I've lost around £1000 today. Its a lot of money, but I am fortunate enough to have stayed away enough from the casinos these past few years to actually save up some money. Of course if I keep going back my savings will be all gone.
Feeling really quite depressed, gambling for me is just something to do for excitement, I'm really quite lonely, and that is probably why I do it. I've spent these past few years living like a hermit, not going on holidays, having fun, having a life. Just working overtime, scrimping and saving every £1 I earn, I don't really know what I'm doing or who I am trying to impress. Why do I value money so much over everything else? The figure in my bank account is how I value myself.
I read a lot about people on here who are in relationships, or have kids and things like that. That's a really weird situation for me to imagine.
I don't have any friends. I walk around town wondering how people meet, or how people develop good relationships as you go through your 30's.
I hope my life turns around.
Hello urgh,
You've mentioned in your post that you've been feeling depressed, lonely, bored, and that your life revolves around work and money and that you don't have friends. You wonder how people meet and form good relationships.
About the depression, if you feel depressed please talk with your GP about that as well, so you can get medical support if that would be beneficial.
About the social isolation; it is good that you've posted on the forum again -many of our forum members say that using the forum and the chatrooms has helped them to feel less alone. Many of our forum members have also posted that attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings has given them local peer support for their recovery. Our forum members also talk about scheduling their time with shared activities that take them away from gambling and supply them with social contact. Your local library might be a source of information about local leisure facilities, part-time adult education classes or other types of local groups or social opportunities you might be interested in finding out about more.
You recently spent £1000 on gambling; how about protecting the rest of your savings by putting the money out of reach -some of our forum members use savings accounts that require notice periods for withdrawal, others allow a family member to supervise their finances or hold their money. Or you could consider self-excluding; casinos have a multi-operator self-exclusion scheme called SENSE that allows you to get your self-exclusion agreement implemented across participating casinos.
You're welcome to call us on our freephone 0808 8020 133 if you'd like information on free counselling services, 1-2-1 or group, face-to-face or online.
Take care,
Forum admin.
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