2015 Challenge

insanity wrote:

Hi sorry for being away - I've been gambling like a mad man - feels like 7 months for nothing, it hurts and it was the worst i have ever been - a warning to all - its a progressive problem and it is a problem that none of us deserve and i wish everyone with this condition/illness/problem whatever you call it, i wish that you all kick it and kick it for good. I'm gonna have a break from here, maybe a good or bad choice but this is my choice and I'm going to try some new avenues of help and hope that i find the answer for me, as each of our recoveries our different and our own. I plan on trying councilling for the first time and hope that will help, time will tell. I want to thank everyone for the help and just having this challenge and the site as a whole has been a big help it may have come to a halt but it certainly has helped me and i'll keep striving forward. Best wishes to you all, I'm sure it wont be my last last post but it probably will be for a while. Thanks again.

Best wishes to you insanity I'm sorry I missed your post earlier in the week.

Wish you success with pursuing your alternative route to recovery and of course you'd be welcome to rejoin this challenge at any time.

We all need to approach recovery in our own way and if you think counselling is the way forward I respect that.

If you feel you want to drop by and let us know how you're getting on in the future feel free to do so.

All the best to you and I wish you well.

boxingdaysmay15 (Clare)

Check in on day 164...... finding it hard but glad to say still gamble free

re checking in for the week if not done so

Keep matching troops

Onwards to recovery

Hi all!

I thought I'd add a little about myself to reinforce the need to keep coming back here and stay away from the gambling demon. I started with bingo sites and then discovered the online slots and that became my downfall. I dread to think how much I have lost over time but that stops NOW. I started on the bingo sites when my little girl was a baby and she's five now so I guess around 5 years. Not as long as some but long enough to know it's time to stop.

My laptop broke ages ago and my ipad has blocks on it so I have only been using my mobile in recent months. There are still far too many sites to choose from and no matter how many I exclude myself from I can always find a new one if I really want to. I am just waiting for some 'winnings' to clear into my bank account and then I will exclude from the site I have been using most recently. Once I have seen that money go into my acocunt I intend to install K9. The only problem with that is that I like sites about spiritual stuff and it blocks them as well. I would pay for gamblock but the last time I did that it REALLY messed up my phone so I am reluctant to do that again. I know, I'm making excuses and that is something I need to stop doing. I think I will order a new debit card and scratch the security code off as suggested by some people on here. That way it will be impossible for me to use it. I will do the same for my credit card. I will then just have to use my husband's card if I want to buy anything online. That's not a bad thing though as I shop too much online anyway!!

I will make a concerted effort to keep coming back on here at least a couple of times a week to check in and confirm I have not been gambling.

Onwards and upwards.

Sophie x

Checking in day 201! Finally passed the 200 day mark. So busy with work and playing football that I barely have time to think about gambling anymore!

Good afternoon All,

Checking in on 616 gamble free days after a brilliant week’s holiday in Sunny / Rainy Cornwall with my family. It’s a good feeling that my wife can happily use our bank cards now without having the embarrassment of the cashier saying ‘Sorry your card has been declined’... This was a regular occurrence when I was gambling and I would have to make up some lies for why we had no money in our account.

Well that was the past and I don’t want to ever return to those dark times in my life. But I will take it a day at a time with my recovery.

Well done Mrdaniel1 on getting past 200 gamble free days. A great achievement and may it long continue.

Have a good weekend.

Mike

The demons never go away

I'm on 160 days but tempted to have a bet

thank god for this site

no gambling period

jim

Checking in anyway 160 days

jim

Welcome to the challenge Sophie.

I'm sure many of us can relate to your familiar story about gambling. You've said yourself it's time to be honest with yourself and now is the time to finally kick this habit into touch. It's never going to make you happy and by the sounds of it you're making efforts now to remove the ability to gamble by changing arrangements with your debit / credit cards. I found this helpful myself and if you can make it pretty much impossible to gamble, all the better.

Congratulations on reaching 200 days mrdaniel1 really pleased to hear you're busy enjoying life and not giving gambling a second thought. When your life music volume is high, gambling becomes less significant in our lives. This is an ideal place to be. Urges coming less and less frequently and getting busy living and forgetting about gambling. Still checking in once a week is a good idea though, keeps you realising how far you've come and avoids complacency a little I find.

Welcome back to you Mike and congrats on 616 days. Lovely to read how much nicer things are with your credit card situation too! Those embarassing days are well and truly in your past.

Best wishes all and as mentioned previously, this weeks update will be Monday this week.

boxingdaysmay15

(Clare)

Checking in day 231

Checking in on 216 days.

Best Wishes to everyone.

Checking Inn day 146 days

Checking in on day 147...keep up matty21 lol

Checking in Day 15

Day 1 for me. gambled yesterday. didnt enjoy it. Payday this week, i will just check in once a week i think, as checking in with such a low day count isnt great. before the end of 2015 i will have a 50 day fobt free life. Work has improved recently, so with that it should spur me on. Had 39 days free of fobt recently, so i know i can do it.