Checking in day 65, not even a lotto ticket has been bought by myself since the day I decided to quit. THis week was huge for me as I saw my bank account go from red to black, and I did it without gambling! Heres to another week!
Day 318 - checking in for new week. Enjoy your Sunday fellow soldiers and stay marching. We are the winners now. Suzy
Morning troops, still 5 soldiers missing. I have a rare Sunday off work due to a rota change. Sadly my morning will be spent building some flat pack furniture. The update will be done this afternoon, so still a few hours to get 5 check ins.
Checking in late on day 40, finding payday loans the only short term fix at the moment. So wish I could have knocked this on the head at the very start of this year. How one slip has messed me up so much. To anyone struggling, don't slip, it's a downward spiral, I'm in a lucky place that I am due some inheritance sometime soon. But without this I would be taking out loan after loan, you can't win. Stop now before it gets you in too deep.
Sorry for late check in, checking in for another GF week. Still bring positive, neatly another month of this challenge through. Feel released from the pain of gambling though never complacent. Small steps one day at a time, keep strong!
Mo
Sorry for the late update, I'm 8 hours into building a flatpack wardrobe and I'm currently struggling to line the doors up. As soon as I have finished it or smashed it up I will get the update sorted!
Hey troops and Big Philla (or should we be calling you Flat Pack Phil now? 🙂 )
Decided to check in early for the week ahead and know that there's one less soldier for Phil to be concerned about. Having administered the challenge last year I can totally empathise with how it feels when so many are leaving it late or not bothering at all. It is the source of worry, obsessive thinking and worst of all, you actually take it personally. My ask for this week - all check ins are made by midnight on Friday giving Phil a worry free and enjoyable Saturday.
Sorry about your team Phil - major bummer.
Have a good week everyone.
Mr B
good looking out Mr B, hope your alright there Phil 🙂
Early check in so, day 8, feeling very positive
Checking in on day 2, still suffering but will overcome.
Challenge Update Week 17
Intro
We have been blessed with a week of gorgeous weather and hopefully we enjoyed it and made the most of it. It was also a week of big milestones happy days and mrbrightside both passed 500 days and delboygolf passed 400! So all in all plenty to celebrate. However I have noticed a few troops have struggled with urges, I wish I had the answer, sadly I don’t because the urges often come flooding back to me once I pass the 100 day mark. Maybe when the urges come we have to rewind the clock and really think of what worked for us back in day one. Anyway fortunately despite the urges most of you fought through them, so well done troops!
So we are almost done with April and we are 51 troops strong, sadly we have 4 soldiers who missed check in last week. Payday is imminent, so be extra vigilant troops, I certainly have to be on my toes this week and ensure I don’t get tempted! This Tuesday we have another female member of the 365 club, just shows what can be done! So lets make this week a positive week with lots of check ins and no slips, we can all do it!
Missing Soldiers
Garyl1976, Clarance123, Givingup4good and Danielle2015 sadly missed check in. I hope you are all still going strong and will return this week. Don’t forget the group chatroom on a Wednesday night or the group email if anyone needs some support [email protected]
Thanks To happy days
Last week I asked if anyone had any interesting articles or wanted to write something for future updates and Mike was kind enough to email me this really good article that was written 5 years ago on the Gamcare forum by James.
It's still action, isn't it?
I don't really believe that gambling is about winning money.
Nick the Greek, probably the world's most notorious gambler historically who won and lost somewhere in the region of $500 million dollars in the 1950's and 1960's, was interviewed at his retirement home, virtually broke and playing poker for $5 a go. The interviewer asked him how he could play for such small stakes after being such a high roller and he answered, It's still action, isn't it?
I once won around £4000 playing roulette in the Bookmakers one evening, more than I had ever won. I treated myself to the best hotel in town, an expensive meal and some good quality wine - I felt like I was on top of the world. But, around 10pm, I was very full, slightly tipsy and began to feel quite down - I couldn't understand it and went to the nearest bar for more alcohol where 'a quick go' on the fruit machines turned into £700 - it was a total waste of time as all three were only £35.00 jackpots and that money wasn't coming back; the futility of it all just pulled me down harder. The next day, still feeling down and with a slight hangover, I lost the other £3300, back on the roulette, in about an hour.
It was then I realised that it wasn't the money; it was the buzz, the excitement, the thrill of the chase and when that stops, whether you are significantly up or down, it slowly dawns on you that the fun was in the action itself and having money or not having money is irrelevant. Even if you win big, enormously big, the money becomes "stake" and you can't buy things with "stake" you can treat yourself, spend a small amount but no gambler will ever spend any significant portion of it. We are all completely deluded when we look back on all our winnings that we have subsequently lost and wonder what we could have bought, where we could have gone; it was never, ever going to happen and it's something to draw on we we think back to those times.
It took me a long time to realise this and fight to replace the buzz I got from gambling with something else. I probably drink more, eat more junk food, I probably have more down days than I did previously but I go hiking, play computer games, anything that comes close to replacing that feeling, that excitement.
It doesn't come quickly; the problem is that gamblers are probably some of the most impatient people in the world. But if you can hang on, get some money behind you, whether that takes months or years, the rewards are there to be had. Get active, make sure you can keep your mind occupied during dark or vulnerable times - I recommend a Laptop, Ipod, PSP; something that can give you a bit of a lift or buzz when you need it most. That won't work for everyone obviously but we all need to find our way and this is my way.
Thanks for the article Mike, if anyone else has anything for future updates please contact me on the group email.
Milestones In The Coming Week
chartom3, J33 and Tnsk all bring up 50 days this week, good start troops, heading in the right direction!!
brennzky and tt1980 hit ten weeks free in the coming days, well done troops, keep it up!!
mrdaniel1 and mjc1974 reach three months free this week, quarter of a year free, well done!!
shep and MrStop are centurions this week, well done on the big 100, stay strong troops!!
The most supportive and positive person on here and the recovery diaries is a year clean of gambling on Tuesday. Well done to I Wished really happy for you and look forward to your post on the big day!!
Roll of Honour/ Days Gamble Free!
Once again check I have the correct count for you and let me know if I don’t. Now for the good news, based on an average loss of fifty pounds per day whilst we gambled I’m pleased to say collectively we have saved the grand total of…………………………………………£333500…………………………………… that’s such a huge amount in our pockets and not a bookies, well done troops!!
Summing Up
Clearly this challenge is working, yes there have been slips along the way for some, but lots of you are making huge progress which I’m delighted to see. May is soon upon us and we have 51 brave soliders! Keep up the fight troops, don’t let the payday blues cause a slip. Have a great week everyone!!
Phil
Thanks for the update Phil! Interesting post!
Reminding me that I'll be hitting the 3 month mark this week is a good feeling. Focused on the 100 day milestone and will be a happy man when I get there!
I hope people can keep focused on the challenge.
Become addicted to the amount of gamble free days you are racking up. It's a far cheaper addiction than gambling!
Checking in day 319 have a great week everybody and just remember it can all fall apart with that one bet
Great update Phil, (even though you have made me blush lol) Your time and inspiring updates on here are truly keeping us all focused and determined to keep marching together on this Challenge thread.
Checking in on 364 days.
Keep strong all and have a good gambling free week, every day we abstain we are big winners.
suzanne xx
Checking in on day 8, can very much relate to your post Phil, for me it has never really been the stake just the buzz from playing, I have struggled to replace this and am still to find the best options.
Keeping myself busy helps, socialising is a big one for me and playing sport.
The challenge has begun....
Welcome to the challenge Dazz1982 you have been added to the front page and checked in.
Keep the check ins coming troops!
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