2014 Challenge

Checking in on day 114 of no gambling. Great to see the team cohesion we have on this challenge and may it long continue.

Welcome to all the newcomers and a very well done to the regulars during a particular difficult week.

Onwards and upwards!

Mike

Checking in - Day 133 - No Gambling

really struggling at the moment but holding strong

Afternoon all

Hangover head has gone but replaced by kiddie head - I'm at soft play with the wee one!!

Less than 9 hours to check in deadline and 4 soldiers missing as it stands.......c'mon folks - let's be having you!!

Linda - the response you got from me and others is simply down to who are and not who we are - you've offered so much to the forum and to many people on it - every now and again you need to take something back. Hope the party goes well today!

Craig - really worried about you fella - you know where we are and drop me an email if you want a chat or even to grab a cup if coffee and a moan at someone. You should be so proud of yourself that you are staying away from the temptations that must be coming at you.

bornagain - mate, you are the ambassador of quan!! To have been such a strong influence on this challenge in what is probably your toughest week is a testimony to who you are and the resolve you have to stay clean - thank you on behalf of the while group.

batman - 50 days........I'm proud ma man - a true super hero.

Well done everyone......& if these check ins come then it will be our best week ever!!

Mr B

Hi Guys,

Checking in clean, but quite down. Looks like my relationship is over, so have been a bit quiet with a lot to deal with emotionally.

Good luck everyone and hope to be back communicating soon.

Lou

Hey Lou,

Really really sorry to hear that news Mrs - hopefully you can work through things and resolve the issues that have led to this. Remember that you've had one of the most stressful things in you life to contend with recently - a house move, plus being busy at work and added to that the difficulties of recovery, it's no surprise that the relationship will have been stretched.

Stay strong buddy......a lapse, or worse, relapse, certainly won't help matters or self esteem etc.

Take care,

Mr Brightside

Evening All,

Forgive my lack of posting over the last few days but took myself off for an impromptu break away. Made it back before midnight with all, okay most, speed limits observed. I knew that with no work Thursday, Friday or today they chances of me getting through without handing hundreds to the bookies were pretty slim so handed the money over to the travel agents instead and got some family brownie points to boot. I'm calling that a win-win situation.

I'll catch up on posts tomorrow. Thoughts with all of you; I know from personal experience how tough the last three days have been. Hope you all found different routines that didn't involve gambling.

For now, I'm checking in on day 22.

Hope I haven't made you too nervous Mr B; won't leave quite so late next week.

Hi All,

Would like to join in with this, tomorrow (06/04/14) will hopefully be my first day without a bet.

Evening everyone,

That's check in deadline passed now and I'll pull together the update and have it on by lunchtime latest tomorrow (well, today!).

BRAD123 - I've made an ask of you on the very front page in order for you to be added next Sunday. Good luck on Day 1 tomorrow.

Check ins are opened for week ending 13th April.

Speak in the morning,

Mr B.

Checking in and doing well so far

Checking in, I know I'm late and in Chicago so 6 hours behind. All good and fine!!! Good luck everyone!!!

Hi all 🙂

I hope you all managed to negotiate yesterday through safely. I was nowhere near a bookie's, but im sure it was full of the usual suspect's that look like they have been living there for a while. I was not one of them yesterday 😀

Scambling

Morning all,

Have added the late check ins (well jel about Chicago Kickit!) and King1984, have added you to this week's list too - I need to know your clean days, can you confirm on your next post?

Update will be with you in a couple of hours.

Mr B

Day 7 mr brightside and going well at the moment staying strong and positive

Good morning everyone!!

It’s been some week! I think we’ve had something of everything………on the positive side the successes of record numbers, 2 very significant group achievements and one of the most dangerous weeks navigated by the majority…………..but it has been a very tough week………..relationships have been a challenging theme, there’s been a couple of lapses in the team and at an individual level a lot of the group are dealing with the difficult things that life throws at us.

