The Most Dangerous Lie I Believed While Gambling

For years, I told myself one lie over and over:

“I can win it back.”

It didn’t matter how much I lost, how much debt I was in, or how broken I felt inside — that lie kept whispering, “One more bet. One more game. One more shot.”

That lie kept me chasing.
It kept me stuck.
It almost destroyed me.

The truth?
I wasn’t trying to win money back.
I was trying to win myself back.
My confidence. My dignity. My sense of control.
But gambling doesn’t give those things — it takes them.

Recovery began when I finally stopped believing the lie.
When I accepted that there is no “winning” when you’re in the cycle of addiction.
When I admitted that the only way out was through — through honesty, through help, through time.

If you're reading this and still holding onto the hope that one big win will fix everything, I get it. I lived in that mindset for a long time. But I promise you this:

The real win isn’t on the sportsbook.
It’s waking up clear-headed.
It’s being able to look your loved ones in the eye.
It’s rebuilding the life you thought you lost.

And that win?
You don’t need luck.
You just need today.