Hi guys. Been gambling for 9 years now but decided to get clean. I havent gambled in 5 minutes short of a week. This decision did not come lightly. It was a choice really. Lose my girlfriend of 11 months or carry on being a guy in the bookies waiting for the next race, the next spin. One foot in reality and the other inside a fantasy world where all my money dreams would come true. My decision is to stop this before i lose not just the love of my life but my family as well. There is only so much heartbreak a guy of 27 can put his family through and enough is enough. With GA starting next week, my old church leader and the family praying for me i just hope to be a man and get back to a normal life. I also started a recovery diary called giving up on hurting everyone if anybody is interested in reading it.... Thanks for reading this guys, have a good night
You have plenty of time Dayne, I'm 37 and only know truelly addressing my problem with gambling. I feel your anguish and feeling of worthlessness but I'm starting to leave all these negative thoughts behind and focus on my family as it sounds like you are. Instead of going over losses I'm now thinking well imagine 1,2,3,4 years of no gambling how much better I'd feel mentally, physically and obviously how better financially my family would be. I too start counselling sessions next week and wish you all the best in your fight
Well done Dayne - sounds like you’ve made some realisations in the past few weeks. I’ve alstroemerias just done my first week of no gambling and each day gets a little easier. Make sure you put things in place that remove the chances of you fallling back into old habits. I’m learning that by putting things in place that mean I don’t have the opportunity to gamble is what might give me a chance of beating this addiction. Time - Money and Access to gamble are the 3 things I’m focussed on removing I know if these aren’t available I will find it so much harder to gamble. So removing all access to sites by things like blocking software and self exclusion. Removing money options by putting finances in joint account and going to the gym more so removing the amount of free time I have. It’s early days for us both but good luck to you. Using this forum is a great way of occupying your free time too and hopefully helping others at the same time.
Nik
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