Time for help!!

Hi mate you obviously know about self exclusion etc as I have just given you a leaflet lol this site is great for combatting it as there is so much support here. Your young mate with a young family and have so much time to turn things around. Read some other diaries on the recovery diaries section. You will get huge inspiration from there and shows to people like us it is possible.

Take care mate

Gaz

Hi chuck welcome to the fairground! You have just jumped on the rollercoster at the bottom you are going to go up to the top and back down a few time but you stick with it you are gonna step off the ride felling great!!

Firstly admiting you have an issue is the big one! Im from cardiff earn good money and was blowing it all untill very recently! So where to start!? Ring gam care have a chat with them about what your doing their great! they can arrange free one on one counciling for you. Therapy is a really good starting point it has helped countless people on this forum. You have the option of Gamblers Anoyomous I am a member and find the help and support really really great! My biggest Tip is start a recovery diary on this site! You will get advice and make some great friends along the way!.

Hope your ok and speak soon

cheers ADT

Hey Chuck, welcome to recovery 🙂

London eh? All those lovely bookies on every corner, casinos open like you think you're in Vegas & fruit machine shops ten a penny...It's a CG's hell! But, with determination & a lot of support you can learn how to walk past them One Day At A Time & by coming here today & saying out loud that you have a problem, you have taken a giant step 🙂

ADT has said it pretty well but I would also add, that we cannot win because we cannot stop! I assume from Swordfish's comments that you are betting in bookies so in order to get your gambling (Time-Money-Location, remove one & you cannot gamble) triangle broken you should start with the self exclusions. This wasn't enough for me @ the time because I hadn't accepted I had a problem & didn't have any other support so I got a credit card with the cash facility removed (Barclaycard do them but not sure about any other banks) so I could still survive. This slowed me down on the rare occasion I left my cash card @ home coz I used to have to drive back & fetch it but again, not enough because something in my head kept telling me that the only way I could get my thousands & thousands of pounds of losses back was to gamble more. Eventually, when I looked for support, I read horror stories of never being able to gamble again & my 1st instinct was I'm not an alcoholic (I knew they could never touch another drop)! The truth of the matter is I'd spent years & years chasing my losses, trying to control them when all I really wanted was to stop losing. By getting help & drawing a line under my gambling, I did stop losing just as you can.

Good to have you in our winners' enclosure where we win by just choosing 'No' everyday - ODAAT

Hi Chuck , and welcome to the forum .

Well done for a start in coming here and admmiting that your gambling's got out of control , that's a always a huge first step and never easy , Swordfish say's he knows you and that he's covered the self exclusion stuff and that's a really important tool to help control your spending , you may or may not know that's just one part of the Time , money location triangle that gets mentioned on here quite a lot with obviously the time and money being tghe other two , if you remove one and keep it broken then you simply can't bet , it's simple really but effective .

However much you put in place though , the person who makes the decision to gamble or not is always going to be you and you'll need some good old fashioned willpower to help you along the way .

When we reach the point that we feel the need to come on here , you know things have become uncontrolable and that gambling for fun , is for you , just as it is for me , no longer an option .

I came here about 9 months ago in a really bad place , to the point in fact that I really didn't want to carry on living and could see no other way out but thanks to this wonderfull place and the support of everyone here I've " One day at a time" turned my life around to really enjoy life again , so take it from me that you can do it , you just have to want to !.

This addiction of being a Compulsive gambler is progressive , there's no up , just down , I don't know your full story but if your struggling with money know , it won't be too long before you start borrowing to fund your gambling whitch at first is usually affordable but soon escalates to the point of borrowing more and more just to make repayments .

In all the time I've been here the biggest problem that I seem to come accross and the one that makes poeple gamble again , is because they can't let it go , they refuse to accept that the moneys gone and will return time and again , chasing the dream , thinking that one more big win will clear them and make everything ok again , " It doesn't " !! , As " Compulsive Gamblers" we will never win because we can never stop " enough is never enough and it will keep you in the cycle of , Win , lose , chase . As soon as I'd accepted that gambling had beaten me and that all the losses of my past were gone for good , I could for the first time in my life , draw a line and move on .

I've also accepted that I can neverr have another bet again , I used to love gambling and to be honest would still gamble if I could control it but I can't so no use beating myself up over it anymore , you see what I mean about acceptance being the key ?.

This forum is a great place , full of like minded folk who know exactly how you feel and what your about to go through , there's councilling available if you feel the need , free of charge from Gamcare or if you want external halp then how about GA ? It's all about personal choice really , your way and your recovery !.

I look forward to speaking with you again soon , I hope you stick around as some of the gang will be around later I'm sure tio give you there input but until then .

Best wishes , and Welcome to recovery !

Alan

Thanks for the comments guys! Speaking to swordfish the fact I don't want to watch the sport because I'll be like 'I would of had a bet on that' what you guys think?? Want to cut it all out

As I said mate. Watching sport is not gambling! Unfortunately we associate it with gambling now by it's not! It's our mindset. The next step is realising you can no longer gamble for fun. I've learnt that now. Everything in my life revolves around gambling. Every place I go everything I do I think "when I was here last time I was up 700" when I was here I was losing a fortune etc etc. Watch your sport mate! Without betting believe it or not you will enjoy it more. If you stop doing the things you enjoy gambling would have won. Don't let it win. Take control of your life

I seemed to stay away from anything , horse or greyhound related for a while but I'm quite comfortable watching some good class Horses nowaday's , the difference is that now I enjoy it for the spectacle rather than worrying who's going to come first !

I struggle to watch the football without thinking 'oh I would've had him to score first, oh I would've lumped on that easy home win'. But I don't think avoiding it is the answer, got to accept we don't bet and the enjoyment of just watching the specticle will come back soon enough, day by day the longer we don't have a bet.

I really hope I can watch the Euros for the pleasure without thinking about the outright winner or golden boot etc. Its tough but the only way forward. Good luck !