First day quitting

Hi John

Strongly recommend The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris. It's not narrowly about gambling but about living a more enriched fulfilling life - but also excellent in respect of addiction.

I've been gamble free for 4.5 years and this book has been central to that and to wider realisation of all aspects of life.

Best wishes

Louis

Louis,

Excellent.. I will but this book today.

Thankful very much. I can't read enough these days and this sounds like the type of book I'm after.

Thanks again and well done on the 4.5 years. I will be there some day. I know it.

#19 days

Regards,

John

Great John. Let me know how you get on!

Will do thanks.

20 days gamble free. Everything is going well. Stopping gambling really has improved my life. I can't believe how much I get done.

I don't know why I was so hooked on it in the first place...its a crazy paradox...you don't do something and life is better but is you know that could change in a second and you would love to go back to old ways and know it will hurt you.

I think if I keep documenting my feeling and re-read my posts every week I will remember the pain.

#20 days

Regards, John

23 days gamble free. Had a tough weekend and probably would of gambled but I was blocked from the websites. This was all because I got drunk. No control at all once I'm drunk. It's really not worth it.

I am going get to sit down today an analyse what went wrong and how to stop it happening again before I fall victim to gambling.

Regards, John

Like you say, many similarities! Could be reading my own posts here.

You're doing great.

Hi John

The main thing is you didn't gamble, right? You've gambled for a long time. You've developed some hard, ingrained, way of reacting - you're going to get the urges but it's a question of whether you act on them.

Urges come and go.

But you drive your bus. You choose whether to act on these urges. Don't be angry at having urges - it's just your default reaction, for now. The urges will subside I assure you.

Don't focus on getting rid of urges. Unfortunately you can't control urges. Focus on your response to an urge. If you do, you will find they tend to lose their bite anyway and in time cease to be any part of your life.

Personally I believe we only make large strides when we overcome adversity like you did.

You got a good reward due to the recent commitment you made to self exclude. Yes, you can say 'but for the barriers I would've gambled'. Or you recognise it was your commitment (self excluding) which worked. And carry on taking positive committed action.

But great call to review what's happened. Review and modify - is the key to success at anything. Including conquering addiction.

Best

Louis

Hi Everyone

This is my first day of quitting for good , they have controlled my life for a long time but no more . I am on the verge of losing my girlfriend . I should go to them places but i do i feel its a way to escape life and go there and no think about work and other things .Does everyone else feel like this or just been thanks for the help in advance

Hi jcoll. Welcome to the GamCare forum. You've taken a great first step in posting about yourself. You are not alone in using gambling as a form of escapism, and you will no doubt get responses from other forum users saying similar. However you will probably get more responses if you start your own thread rather than posting on johnjones89's thread. If you're not sure how to do that, you just need to go to the 'New Member Intros' forum, scroll down to the bottom, and click 'New topic'.

Best wishes

Forum Admin

Hi john

Good to know that you overcome yourgambling problems. I salute you. Wishing you a good - goodluck!!

Hi everyone.

Been offline for a while but still gamble free. A new strategy I tried was only check in here every week or every couple of weeks rather than every day. I found logging into Gamcare everyday made me think constantly about gambling. I can now admit that the last 2 weeks I have thought about gambling 3 times. We're as before when I logged into Gamcare every single day gambling was never far from my thoughts. I will continue to log in every week or 2 for sure but everyday was too much.

37 days and going strong. Pay day today and all the money has already been distributed out to my debts . Feeling good about life again.

Regards,

John

johnjones89 wrote: Hi everyone. Been offline for a while but still gamble free. A new strategy I tried was only check in here every week or every couple of weeks rather than every day. I found logging into Gamcare everyday made me think constantly about gambling. I can now admit that the last 2 weeks I have thought about gambling 3 times. We're as before when I logged into Gamcare every single day gambling was never far from my thoughts. I will continue to log in every week or 2 for sure but everyday was too much. 37 days and going strong. Pay day today and all the money has already been distributed out to my debts . Feeling good about life again. Regards, John

That's really great to hear John. Congrats! Hoping for the best for you 🙂

Hello,

Still going strong at 53 days. Reading loads and haven't missed exercise in 3 weeks so life is good.

I cannot believe how well I am sticking to my new program. I check in and read a bit at least once a week here. I found a bit of free time today so thought I would Contribute.

No big urges in a while. I will not lie I think about it now and again but starting to control it and link these thoughts to pain.

The book I'm reading now is great
...Awaken the giant within. I love it. I will read it more than once. I have found it to be the most helpful so far and its more about all life and how you want to live. I love it. I recommend it to any person that hasn't read it.

Thanks,

Regards,

John

Seems like you really found a way for you John, im glad It's going good..

I myself are kind of like in the same position as you we're when you posted your first post. I start counting the days now, and can only hope i stick to it the way you manage to do it.

I have already read the whole thread plenty of times and trying to learn from others succesful stories. Just like you, i got no idea why i started gambling or why im sticking to it since it is just ruining me. Looking forward to keep reading yours and other stories on this forum.. Thank you so far guys.