2014 Challenge

Milestone achieved: 3 months exactly since my last bet (90 cays). Romping towards 3 figures. Feeling good. Beautiful day, off to the city ground Mr B COYR 😀

Congratulations Rock, three months is a big achievement. Enjoy the match, hope you win!

Checking in, Day 81, well done everyone on their milestones this week 🙂 and welcome to the newbies x

Hello all,

I am a 23 year old female, married with 1 child and unfortunately I also have this horrible addiction! This is sadly day 1 for me all over again! I stopped gambling on 28th Dec 13 however relapsed last night :o(

Thanks to Mr Brightside I have the courage to start all over again - thank you Mr B!

Not really sure what to do here? Check in every week with a little update?

Will try my hardest to read all 470 posts in the next few days!

Much love and strength all!

B x

Hi team,

Thanks so much for the high5's very much appreciated, no matter how far our journey takes us a pat on the back is always welcome.

Too every1 who has hit a special number this week (tbh I think everyday free from gambling is special) then I am holding up both hands for a double high5 😉

Mr B you are a funny geezer but if I walk into that pub and see your flower things could get messy!!! Not on the first date sir 😉 lol. Unfortunately the 14th wouldn't suit me, the trouble n strife has booked me already!! No fast yer last.... I''ll fire some alternatives over tomorrow though it would be defo great to catch up with some of you guys for an ki-ora or 6 🙂

Bedtime for me work in the morning and still full of this man flu!!!!

Oh and Mr B pls don't apologise most certainly no need for that.

Take care all.

Del 201 😀

Day 64 today - and now just over two full calendar months for me, checked in! Good luck all!

Checking in on day 80 and still bet free. It's been a strange week for a couple of reasons. Firstly I managed to pay back a gambling debt to a friend. He helped me out in Dec to the tune of £600 when I had blown most of my wages, I have been putting aside money each month to pay him back and on Thu this week, having the cash in my pocket I did think of what I would have done months ago? This money would have been taken straight to the nearest bookies and in my old ways I would have tried to double it... I didn't and now I can cross another debt off my list.

He is a gambler and asked me if I had any luck recently? I haven't told him yet that I am a compulsive gambler but did tell him I had not bet for a few months. I will tell him of my illness but I just didn't have the courage on that occasion. He did ask me to go down to his club to watch Cheltenham races in a couple of weeks and I said to him to text me nearer the time. I won't go and will have to make an excuse to him. Am I wrong for this or should I just come clean to him?

I am sure that I will have lots for difficult obstacles in my future bet free life, of which honesty will be the major factor in dealing with them.

Sorry for going on this week folks.

Stay strong everyone and have a great gamble free week.

Mike

Checking in day 12 for me, your updates Mr B made me smile.

This challenge is a really good idea.

Onwards and upwards

Keep strong everyone

LG

Afternoon everyone,

7 hours and counting before the check in desk is temporarily closed and the update commences!!

Welcome to silver lining - Beth and I have been on a much longer journey than her days stopped would suggest. I'm delighted you're here B - think this will really help you and give you that feeling of belonging to a group rather than doing it all on your own.

Some brilliant posts this week - lots of reflection and stuff but great positivity. It was the first week of the month in Feb that there were wobbles on the challenge - guard up everyone.

So a big update tonight I'm thinking - we only need ashamed and Chalky and we will have our best ever week on all our key measures!! Bombard their diaries team!!

Until later on.......have a great gamble free Sunday and will start my Ramblings any time after 8pm tonight!!

Clean for '14 everyone!!

So I made it back to day 4! This time I am determined to ignore all the advertising I see and be strong enough to avoid any kind of temptation. Let's hope next week I can say I am on to day 11!

Hi Team clean for 2014!

An incredibly emotional week at this end - it feels like a lost my Dad earlier in the week not over 35 years ago!

Still, moving onwards and still clean and also had the strength to tell my Mum the whole story this week. Phew, that was a tough one.

Keep up the good fight one and all,

Louise

Hi Team clean for 2014!

An incredibly emotional week at this end - it feels like a lost my Dad earlier in the week not over 35 years ago!