A quarter of 2014 has now elapsed and the group is growing in many areas, the team is getting larger, our resolve is getting stronger and if we ever needed proof that there is safety in numbers then this week certainly showed that the group ethic of support and togetherness is evident in huge quantities………….the sense of pride I have to be part of this is massive.

So the headlines for the week are as follows……..

We are now 40 strong as a group - quite an unbelievable number. We have also broken through the 6 year milestone (nearly 6.4 years!) - a number that has proven elusive in the last few weeks. Of the 36 soldiers who began the week an incredible 35 have checked in giving us a 94% retention rate for the week - if I’m honest I wouldn’t have believed that if someone had told me that would happen last Sunday! What an amazing result for our army! While there’s been a couple of blips in the team, 92% of us got through the week completely gamble free…….given the temptation that’s been placed in our paths in the last 7 days and the nature of what we are individually and collectively trying to overcome, that is just a sensational result! Congratulations everyone. This week we welcome 4 new members to the team and The_Rock rejoined after a busy week - that’s the make up of the 40 strong foot soldiers heading into battle this week. Our total days clean has risen by nearly 9%, our average number of clean days per soldier now sits at 58 days each and as you’ll see from the next section, we have achieved a total of 54 calendar months clean of gambling between us.

Our monthly counts……….

As we’ve moved into April now, here’s the stats that surround our calendar month and 2014 challenge……..

Exactly 50% of the group came through the full month of March without gambling which is an increase of 33% on the 15 soldiers that came through the month of February. Of the 20 of us clean in March, 6 of us are celebrating our first full calendar month being free…….congratulations and a massive, massive well done to Batman, Hitthefan, mjpsmummy, luckygirl, newhorizon71 and ToBeOrNot. I am pretty certain that you have just managed to navigate your way through the most difficult period of recovery and your chances of beating this horrible addiction have increased disproportionately to getting through the hard miles of the first few weeks. AdamPrice and Strange have recorded their 2nd consecutive calendar month free - great going folks. Finally, there’s 11 in the group who are clean for 14………..many many congratulations to The_Rock, lec101, hardtimes, bornagain, babybluesky, HappyDays, 2012theyear, no maybe, Mr Brightside, Delboy and Scambling. If April follows the same patterns and %’s then we should be aiming for approx. 27 of us to come through the month free from gambling………which means statistically that 13 of us will lapse in the month…….seems a big number huh? I think that there’s been 10 soldiers come and go in March which makes potentially losing 13 in April more real………..however, the brilliant thing about this is that all of it is in our individual hands and our choices will determine the outcomes - own and group. I’m not going to be one of the theoretical 13 that falls……..are you? All the best for April everyone!

New members for this week……..

We’ve welcomed 4 new soldiers this week………King1984, Drew2002, Chirst21 and HarrisonJ17. Our newest new member is King1984 - welcome mate! HarrisonJ17 - you’ll be two weeks clean tomorrow - that’s great going soldier……keep it up and welcome to the group! Drew2002 and Chirst21, you’ve made a superb contribution to this group already, some really positive and supportive posts, thanks for this - I have a sense that the four of you will be great for the team……..we’ve had an amazing retention of new members over the last few weeks so the challenge to you all is to keep this going. Welcome to all of you and all the best for your recovery journey with us.

Missing member…….

I don’t normally front end this section, but I wanted to call out our one missing soldier this week. As the week has been progressing I’ve been growing increasingly concerned about redeemed, who is a regular and hugely valued contributor on the challenge pages. I am aware that she’s been having a really tough time and may have had a blip……….if this is the case and we see her return to the group, which I sincerely hope she does, then I’d ask that everyone to show the levels of support and encouragement that someone who has been clean for so long so richly deserves. Redeemed, if you read this, please come back to join us and if you have had a blip, then feel no shame or guilt, you are one of us and we want you with us…….day 1 or day 1001, we are with you.

