2015 Challenge

Checking inn day 34 🙂 life's good hope everybody ok.

Bornagain wrote:

Happy happy days, well done on bringing up 400 days Mike. Its good that at the start of the year with so many new members that we can all see the impact the 2014 challenge has had on some of us. This time next year there will be more of us hitting 400 days!

Keep the check ins coming in and for anyone struggling this week or struggling because another weekend is close do your best to fight the urges, Giving in to the urges will lead us back into a life full of pain, deceit and of course take away every penny we have. Read a few diaries on here or shout out for some support, we are all in this together and with each other we can make 2015 our year!

Thanks Phil,

The days are adding up nicely but one lack of concentration on my behalf and I will be back in the brown stuff.....

The thoughts of gambling are getting distant but I am literally taking it a day at a time. Keep up your good work on here as it is benefiting lots of people on a daily basis.

Enjoy the weekend.

Mike

Evening to everybody,

Checking in for 30 days GF. Very busy week for myself, had couple of interviews for a new job, Thursday been to O2, watching my 1st NBA Live . Great show, now looking forward for the weekend. Think positive, stay strong and dream for a year GF. Good luck to everybody.

Great posts from lolypop and inspiration to follow and stay free. Can totally totally related to where I used to just need to get the £20 back to get back to a square 600 or whatever then within minuted id lost the lot, couple of loss bets then not much on so into the casino online, thiniking surely I should get a bit ofl luck tonight.

Checking in onI think around day 9 here, feel so so different. It's quite scary how different I feel, calm, forcused and most importantly happy!

My admin style job for an online bookies makes it hard to stay away from, but dont mind watching and staying strong, tbh the focus I have and disgust for the industry is making not betting easy, it comes into my head and goes but I feel like thanks to some of the posts on this forum i now just know! Will not get complacent at all thogh and this is just the start.

Keep going everyone, amazing energy from this threa, so happy to be a part of! Enjoy your weekends x

Hi All - checking in GF on day 227.

Great update Phil - seamless from 2014 :).

Had a tough week with family ilnesses! Running around and pretty exhausted but still Gf and taking one day at a time, marching forward to a gamble free future.

Good to see so many marching on this challange. There will always be casuaties on any campaign, especially those in their first period of abstinence. Like any compulsion, e.g. alcohol, smoking etc, there will be relapses, not for everyone, but % wise, especially with so many starting this march, there are inevitably going to be a few.

The re-assuring thing is seeing these fellows picking themselves up; reflecting; looking at the why's, re-assessing their reasons for abstaining and starting again.

In truth, every day is a Day 1 - I wake up and say 'I will not gamble today out of choice - my choice' and then get on with my day. If there are temptations, and there are many, I remind myself of my morning mantra, remind myself of the fact I have nothing to gain ~ just a lot to lose, and seconds later the urges reside.

I am lucky in that now being debt free and at the downsizing time of life, I don't need a 'big win' as there isn't anything I could do with it other than use it to fund more gambling! I know it could help out a lot of people but i found in the past that the short 'high' of a big win is usually followed by much longer lows, especially after its all dwindled away. only then would I remember what i could, and should, have spent it on - but never whilst I had a bank roll to feed my obsession!!

So keep marching soldiers towards your own personal goals and if you stumble or fall, we are all here to help pick you up and carry on being gamble free - its the only way to win!!

Have a happy gamble free week everyone.

Kind regards, Cliff

Hi All

Checking in again, Day 16 and no gambling to Report.

Had very little gambling thoughts as well which has been great, no time for complacancy though!

Well done to all Checking In each week

Hi everyone,

Checking in, 21 days gambling free

Jess

Checking in day 53.

Great work keeping everything updated Phil.

elchipper

Checking in 29 days. Thanks for the great updates Phil. This must take lots of time and effort and really appreciative as this is benefitting so many.

No gambling to report, life getting better day by day.

Come on troops we are missing 16 check ins! Check the front page to see if you are checked in, if you see anyone whos diary you post on and they are missing a check in give them a reminder. Don't let yourself slip away from this, your life will only go one way if you let gambling take over. Even if you the worst has happened and you have slipped up get back on here and start again. The best decision I made in 2014 was not to give up on the challenge when I slipped and by sticking with it I have gone from rock bottom to feeling really good about life. Reclaim your 2015, the gambling companies want to bleed you dry and take every penny that you have, don't let it happen!!!!!

Hi everyone,day 29 just checking in, a bit late I know but made it in time. Good luck to everyone doing this challenge and fighting this battle.I must say after 29 days I ve seen a big difference in myself and hopefully this will continue to improve over time.

Checking in Day 17, another good week, no thoughts of gambling, difficult to move away from all the damage thirty years of gambling has done as it`s all around, but yesterday has gone & it`s only today & tomorrow that I can make the right choices. Have a good weekend everyone.

Day 11 checking in, almost forgot!!!

Things are looking up!!!

Afternoon soldiers!!!

Apologies for not being about much in the last week or so - life volume is booming!! I'm sitting in a Costa coffee having just dropped the wee one off at her dance class with the day so far being spent taking my nephew for a couple of hours of driving lessons.......quite a difference from the Saturday mornings spent choosing teams, wondering which account to get more into debt on and ultimately spending my family's future........while ending my own. So, coffee, paper, forum, a happy nephew, a dancing daughter and the wonderful feeling of having blessed my family with a future and a happy me!!

It is amazing to watch the early progress of this group under Phil's stewardship - there's a new vibrancy, there's volume, there's positivity and there's hope. Hope is a word that is little used with gamblers in a positive context.......of course there's always the hope of that number landing, horse winning or team scoring........but that short term hope always leaves the ultimate despondency, regret and feeling of self loathing - I'll never miss that. Hope is wonderful - it provides energy, it gives purpose, it shapes ambition and it gives the license to look in the mirror and smile.

Congratulations to everyone who has maintained their hope by not gambling in the last week! Keep it going.

Del - thanks for the request to make the 2014 Challenge a sticky - I'll change the front page at some point to give more context over the next few days.

thanks to Phil for the amazing job he's doing - don't underestimate the time it takes to facilitate these pages - he will be investing hours every week. Your ownership is outstanding Phil........while for every soldier who's made the commitment and following it through, it's superb to see you all owning your outcomes too.

Mr Brightside is checking in for the week.........405 days gamble free, newly debt free, worry free, guilt free.........but never free from the risk of falling back into the clutches of the bookie.

Checking in, Phil now day 2, dusted down, a little sore but a lot wiser and more determined than ever. Many thanks to the supportive posts and advice. Will write more by way of thanks in my next post