2014 Challenge

Hi mrbrightside

Thanks for your comments on the front page. I have to say I find that when I am helping others it helps me overcome my problems easier. Not just with gambling, but with every aspect of life.

I look around at others and feel so fortunate to be where I am because there are always other people in need of help and so many people who don't have the basic things in life.

I plan on using this site to it's fullest this time round and hopefully I will still be posting in 10 years as it will mean I have been that long gamble free. As I see it everyone on here is a supportive family member and I don't want to let people down as I don't want to let any of my family down be relapsing again. Of course easier said than done because it's a long and tough journey, and should a relapse happen I will not berate myself for it but try harded the next time.

To all on here one thing I urge you to remember - you/we are not bad/evil/terrible people. We have a problem/disease with no known cure except abstinence. Whether you have lost everything and need to get your life sorted or your trying to stop before you get to that stage or somewhere in between, you have a purpose and a reason for existing beyond gambling.

Good luck to everyone and we will all get there in the end if we support each other.

Craig

Sorry it's been a while, just so.busy with work and family commitments etc...barely had time to take a sh......ower !

I haven't been keeping up to date with everything Mr B but was stunned by your post on Saturday. How come you've lost that loving feeling? Surely not the removal of wee jimmy crankie??

The Rock

Hi everyone

I am gonna have a bet this weekend. I am sorry that I will let everyone down but I cannot help it I feel I am on my own and nothing will change that. I am and will always be the average one that nobody cares about and that's ok but I need to live my own life now.

Sorry and I wish everyone the best

Lunda

Linda - Hard Times - why? Why you going to bet this weekend?

What are your reasons behind making this choice 30 hours before the weekend even happens? Emotional? Financial? Talk to us - tell us why the urge is so strong you've made the choice already?

Maybe you SHOULD bet everything? I'm not saying you shouldn't. But I reckon it will be a bad idea, and I've got a thousand reasons why, and as many people who will read your post who'll agree too that it's a bad idea. Stay strong.'

Why is it a done deal already? mx

Linda, Please, Please, Please try and remain strong and don't place a bet this weekend. You are doing fantastically so far and have devoted so much time and effort into your recovery and many others on this forum. I understand that you have been through so much recently but going back to gambling will surely make things worse in the long run.

You are already 114 days bet free today and that in its self is amazing. Please, everybody on this forum is rooting for you and want you to remain strong.

Mike

Linda has something happened to have you make this decision. If it's something we might be able to help with tell us about it

You've done great getting through so many days bet free. Talking from someone who went similar time and decided to have a bet, which resulted in 4 days full on betting which resulted in me using money of my sisters to resolve the urges I had to bet. It wasn't a nice feeling going back to that place

The weekend is a long way away yet you might feel differently by then if not we always be here if you want someone to chat with 🙂

Pauric

hi all, just checking in, unfortunately i slipped on saturday, a couple of days during the week & again today. There was a piece of hifi kit i wanted to buy on saturday (by paypal) so paid in cash at post office on saturday morning to cover the transaction then changed my mind! made the mistake of leaving the cash in the account instead of withdrawing it, resisted nearly all day then found an account to bet on using it. Fortunately I didnt do any financial damage, but harmed my recovery. 2 weeks seems a difficult barrier for me.

all the best everyone with your recovery, God bless.

I'm not sure what's made me feel this way but it's like an explosion of boredom and I know it's gonna blow sometime so why not this weekend. I feel so alone right now and even though I have my kids around me every minute of every day I feel like I am a shadow of myself. I don't know what anything is for anymore. It's . Like my life just turned on its head and the last 34 years were for nothing apart from the kids. Who I love with all my heart. I don't know who I am anymore at least when I gambled I had an identity, however bad that was, at least I was something and not this person who has no interest in myself anymore. I just want to feel normal again and not this person who is always stopping myself from doing something.

Does this make any sense? I don't know but I am sorry for letting you lot down but I can't seem to see a way out from the hole I'm in.

Linda - I think we can all understand you on that, Isn't that the reason we all gamble though? Because we are bored with our lives, because we want to be more than what we see around us? Gambling is the dirty lie that offers us a chance to be more than the sh*tty mundane trap we've fallen in to.

I've got no answers to give. All I know for truth is that spending money on these bast**d gambling sites is not the solution. That much I can say for truth, Accept you feel bad right now, but also fight for your own self-respect that you won't have a bet, then move on from that and start to analyse why you're bored - it won't be because you're not gambling, that much i can tell you for truth.

mx

o*g Linda I'm currently sat in the pub and having just read what I've read I can't drink anymore. I've never met you, or spoken to you in person but you're important to me. Life has it's ups and downs and clearly today is a low point but don't give up. There is no future for any of us as gamblers. We only have a future if we stay strong and build on things. Linda you have been a huge part of this challenge, don't give it up, your messages on my diary have helped me so much, this is the place for you, don't give it up. I'm thinking of you and I wish I had your number so if could call you and help you.

I will be thinking about you all night, I hope this is a blip and you wake up tomorrow morning and reconsider x

I said this morning that I would update the front page and stuff tonight - I'm not going to, will do it tomorrow.

For all the new people on the challenge, please continue to post and I promise I will welcome you, add you to the team and do everything I can to support you in your recovery......as will the rest of the team I'm sure.......but for now........

Linda, I couldn't say anything more meaningful than what people have said already on this thread or what I've put on your diary. I'm gutted for you right now and I wish there was something that one of us could do to support you or help you. Please understand how much you are valued and how big an impact you have on people on this site. As Phil says, I hope that tomorrow you will wake up tomorrow in a better frame of mind.

If you want to chat then my email address is [email protected].

Please stay strong everyone.....this is a s*i* addiction, but one that we ARE beating.........this will no doubt be our toughest week of the year so far........we CAN beat it.

I'm going to say my prayers now.

God Bless,

Mr Brightside

T_R - great to see you again Sir - missed your post earlier........I knew you'd still be with us. re Forest - yeh, something like that! Take care mate and catch up soon.

Jack and Craig - I turned my lights off.....but then on again......I wanted to say thanks for joining us - will add you Sunday. You are a part of our team! Stay well.

Mr B

Linda - I don't know you but equally I know this addiction inside out. It tears you up, spits you out, makes you believe its ok to gamble when its really not. I understand you are feeling lost at the moment but the only thing I would say is Don't do it! If you look back on this thread your posts echoed determination and a will to succeed. You have been an inspiration to others on here including myself. I know you say you don't have an identity but is an identity that centres around gambling really what you want? You've worked so hard to get to this point, something made you want to stop, there was a reason and I dare say that reason is still there today. Its not too late, stop and re-evaluate your position. None of us want to go back to those feelings of despair and turmoil. I hope you make the right decision for you x

Hi Linda,

I feel that the support for you in the last few hours speaks for itself, You WANT to bet this weekend and by premeditating it and giving us a heads up may seems like your trying to avoid the guilt that will come with that first bet.

Dont be too hasty in your decision, you have come so far, 4 months gamble free... Avoid betting this weekend, take your kids out, show them that they mean the world to you and take time to think things through...

If you decide that you want to go back to gambling, which I hope you dont then these shops will still be there next week... Dont rush into something that has already caused much pain in your life. Its just not worth it,

All the best,

Scambling x

o*g been working and just thought I'd checkin. I don't often post but hanging in there. Linda linda I truly am thinking of you are a star and show so much empathy to all other challengers please post and let us all try and help you . We all are right behind you . You have achieved so much.

Hithefanx