Still, moving onwards and still clean and also had the strength to tell my Mum the whole story this week. Phew, that was a tough one.

Keep up the good fight one and all,

Louise

Day 91 - Had horiffic dreams last night, I was on a FOBT and lost about £100, very vivid, I even know which betting shop I was in. Really relieved to wake up but put me on a bit of a downer this morning, reliving all the misery I've sustained and caused to others.

Tomorrow is a new day and all that, magical day 100 approaching soon. Best wishes to everyone and a special note of congratulations to Delboy. Awesome achievement 200 days.

Hi all,

Just checking in!.. Unfortunately only on day 2 but hey will get back to 60+ days again i'm sure of it!

Thanks for the warm welcome Mr B!

Shall update in the week and continue with my diary!

Have a lovely week all x

So it’s goodbye to February and “Hello!” to March! It’s incredible to think that in a few weeks time we will be a ¼ of the way through the year already! It’s a big week for us and as at the end of January quite a big update! Cups of coffee at the ready I would say!

So for those of you with limited time, here are the headlines for this week:-

After the update last week we had 24 team members starting this week off. Of that number, 22 have checked in this week and only 2 have not managed check in this week, Chalky and ashamed, although one of us have had a mini lapse and days have been reset (hat off for coming on and talking about it and demonstrating the desire to get back on track again!). That gives us a retention rate of 88% for this week which is up on last week and almost on track for our aspirations. In addition, we’ve had 3 new members join us, 2 missing soldiers from last week returned and on top of that we’ve had AmandaG return as well! This gives us a total of 25 in the team heading into the new week! In total, we have been stopped collectively now for 45 full calendar months and our total days equate to over 4.6 years of no gambling! Our average number of days stopped per person sits at 67 which is 6 days per person up on last week. Our total combined days clean as a team has increased by 15% which works out at 226 days - some fantastic numbers!

Some quick and dirty analysis says that team members are most at risk from falling out of the challenge and lapsing around the 18 day mark……….this is the average day number of all of those who are no longer with us for whatever reason. However, of the 18 soldiers we have lost, 50% of them have been lost in the first week of stopping - so to the new guys, get through that first week and your chances of continuing statistically improve. Of members who have checked in every week without fail, none have lapsed/fallen out when they have gone past the 56 day mark. The most difficult time in the month is in the last 3 days of the first month moving into the first week of the new month - payday time - so this week we are in now going into is the danger week!

New Soldiers…….and second week soldiers……..

So this week we welcome 3 new team mates to the group……..firstly we’ve got newhorizon71, who today is celebrating 1 full week of being clean - that’s a milestone straight away nh71, really well done and welcome. Next there’s “hog” who will be clean for a week as at this time tomorrow - welcome to the group mate and all the best for your recovery journey. Last but certainly not least is someone I’ve been asking to join this group for a long time now and comes in the form of Silverlining (Beth). Beth joined the forum at a similar time to a lot of us, around the beginning of December and was clean for 2 months before having a hiccup during the week. I’m so pleased you are here girl - please try to post a bit more and lean on us when times get tough(er). So the rules for the Challenge thread can be found as the very first post on this thread way back at page 1 - but very simply, between the update being posted on the Sunday night and 8pm the following Sunday night, you need to check in to the Challenge thread at least once in the week stating your number of days clean and a bit about how you are doing…..and maybe offer some encouragement to others. Welcome to all 3 of you - you are among friends and people who want you to get through this almost as much as you want to yourselves.

I also want to mention the 3 guys who are now on their second week of being in the team……..ram90, mjpsmummy and luckygirl. While there was a bit of a wobble for mjps, it’s not often that we have a 100% retention rate for every new person that starts the Challenge from one week to the next. Really well done guys and please use this thread as additional support - it’s been great to watch your diaries and see how you are getting on. (ram…….at least we can console each other on yesterday’s poor results…….I think The_Rock may be traumatised from his experience at the City Ground yesterday!!).

