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Now, let's begin! --- My name is Ana, and I'm a thirty-five-year-old woman from Brazil who has been struggling with a gambling ♠ addiction for years. My story starts when I was in my early twenties when I started to play the lottery ♠ regularly. At first, it was just a fun way to dream about the possibilities of winning big, but it quickly ♠ became an addiction that consumed my life. I began to spend more and more money on lottery tickets, hoping that ♠ the next win would be the one that changed my life forever. I remember the rush of excitement I would get ♠ when I first started playing. I would check the results eagerly, hoping to see that I had won the jackpot. ♠ But as the weeks went by, I started to realize that I wasn't winning anything significant, yet I continued to ♠ spend money without thinking about the consequences. After a few months, I noticed my addiction was worsening. I was spending a ♠ considerable amount of my monthly salary on lottery tickets and was now taking risks like playing with figures that went ♠ up to 40% of my income. The uncertainty in the pandemic only worsened my behavior, as I found solace in ♠ the escape of gambling. I started to lie to my family and play more frequently, so much so that I ♠ even skipped work to play the lottery. I was so hooked that I took out loans and even sold some ♠ of my belongings to fund my addiction. |