Back to square one!!!

Hi Chocolate and welcome back , I'm sorry it's not under good circumstances though :)) .

You said you didn't think there was much chance of beating this ? , Well I beg to differ with you there but it's really down to you and how much you really want to stop ? .

I came here a couple of years ago after many many years of trying to stop ( or at least going through the motions anyway ) and this time something just clicked , kit was probably the first time in my life that I was happy to let gambling win , I'd let it take my money for one last time and thought it's ok you can have it , I'm not chasing anymore and once I'd accepted that then the rest wasn't so difficult to deal with , sure I got the odd urge it's difficult not to after doing the same thing for so many years but once you get over the withdrawl feelings and find something else to do with your time it's not so bad :)) .

Looking over your threads I see it's slots that are your problem ? I f you get the chance have a look at Loxxies thread " Online slot's " it shows her recovery in good detail and as she's a good friend of mine she won't mind you taking a peek :)) .

You really need to come up with agood plan to tackle this if your serious about stopping , I mean good blocking software , maybe downgrading your phone to non internet version if need be , or what about your ability to deposit ? , you could report your card lost and scratch off the 3 digit number ( without remembering it of course ) when the new one arrives 🙂 .

It's all simple stuff that really is the least you should be doing to keep yourself safe as you seem to be able to gamble again quite easily at the moment and remember " Nothing changes if nothing changes !.

Have you confided in anyone else ? Tried councilling or GA yet ? . Lot's of options and lots of possibilities in order gto make a change to your life and your finances .

It really doesn't have to be that difficult either and with some simple planning and a little willpower you can do this no problem :))

Talk to you soon but all the best for now :))
Alan

Thanks Alan I know I need to do something but my heads a mess. I've had contact with one of the guys on here but I've just hit a spiral of depression. One bad thing just happens after another. I don't want this to sound like poor me. I will hopefully get on the right track soon just at the moment feels like one step forward 10 steps back. Was logged out of site took me a while to get back on but here now it's a start. Thanks for the post.

It is a spiral of depressive thoughts when we gamble though so that won't help anything , I've done it myself for many years .when we have a win were on cloud 9 but also thinking about the dbet we have to pay with our winnings then the internal dialogue starts thinking " Mhhh ? If I carry on playing with the winnings I could win a lot more " because enough will never be enough and we know how that all end's right ? .

It doesn't sound like" poor me " either it just sound's like youve had a bad time of things that will get much better if you just stop gambling ?

Keep this place close and keep venting eh ? It does help :))

Huge step even signing up to this forum - so honestly well done for that. It shows you want to get out of this mess, you aren't just sat running in circles - this time you're trying something new by coming here. That's progress.

I know exactly what you mean about one step forward, and 10 steps back. I think that is gambling for you though. It leaves such a HUGE trail of destruction you have to go back and pick up those MILLIONS of pieces and put them all back together and make sure they don't get destroyed again. The point I'm making is... don't be too hard on yourself. It is HARD.

I think you need to focus on very small steps. For the meantime, install a blocker (I'd recommend Gamban - it's £1 per month) for your computer - it's silent, you don't know it's there and any gambling pages are blocking discretly. Personally I haven't found a good phone blocker (Gamban have one coming soon...they've promised me by October) - so at the moment on my iPhone I've set a restriction to block Safari and the installation of any apps. I set a passcode I knew I'd forget - and used Future Me to send an email to myself WITH the passcode in a month. This means after a month you can restore Safari etc without losing the contents on your phone. This is extreme but it buys you TIME to work through that path of destruction. I'd also consider paying ALL your bills upfront and withdrawing the rest as cash. Again - it's extreme but it blocks that access and allows you TIME to get your head in the right frame of mind.

Now just take some time to go through these forums...have a read, jot down some tips, and try and figure out a plan to get back on the road. For you it could be to take up exercise, or it could be a long-term financial restriction. Find out what works best for you. Remember, once you've blocked access you have a good few weeks until payday to come up with this plan so take your time.

Good luck!

Thanks Adam and Alan. I'm just on such a low will take me a bit of time to come round. There is alot of stuff in personal life as well. I will get focused but just locking my wounds at the moment.