ex and would be ex-gamblers support thread

cantcope

Everyone can have a gamble free day today. It's about having a choice. To gamble or not to gamble. When you are in the grips of this addiction your freedon mof choice is lost in a whirl of chasing losses and chasing bigger wins.
Today i chose to get up late, watch my hubby make bacon sarnies. i might dust then we'll watch some movies on tv before i go to my meeting tonight. That's my choice.
6 years ago i'd have been up at dawn (if i'd bothered to go to sleep) logged on and gambling like a mad woman. smoking like a chimney...no wash, no breakfast, no calls to family, no tv....just gambling.... in misery........... i choose life x

Madone13

A gamble free weekend for me, felt pretty hungover for a lot of it - but no gambling so in that respect its been a good weekend. Not looking forward to work next week cause its going to be horribly busy at work - but hopefully if I can get my head down and work hard I can get to the end of next week with A the satisfaction a really decent weeks work to start the New Year and B having not gambled. But lets take one day at a time!

Cantcope I can definitely sympathise with the getting up late and having bacon sarnies! Good move I think!

bigloser

Four weeks tomorrow!

It seems much longer, and a funny thing has happened. My favourite casino site - I won't name it - always changes its bonus offers on the 1st of each month. I was such a saddo that for months (maybe years) I couldn't sleep the final night of each month because I was too excited about checking the new bonuses. Today I realised it's the 3rd January and I hadn't even wondered about the offers!

Cantcope, I COMPLETELY relate to your description of yourself 6 years ago (except the smoking - I couldn't afford cigs 'cos of all the gambling!) and I feel very lucky to have got out when I did. I deeply regret all the money I wasted and now have to somehow pay back, but I regret the wasted years even more.

Madone - I see you have got a debt-free diary going. I will subscribe to it to hopefully keep you motivated, but you won't recognise me because I have registered under a new name so I don't have to talk about the gambling in my own diary . Actually you MIGHT recognise me - I'm the one with the biggest debt on the board :cool: .

Good luck everyone xx

Madone13

Thanks bigloser - having peoples support is a massive help. Will have to see if I can spot your diary - good luck with it! And glad things sound like they're going well.You're point about the time wasted more than the money definitely rings home with me - I'm really excited about how different my life could be (indeed will be) with no gambling in 2012 and onwards.

Another day gamble free but need to be wary of getting complacent! I'm feeling strong at the moment but I'm sure there will be times down the line when I'm tempted - thats when I need to be strongest and remember to take it one day at a time!!

GeorgeUK

Hi guys

Hope everyone's doing okay and managed to ignore the deluge of Christmas email offers from the bookies etc.

I'm just going to throw my tuppence worth into the ring for gambledandlost.
I've never looked at K9 but i didn't use it because i thought it would be too easy to get around. Don't know if it would require edditing the registry, but i'm sure if i really wanted to gamble i would give it a try.

Plenty of people have fallen off the wagon - you're not the first and won't be the last. The important thing is that you are willing to pick yourself up and try again. It's you that's going to get the bruises each time you fall; we can try to support you, but we can't really do more than tell you what worked for us.

I know you say you're a computer expert, but are you able to spend a few days away from the computer? I found that this 'detox' was actually quite difficult - checking emails and sites etc was almost second nature, but it was another habit i had to break. The computer had stopped being a tool and was something i was almost dependant on. Took me a while to figure that out and why it was important to step back a bit.

If you've read the first few pages of this thread you will have seen some of the process i had to go through to identify what my problem was. Yes, i had a gambling problem but that was only part of it and had to look at everything i do and the way i do it. Not saying that you will need to do the same, but questioning yourself may enable you to see why or when you get tempted more than at other times.

I hope you manage to find the motivation to continue to not gamble and even if you don't agree with some of the posters here, i would say that it is important that you find someone to share your journey with. It's almost an added incentive to keeping yourself honest as it were. If you don't feel comfortable here, then please look at some of the other sites for recovering gamblers.
(note: i have noticed that a few are quite hostile if they do not feel a person is sincere in stopping or goes into too much detail about their gambling process - i think some people are so scared of a relapse that they just attack anyone that makes them uncomfortable about it. Not this site, just my view on reading some other site threads).

Good luck with this gambledandlost. It's a tough nut to crack, but if you are motivated you can do it.

Me? I need to work on my stress and anxiety. Everything on the gambling front is nice and non-existant. I just wish the 'free money' offers would stop so i wouldn't need to guard against a moment of madness. I don't have anywhere near as much patience as i used to, i've noticed. Not short tempered but do seem to be angrier than i used to be.

Anyways, got work to do
See you later folks.

Madone13

Just checking in to say hello to everyone and that things are still going well. I've been pretty busy at work this week which has kept me busy which is good - in fact this week has been manic! Looking forward to the weekend so I can just chill out a bit, although am wary that I need to make sure I don't get bored and let my guard slip.

Hope everyone is still going strong, just take it one day at a time.

cantcope

Keep going everyone. We all sound strong and focused. I cant wait for the weekend Madone. I'll be doing housework, shopping and visit to cousin planned. Sundays are for chilling........
I used to do anything i could to be away from the laptop at weekends when i first stopped. Baking, walking, call to friends while wandering around, shredding old bank statements (satisfying beyond belief!). As long as you're busy and focused you'll be fine x

Hi George, great post as always. Patience is something i still struggle with. I want everything right and i want it NOW...and if i dont get it then i think of the serenity prayer......or curse under my sweet breath lol....

Madone13

Hope everyone had a great gamble free weekend - I certainly did - lots of exercise, no drinking and most importantly no gambling.

Going to be another tough week at work for me but keeping busy is no bad thing. One day at a time.

cantcope

Well done Madone, you're going great.
My weekend went waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast after a really !!!!py week at work oh well, 5 more days lol

Just for today I will not gamble x

Madone13

Thanks can'tcope - the support is very much appreciated!! Only 3 days to the weekend now

Bigloser and Oh dear be good to hear how you guys are getting on. Hope you're both still going strong.

Things still going well for me, but felt myself getting a bit complacent today - thoughts were drifting to the future, need to remember for the time being just take one day at a time.

I didn't gamble today and I won't gamble tomorrow.