Hi all thanks for reading. I'll start simple my name is Dave and am 21. I have been gamblimg since my 18th Birthday. I haven't gambled since 11/11/14 not long but it's a start.
My problem first came about when I was about 19 and what caused it was all my friends were betting on football so I joined and then me and my best friend went too far. We started betting on foreign football and before I knew it I was 21 and was in £5000 worth of debt.
I used to be awake until 3/4 o clock in the morning everyday betting and then getting up at 6/7 o'clock so I didn't miss a match. I nearly lost my job at the start of this month and that's when I decided to stop, also I recently got engaged and when I had to tell her about the debt I was so ashamed.
She knew I bet obviously, a bit hard to hide when your still when she's getting in from work at 2am or when she wakes up and you're on your betting websites.
However since telling her she has convinced me to tell my parents and confront my friend who also betted with me. I have done both over the last few weeks and now feel a lot better. I am getting normal sleep again and I have full support of my family which is helping.
However the biggest help is my friend who also betted. When I confronted him, he agreed with me and joined in on my stopping. We both used the self exclusion option on the website we used and have both joined a gym and a golf course (we both played golf together before the start of our gambling spiral). The activities are really helping because there keeping our minds off gambling.
There are a few reasons I decided to post this. One was to prove that telling people helps because at the start of this month I never would of thought stopping was an option. The second is to show that others are going through the same.
And finally it was to get a bit of advice. I am just wondering if using other activies is the right thing to do because am scared that if I stop doing them I will go back to gambling and I don't want to lose everything like I will if I go back.
Thank you for reading
Dave.
Hi Dave,
Welcome, and well done on making the decision to stop gambling, and taking some positive steps. I am no expert at all , just another person trying to stop (around 2 months now) and in the summer I took an 8 week Cognitive behaviour course to help me stop gambling.
A big part of this course was finding other activities to replace gambling - things you enjoy, and also trying new things to fill the huge amounts of time we used to spend gambling. Eventually they will just become become 'activities you enjoy' instead of 'things to replace gambling. So it sounds to me like you are doing exactly the right thing.
I would also have a think about what made you want to gamble ? what situations? What were your triggers? So you can be aware of those times and situations to make sure you don't lapse into gambling.
Good luck!
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