Our Calendar Month Counts and Getting Clean in ’14:-

We have 17 soldiers who have come through the month of February without gambling, 15 of whom are clean in 2014 having got through January being clean too. 5 of our team who have been the longest clean have carried 13 additional full calendar months prior to the year beginning, into this year between them. What an amazing feeling for this group…………there’s 8 of you who with continued strength and commitment to your recovery and this team can have the feeling of a full Calendar month clean in a few weeks time - it’s worth all the hard work folks. Hitthefan - you missed February by a day - gutted for you……but hope this strengthens your resolve to beat March!

Milestones Achieved in this week:-

Delboy79 - on Friday, Derek hit the 200 day mark and continues to be our flag bearer! Congratulations Derek, an outstanding number of days!

leedsv - went through the 5 month mark………only a few weeks to go before the big half year mate!

TheRock - has managed to achieve a full quarter of a year as at today - a personal best and well on your way now mate to celebrating the 100 days! Brilliant going fella!

Bornagain - Phil burst into double figures of weeks this week and through the 70 day milestone! Superb mate and great post on the thread this week!

Rst18 and Strange - are both celebrating their first full Calendar month without staking any money gambling - 1st of the month to the last day of the month……..well done folks…..many more of them to come for you!

Milestones being celebrated this week:-

Monday 3rd March - Craig (2012theyear) will hit the big 100 days!!

Friday 7th March - stop will move into double digits of weeks clean - 10 weeks with no gambling!

Saturday 8th March - lostafortune and AmandaG will celebrate the same feat as stop - 10 weeks of being clean!

Sunday 9th March - I will hit my quarter of a year! 13 weeks of being clean - hurrah!

Onto the Hero of the Week……….

I love weeks like this when the Hero of the Week writes itself……….and there’s no doubt in my mind where the award should go. Delboy79, Derek, my Glaswegian brother………200 days of no gambling is simply fantastic………….however, the award is not just for this………..the fact you have managed to stay out of hospital when suffering man flu’ is just as remarkable - just proves that us ‘weigy’s are made of extra tough stuff!! Seriously, congratulations mate, you are the daddy!

…….a few other mentions

It’s always tough writing the awards pieces and quite often I’ve thought about stopping it……..I sometimes worry about missing something and team members are disappointed……..however, I’m going to continue writing things that celebrate our victories and trust that everyone sees the positive intent in this. This week there are a few other call outs……..it goes without saying that everyone in the team contribute so much to this thread and deserve to be recognised…….I read the postings that go on within our network but on our individual diaries and it makes me feel so proud to be a part of it. On other areas of the forum it’s been a hard week - some tough news for duncanmacs that it was amazing to see the support and encouragement given to him from some of our group. Dan Eagla has also had a very hard time in February and I would never underestimate the significance of contributions that those close to him have made……especially certain ladies in our team. I also have to mention babybluesky, albeit through gritted teeth(!), who is winning the Candy Crush challenge (note from Mr Brightside’s mum - please excuse Mr B if he does not post much on the forum this coming week, he is “slightly” competitive and is desperate to catch up with BBS…….we’ve not seen him for days now!!)

So it’s on to the Roll of Honour!

Here’s this week’s count…….

Name / Days Clean

The_Rock 91

Hardtimes 82

lec101 83

babybluesky 82

bornagain 75

Happy Days 80

2012theyear 99

lostafortune 64

No Maybe 130

Mr Brightside 84

rst18 36

Delboy79 202

Redeemed 162

leedsv 158

Batman 17

Hitthefan 29

ram90 14

mjpsmummy 4

luckygirl 12

AmandaG 64

Stop 65

Strange 38

Silverlining 2

Hog 6

newhorizon71 7

Our missing soldiers are “ashamed” (last check in on Friday 21st February) and Chalky (last checked in on Monday 17th February). I really hope that you are both still fine - M……thinking it’s busyness? Chalky….you were doing so well mate, drop us a line to let us know how you are.

So, drum roll………total days free of gambling is……….

1686 Days = £168,600 in our pockets………………..£0 in the bookies!!!

So that concludes the update for this week everyone………………and check in for next week is now officially open!! There’s a tough few weeks coming up with sporting events going to be heavily publicised. Let’s stay strong, we are much stronger together rather than on our own……..let’s keep going for ourselves, our loved ones, our futures………and for each other.

Getting clean in ’14 everyone……………have a great week.

Mr Brightside