GAs that should have gone to rent, bills, food, and other necessities. I'm not going to say that SG is my only vice (not at all), but what I have come to realize is that I am just replacing one terrible addiction with others, and those are causing just as much damage to my family as the bottle. What's worse is that since I've been sober the whole time I've seen all of it, but still kept going. Last year we lost our apartment because I kept going with my spending (again, not just here... but eating out, buying video games for myself... and other things that served to provide immediate gratifications). My family and I have fortunate enough that friends took us in, and those friends have been unfortunate enough that I have taken advantage of them and not stopped this train wreck.
Now it has to stop though, and part of that is stepping away from here. Again, most of you don't know me, and this message isn't really for you. However, to those of you that have been influences on me here I did want to say thank you and so long for now. With any luck I will return in the not too distant future and be able to participate in moderation, or maybe even just leech for a bit (doubtful, I still have an enormous backlog I'm trying to quash). Hopefully there will still be a place for me then... though I suppose there isn't really anything that could stop me aside from cg (whom I give a great deal of thanks to!)
I'm certain there are some that I'll miss here, so please forgive me, but I wanted to drop special thanks to the following for making this place a bit more awesome from my perspective:
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