Good Afternoon,
I’ve been gambling for around 14 years and today after losing ‘x’ amount of money I thought to myself all the things I could of done or bought had I not gambled. It’s crazy!!
I’ve made the decision that today I have placed my last bet. I don’t even know why I gamble, when I was in a poorly paid job I used to gamble to ‘make’ money now I’m in a well paid job role and it seems I just gamble bigger numbers but don’t need to as I can live off my wages now easily.
I do have a couple of tricky choices and would like people’s help with how best to deal with the situation, I have a close friends network and they all gamble whether it be every day or a Saturday football Acca they all do, how do I still see them and not feel the urge to gamble?
My second one, I work shift work so have a lot of free time on my hands, if my partner has taken our child out for the day or something then I’m at home twiddling my thumbs, free time seems to be when I gamble and always in secret as my partner is 100% against gambling.
I will do my best to keep a diary on here, any help regarding my thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Hi Unknown,
Thanks for your post, and well done for sharing your story with us.
It seems like you’ve been struggling with your gambling problem for a long time, and have now finally decided to put a stop to your gambling after a heavy loss.
I think it’s a step in the right direction as gambling problem gets worse if you don’t do anything about it, and it can easily get out of control.
Even though you’re aware that a lot of spare time you have on hands is a contributory factor to your gambling, you’re still not sure of what to do to prevent that happening.
To start with, how about informing your close friends that you don’t want to gamble anymore as you’re losing too much money, and also your partner is strictly against gambling; try and be honest about it.
You can then think about a replacement to some of the gambling times, and perhaps suggest an alternative times that you can do something different together with your friends – going to the cinema or the theatre would be something to consider or, doing some voluntary work with a charitable organisation with some of the time you have on hands?
I suggest you contact our free phone Helpline on: 0808 8020 133, and have a chat about other strategies that you can apply to help you to overcome your gambling problem. Our lines are open from 8.00am to midnight, everyday.
You may also request for some counselling support in case you have some other underlying reason for your gambling or, you feel that would help you to stop gambling.
Meanwhile, I’ll encourage you to continue to read from our forum for more ideas on strategies to help you overcome your gambling, and also keep posting!
Best wishes,
Beatrice
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