So....im brand new to this, i have recently told my family and ones close to me that i have a gambling problem.
It has been a really tough year this year with two family members having cancer, two deaths in the family, financial problems at home and changing of career choice to look after family members.
I bottled all the stress and emotion inside and my escape was to go to the bookies and spend money ranging from ВЈ5-£280. I didn't know how to tell anyone and just kept it as a secret and lied to all my family and close ones. Lies being big and small. Which i am ashamed off and feel terrible.
I had shame and embarrassment when gambling as i knew it was bad but i couldn't stop. Once i stepped into the bookies, it felt like all that stress and worry had gone but it actually created more.
I have now given my bank cards to my girlfriend to stop spending and she will be monitoring all my bank statements.
I joined this site so i could show that i am strong enough and i am capable of stopping. I just wanted to say hi and wanted to know if anyone had any more advice or self help strategies that could help me??
Thank you for reading and helping.
Hi Nathan, well done for wanting to finally stop. I had been gambling for 30 years until enough was enough. I mainly gambled on slots online and was probably depositing 100 to 200 per week with the odd win.
It finally all came to a head when my wife found out that I was doing this. I immediately registered with GamStop and gave all access to my bank accounts to my wife. I also had three counseling sessions which helped enormously, plus the techniques I learnt during counseling will refrain me from gambling again.
Don't get me wrong, I know the urge will come back to me at some point but I now know I will not gamble again. I am now close to 200 days gambling free and I have my life back. You can do it too if you want to. You have to make a choice......
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask
Good luck
Hi Nathan
Welcome to the Forum.
Sorry to hear your going through such a bad time that sounds really rough.
The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to try and keep yourself occupied. I used to gamble all the time, on my lunch break and then after work as well. Find yourself a new hobby and something to focus on, with me it was exercise and two gamble free years later I feel better for it in everyway.
Handing over all your bank details to your wife is also a good start I would suggest only carrying the minimun amount of cash that you need for the day.
Good luck in your recovery and if you need to talk there are plenty of us here who can listen.
All the best.
Silver
Thank you both so much. Your words really mean the world, i have booked to see a doctor to see of they can provide me with any more advice or if i can see someone else.
Its great to see how far you've both come and its fantastic, you both should be really proud, keep it up, i hope in two years i look back at this post and see how far ive come.
Thank you again for the kind words and advice. I will keep you updated on the progress 🙂
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