2015 Challenge

Day 57
Cheryl

Day 23 checking in . Stay strong this week with payday .

Morning everyone, day 39, feeling quite down at the minute,don't know why,think I may be overdoing the gym and blood sugars are low or something,well done to Emily and stone roses for staying on the forum,it's the easiest thing to quit when you suffer a setback,but you can beat this,we are all behind you and certainly not judging you in any way,if anything I respect you both even more for your honesty and courage,please don't give up giving up!xxx

Great update Phil,

Checking in for the week on day 273 and feeling very positive as I start the new week.

Well done to,Emily and Stone roses for carrying on and not giving up, It takes a lot of courage and strength, and they have certainly shown that.

Have a good safe and strong week all.every single day we are in recovery we get stronger.

Suzanne x

Morning troops, just a note for shep, you left a very brief introduction, can you please post again this week with a little more about yourself and then I will add you to the front page and check you in.

Congratulations to I wished, 9 months today Suzanne, the early days we struggled to cope for 9 hours, so to do 9 months really is a top achievement, I'm so pleased for you!

Keep the check ins coming in troops, stay strong this week, I want to go into February with all of you at my side.

Checking in on day 24. This week will be my first payday since I started my recovery, but I'm not going to let my fellow soldiers down, and I'm not gonna let myself down. Good luck everyone, march on as ever.

Just checking in on day 230 stay strong people and just take it one day at a time

Emily82 wrote: hi emily i feel exactly the same as you this morning day two for me after 10 years of trying to stop going to do it this time and so are you lets do it together

Good Morning Phil and Mr Brightside (actually it's a terrible morning for me). Unfortunately I need to remove myself from the challenge as I slipped badly last night and don't feel strong enough to say I'm not gambling anymore. My losses are raw and whilst writing this I am crying for the first time (knew the tears were in here somewhere). I'm so sorry for letting everyone down. I don't really have anymore words but as soon as I'm out of the awful place I will be back. Stronger and more determined than ever.. I'm sorry

Emily x

hi day two for me am reading everything im getting a lttle comfort from knowing im not the only one with this horrible problem am going to try and post every day dont feel up to sharing long story quite yet thankyou for any support

Bornagain wrote: hi phil can i join 2 days now without gambling really want your support

Thanks for the message TickFollowsTock, you will be added to the list on the front page and included in this weeks update. Lets hope that experience on Saturday will be the last time you play on a FOBT.

hi phil can i join your challenge two days for me

Hi all and thanks for the update Phil.

I was updating my own diary this morning and added a post on the things that have changed in my life since I joined this challenge over a year ago. I thought it would be a positive thing to post it on the challenge. Also checking in nice and early this week! 🙂

Day 415

As promised I have compiled a list of all the improvements to my life since abstaining from gambling. I am still fairly early into my recovery having stopped for almost 14 months, however given the extent of my gambling I feel I have come a long way.

This is my list and of course every individual that stops gambling will see different improvements, but hopefully some of the things on here will help you with your own recovery just knowing that it is possible.

This list is in no particular order as this way I can continue to add to it.

-Financially: This is probably the most obvious, however very hard to see as an improvement. For the first 3-4 months I had no more money in my pocket than when I was gambling. Still the same story where the last week before payday I was absolutely skint. This is because I had several payday lenders hassling me for money, as well as several other people. I worked out the best way financially to pay off my debts and of course started with the payday loans. A couple of them when I phoned and explained my gambling problem agreed to freeze the interest and break the payment down equally over 4 months. This saved me a few hundred pounds in the long run and the best thing is that after admitting my gambling problem they refused to lend to me again. The first 3 months were the hardest, as any money I had went towards paying something off. I never had anymore money in my pocket and it didn't feel as though things were any different financially since abstaining from gambling. Another thing I did was create a budget plan over the course of 12 months. I knew exactly where my money was going and how much I had spare for lets say going out for a beer now and again. Possibly the most important feature of being able to stay in control at the early stages was that I cut my bank card in half and gave it someone I trust to hide. This meant that I had to always go into the bank to withdraw my weekly 'allowance' and I could still manage my bank online without the temptation of falling into online gambling, as I had no idea what the long numbers were on the card. The card was still fairly new too and I had not registered in on any website. If this is something that may work for you then it may be a good idea to order a new card first and then pass it on to someone you trust before looking the the card number or registering it anywhere.

-Relationship: Without going into much personal detail, I am happy to say that after a long time me and my partners relationship is just about as good as it could get thanks to stopping gambling. This is something that takes time and something that cant be rushed. If this is something your struggling with then just stick with it. Be honest about how you feel and talk about your problem.

-No Stress: Gone are the days of ups and downs and all that is on your mind is 'how to win your money back.' Blowing your wages, visiting payday lenders, blowing that and then lying to conceal the extent of what you've done until after 6 months of repeating the above, it all comes to a head and you breakdown. Too many times I went through that... Now theres no more sleepless nights, no more lies, no more stories and no more ups and downs. This is the one benefit I felt almost immediately and spurred me on in the early days to keep going. The weight lifted off your shoulders is a great feeling.

-Time: Without gambling, I have lots more time to do with as I please. At first I had to find things to do in order to fill my spare time, which was queit difficult and I felt bored some of the time. A year on and I have much to do with my time and struggle to fit everything in. Gambling just cant fit into my life anymore.

-Better quality of life: This again took time and took several months to see/feel it. As my debts were slowly paid off I had the odd spare bit of money in my pocket to 'treat' myself from time to time. Even going to a pub for the odd beer feels great because I know I can afford it. Many things fall under this section from being able to move house to being able to support myself or just going out every other week. I am happy and my partner is happy and thats all that matters and this has been achieved due to being able to lead a better quality of life.

-Family and friends: This is still a work in progress as they still dont understand the means of what I did and where I have got to today, but I know that given more time that this will also improve and I look forward to it.

-Seeing a future: After many years of just plodding along, we are able to plan our future and it feels great working together towards the bigger picture. There are many things to look forward to and this motivates me so much that I feel I will never fall back into the old routine of gambling.

I'm sure there much more that I could add and I will add them as I think of them. Hopefully by reading some of the above points this will motivate some lf you who have recently stopped and struggling with the past that there is light at the end of the tunnel no matter how hard things may be right now.

Thats all for today 🙂

Scambling

P.S - If you would like to read more about my story, my diary is titled 'CROUPIER, 13 months GF'

Phil, thanks, one word.... Legend

Hi, my name's Billy and I'm checking in for the 2015 challenge. I've written a detailed post in the intros section of why I'm here. I'm simply addicted to gambling. It all happened three years ago when I decided to stop. Then after 8-9 months I relapsed into playing poker. A few years later and at the preset day I wasted £500 in a couple of hours in the local casino. It's no good and I've decided to tell my girlfriend and stop completely.

All the best!

no your not the only one lara

welcome and yes posting daily is a great idea