Giving it another try

Morning Oldnews74, 

Thanks for sharing your story. 

What you had described is your monkey who is 3 or 4 times stronger than yourself. So how do you keep the monkey at bay? Go and purchase Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters as he explains in detail.

1. Find healthy replacements for your gambling such as short walks, reading, doing up the house, gardening, join a walking group, write a novel, painting, drawing, volunteering, cycling etc. Interests and hobbies that interest you. Anything that doesn't hurt you financially, emotionally, and spiritually. 

2. When the gambling urges arises, go and watch Utube clips on recovery gamblers such as Only Phil. 

3. As Albert Einstein famously said:"Doing the same thing again and again, but expecting a different outcome, is the definition of insanity,"

4. Forgiveness- learn to live with it (the monkey self). As time passes, it will become easier and easier to you naturally- regardless of how much money, energy, and time lost in the process. 

Remember that the only way to win at gambling is not to play (walk away).

I hope this helps. 

Xoi

Ps a thousand mile begins with one step 

@oldnews74 There is an old saying in recovery, "If nothing changes, nothing changes". This goes quite well with "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome".

What can you do differently this time to help yourself?

Chris.

You can only help yourself before you start not after you finish. The tools are there in forms of gamstop/ gamban and others. If you do not feel that you can control your actions then make it impossible for you to do them. The problem is normally that there is a reluctance to close all doors completely but if that is what you need to do then that is what you need to do. If you always stand on that station looking at the train rolling away from the platform you will always stand there with an old ticket. 

Challenge yourself to do it differently this time.

Best

C

All the best you sound exactly like me which is scarey

get someone to control your money every pay day it’s the only way 

There are 3 main elements that gambling exists:

1. Time

If you fill your time with healthy replacement as there are millions of things that you can do rather than gambling. 

2. Money

If someone was looking after your finance, like your partner etc. And only have enough money for the basics- you will not waste your money on guessing, playing random number games etc

3. Opportunities

Closing doors, banning yourself from bookies, bared from gambling sites etc. 

Remember

The only way to win at gambling is not to play or walk away. 

Out smarting or out witting the multi billion pounds gambling industry is madness. When does it stops. 

I hope this helps.

Xoi

Ps stay sane, safe, calm, and take one day at a time