slid back down the snake...

Hi Gareth mate

I know what it feels like, you have a slip up and the words "that's it" come to mind...until the next time. The truth is, we all make mistakes and they just keep happening, when we get bored of this new and unfamiliar routine. For me, gambling seems to be the right choice, when I just get bored.

I can't say I will never gamble again, but I just love not gambling. The trick, for me at least is to not focus on the fact that you are not gambling, as this makes not gambling seem like you are going without something you enjoyed. You probably gambled because you got bored, and you somehow felt that after a period of not gambling, that you were now able to stay in control.

There are better things to be addicted too, or at least to put your effort in to. As I mentioned in a previous post, it may help you to know that you will experience more regret from the time you spent gambling, not the money you lost doing it. I am a recovering gambler, who now focuses on the things he likes doing, and really loved doing before gambling took over. Now, I'm in control and think the odd slip up reminds us why we stopped in the first place.

I really wish you good luck, and urge you to pick up the old past time you have been meaning to start again.

Good luck, it gets easier...

thank you all, the worst part is like you say bordeom tempts so better finding things to occupy but when have gambled I feel rubbish and lose interest in doing anything...so then all think about is gambling a horrible loop

I wouldn't beat yourself up about it, you just make sure you realise you have lasped and do your best, not to let it happen again. The money is gone and that's that, just remember what gambling it has meant you no longer can afford.

I do agree boredom is a definite trigger to have a gamble. I'm sat here on night work, I have nothing much to do for the next 2 hours or so, so it's time to think what can I do.

I'm a gambler still, but thankfully haven't been a compulsive gambler for the past 6 years or so. But even now I'm sat here, thinking I could do £25 on one of the betting sites I'm a member of still, that will occupy myself for some time. I have weekly limits still, just in case I fancy a gamble whilst recognising, I still need to have blocks in place to avoid wasting too much money, but I'm trying my best, not to gamble anything, before I go on holiday in November.

I have my laptop with me, so I have plenty of other free things I could do, such as play a game, read and post on one of the forums I'm a member of, or just watch videos on youtube.

The past 6 weeks since I decided to cut the gambling out altogether until the holiday at least, I've been pretty busy, so haven't been bored or had time to really think about gambling, but it's times like this, even years down the line, I still get the urge to.

Of course it's highly likely in the time it has taken me to type this, I would have lost the £25. So I'm glad I just decided to type this and not gamble, another 15 minutes less before I won't have time to be bored.

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