Friday to Sunday

Hi

Well done for writing that down on the forum. Its a good exercise in looking at the truth and the reality of what you have been doing under the grip of a gambling addiction.

All the classic signs are there. High stakes, chasing behaviour and trying to convince yourself youve got the next bet sussed but eventually gambling to extinction.

They have teams of people setting the odds and you know in your heart that nobody is setting life changing odds on Manchester United versus the Grannies 11. Gamblers are essentially ignoring the odds and deluding themselves that its a regular income scheme.

Im so glad you are honest because I used to see the lads banter in the bookies as they put a brave face on it. File it in the bin was the usual sort of comment about the slips.

You must stop now. you have a gambling addiction and major problem which ever way you look at it. Its actually taken your pride and self respect but your mind has been conning you that its all a buzz and you will get it back.

It will completely ruin you and you know how low it feels to have to try and borrow money after throwing your money away.

Please ring gamcare as many times as you like. Make this your born again moment when you take strong action. You should be blocking from that bookies today with the self exclusion form. Take on the fight and get your life back.

Let it go... Its not for you...its a false environment and you can do much better in life.

One of the saddest sights Ive seen is a bloke effectively begging for money at work on a monday morning. The saddest thing is that he was desperately trying to save some pride and keep it lighthearted when asking for a borrow. He never paid it back and he quite soon got the sack for bothering people with it. We all knew he was a gambling addict and that is what gambling does to people.

Being gamble free is a wonderful feeling of freedom and self pride.

Best wishes from everyone on the forum

Thanks joydivider, the hardest part was telling my family but after seeing their response I wish I had of told them years ago they were brilliant and are helping me through this ,I've self excluded and handed over my finances and I am seeing a councillor, I'd say I was about six months away from suicide but for my family so I would encourage anyone who is struggling to let it all out don't hold anything back because if your honest then you've hit rock bottom and you can then only go one way back to the top but you definitely need help ,I don't think anyone could battle this addiction without help

Great! Youve taken exactly the right steps. We have seen time and time again that it really works.

Your family wont let you gamble and with full monitoring you will have to prove yourself. That is exactly what you need as you get some breathing space to recover.

Its not about being treated like a baby. Its actually a huge sense of relief that you are dealing with it properly.

Best wishes. keep talking about it and you must never be complacent

Hi, my downfall has been online slots. I have never once stepped foot in a bookies. I read a lot of posts on the forum but I never understood how the losing cycle would work in a bookies but now I understand. Thanks for that. I'm in a very similar position to you with regards to coming clean to family after last relapse over the new year. Determined now and having banking and finance closely monitored will help a lot. The biggest thing I have to do is psychologically write off the losses of the last 18 months since it first started. Unless I do moving forward will be impossible.. My main reason for writing this post was to congratulate you on your style of writing. Your head post perfectly sums up how gambling can get a hold of you and keep reeling you back. The desperation of the last bet to fund a takeaway and even losing that and going to bed hungry is very emotive. I'm so sorry that happened to you, I wish you all the very best with your recovery in this new year and if you get this cracked you could certainly write a self help book/ blog as you read very well. Good luck and best wishes

Hi and welcome, i can certainly relate to that cycle and I'm sure many more can on here. Mine was online slots and the reason it took me so long to admit I had a problem was because I'm stubborn and could not admit I had a problem, once I did that I faced the other demon, could not come to terms with the losses which was huge and the debt. I'm now 103 days gf and whilst I still have the debt it's coming down, I've started to learn to like and love myself again and every day I'm gf I learn something new. I can also sleep better, so come on you can do this, the site has some really good people on it with loads of good tips etc., I've laughed an cried with some of them. Life is precious, gambling not only takes your money away but your personality and robs you of family time. Mr G is not worth it. Best wishes on your journey x

Sunday morning and I got through Saturday .im now on my sixth day gf .i spent most of the day yesterday visiting an old man in hospital,my wife's grandad and people were saying go home but I stayed for four hours because I knew in my head I was in a better place in visiting this man than were I'd usually be stuck in a bookies . I felt good about myself last night but there's a long road ahead .the demon that's torturing me at the moment is thinking of all the money I have lost to the bookies .i know il never get it back buts it's like they draw you in like there mocking you ,we have your money come and try get it back .when you can let go of what you lost I believe then is the road to recovery.so my steps now are to get rid of this anger and write my losses off and get it back the way I got in the first place through hard work

Made it through the weekend,which for me is a big achievement,I would religiously be backing all weekend ., I blocked everything gamble related on Facebook to my surprise I found that looking at other people bragging about getting a football bet up was making me want to bet so I blocked them all .what is bad about them Facebook pages for football or horses is you get 10 or maybe twenty people putting up winning slips and it makes you think there all winning this has to be easy what you forget is these groups have four or five thousand followers and they are all loosing.when your not gambling and yo take a step back and reflect on all the situations that enticed you to bet .the negatives always out way the positives .each day that goes by I'm learning more about my addiction because now I'm more interested in finding out why I gambled like I did .i want to know how to control it and in future I'd like to be able to help others .tomorrow I start day 7 and im back to work which keeps me busy. My aim for end of Feb is to have a summer holiday payed off for family ,it's what I would loose in gambling so let's see if I can achieve something good for a change ,

Hi Ggdon. When you say you want to control it do you mean you want to still gamble just not lose as much? If that's the case then I'll tell ya it's impossible for a compulsive gambler. Eventually it will lead back to the madness, you know it, I know it we all do as it has happened over and over again. Leave gambling behind. Look where it has lead you. I'm telling you your life will be 10 times better without throwing your money away week after week

Sorry Sam maybe I came across wrong I don't wish to gamble what I want is to be able to control the emotions that led me to gamble for example if I've had a stressful day gambling was my release ,I want to be able to say if I've a stressful lets go home and watch a film with the kids ,I want to change my mindset from what I was use to doing which was whenever I had free time go to the bookies

Hi Ggdon good chatting to you on Friday. Your story really struck a chord with me as i'm sure it will with a lot of other people.

Congratulations on your first week gamble free.

Silver

Thanks silver , every day I'm feeling better in myself ,i know it will take a long time but I'm determined to keep using all the help I'm being given .

Another weekend gone and still gAmble free .this weekend was tough because I've taken all my finances out of my hands I leave myself with nothing to spend on anything which isn't an issue because it's what is helping me however I felt a real boredom this weekend not knowing what to do with the void that's left in my life .i need to find a way to pass my time in substitute for the time I spent gambling feeling very agitated but still want to beat this addiction