Milestones celebrated in the week……

AdamPrice, rst18 and Strange - both broke through the 10 week barrier this week and past the 70 day mark of being free. Really well done folks!

Batman - went through the half century and past the 50 day milestone - superb going Batman…..no joke(r)!

Batman, Hitthefan, mjpsmummy, luckygirl, newhorizon71 and ToBeOrNot - all got through their first full calendar month gamble free. Important milestones team!

Milestones coming up this week…….

Wednesday 9th April - luckygirl will hit the half century! 50 days clean girl - brilliant going!

Saturday 12th April - 2012theyear will reach 20 weeks of being clean…….stay strong Craig, really tough times for you mate but I have so much admiration for you keeping on track with your recovery.

Saturday 12th April - hitthefan reaches 10 weeks of being clean - 70 days and into double figures of weeks is a great achievement!

Saturday 12th April - ToBeOrNot celebrates the half century!! 50 days TBON……..seems to have gone by so quickly! Really well done!

This weeks awards…………

There is no greater award to issue this week than to the 35 soldiers who got through last week as part of the team and also to the new guys who have joined and got through the week too. It’s without doubt been the hardest week for a spotlight being on the industry and big events taking place. To have got through the week in such large numbers is testimony to the individuals involved and their determination to maintain their recovery. However, the support on this thread in the week has been simply overwhelming……I’m sure those who received it are extremely thankful that we have this forum and the outlet to share our thoughts etc., but to know that you are cared about and valued takes it to a completely different level. The Challenge 2014 team members are the Heroes of the Week!

I also want to recognise those of you who are having significant personal issues, whether it’s relationship, financial, losing loved ones, health, with work……….or with the other things that life throws at us. There seems to have been really strong themes emerging in some of these areas with team members on the thread recently…………every day is a challenge for everyone in recovery, however, it’s important to understand the scale of the challenge to stay clean from gambling when everything around you is falling apart…………I have so much admiration for those of you in the situation where it seems that everything is conspiring against you……yet you are still staying clean when in a previous life you would have headed for an online site or a bookies. Thank you all so much for your commitment to your recovery and to this team……..and also for sharing your journey with us. No names for the award………but you know who you are……….you are Heroes.

Onto the Roll of Honour……..

Here’s the list of soldiers who will march into the coming week together…………

Name Days

The_Rock 126

lec101 118

Hardtimes 117

babybluesky 117

bornagain 110

Happy Days 115

2012theyear 134

lostafortune 30

No Maybe 165

Mr Brightside 119

rst18 71

Delboy79 237

Batman 52

Hitthefan 64

mjpsmummy 39

luckygirl 47

newhorizon71 42

Baggins 35

ToBeOrNot 44

Kickitnow 32

NoCrisis 23

triangle 24

Scambling 120

ringerbell 24

delboygolf 17

AdamPrice 74

RobbyBox 8

Spaingone 20

davey 3

FlyingFox1 30

Strange 73

CasinoLoser 14

Bex123 12

Shorty8 15

NotHappy 12

Disco 6

HarrisonJ17 13

Chirst21 10

Drew2002 7

King1984 7

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

2326 Days = £232,600 in our pockets………………..£0 in the bookies!!!

What a number!!

Before I close this week, just a reminder about the gathering next year - I’ve had a few notes of interest sent to me and will keep this open until Sunday 20th April for anyone else to express their desire to go. The email address is [email protected] - to make it worthwhile organising, we definitely need 10 or more people showing an interest………or I’ll organise something closer to home for the Scottish contingent!

That’s the update for this week everyone……..looking forward to next Sunday……..let’s stretch ourselves to a 95% retention target, get over 7 years clean as a group, stay above 40 in terms of team members and move past £1/4 million pounds saved!

Check in is already open for next week - don’t forget the new midnight Saturday night deadline.

Have a great week everyone……clean and happy!

Mr Brightside

Another brilliant update Mr B. Glad that weeks over and we are almost all still here. Keep up the good work everybody 🙂