2016 Challenge

Check in Day 40 for me

checking in 60 days.

Checking in on day 123

Hi everyone!

Just thought I'd pop in and say hi to you all and wish everyone in the challenge the strength to get through each day this year gamble free.......it truly is a one day at a time journey.

I can't believe that it's been over 2 years that the challenges began on this site and I've still got many reasons to be thankful I found it. My profile will tell you that I'm nearly 780 days without gambling - the truth is that in among those days I had 1 where I did. Early September 2015 for some reason saw me step into a random bookies and lose a couple of hundred quid on a fobt. It was a real wake up call - complacency is the enemy. The triangle still applies........in fact, I now have a square and not a triangle. At the fourth corner is common sense. Take away money, you can't gamble, take away a location, you can't gamble, take away time, you can't gamble, take away common sense, you want to gamble. I find I still want to gamble.....I try to convince myself I don't miss it, but at times I do. Maybe "missing it" isn't the right way to describe it - I'm not sure what I miss, the buzz, the anticipation etc. What I don't miss is waking up with the gambling dread - that "I've just been punched in the stomach gut wrenching feeling accompanied by the sweats" - if you're reading this then you know the one. Anyway, back to common sense......alcohol takes away my common sense - it was that corner of my square that collapsed first.......I had a bit of money in my pocket, I had half an hour before my train and I was in a major city 30 miles from home - perfect storm.

You need to believe you can do it - letting in any doubt, trying to justify another bet, making excuses - all will end with just one more punt. It can be done........stopping can be achieved.......even though the want may still be there. Don't beat yourself up about what you've lost, it's gone. No matter who or what you are, you can't influence what happened yesterday. You can influence today........and today and every day, tell yourself, today I will not bet. Keep the square strong.

When I joined GamCare, I was more than £30k in debt, I was separated from my wife and daughter, my performance at work was dreadful and my relationships with the people who meant the most to me were distant at best.

Two years on and in April this year I will pay my final gambling debt off. I will celebrate this by taking my wife and daughter out for some food and looking forward to our holiday this year. I will drive to work, to my new work that is, in a promoted role in a new company. I will continue to keep my guard up by phoning my mum daily. She will no doubt give me an update on my accounts - after all, she has been looking after them for over two years now. She still scrutinises my withdrawals - thankfully. I have got over the loss of privacy as to my financial affairs - if I was truly serious about stopping then it was something I simply had to do. I could not trust myself with finances that others could not see.

I am not bragging, I am not being provocative, I am hopefully giving you reasons to believe. You need to create the conditions in which you can succeed. No secrets. the humility to know when you need help. The consequence of you don't.

I truly hope that you succeed in your endeavours and can come through this. You've made a great start by being on this forum and in this challenge. I no longer count the days, I make the days count.

Be safe, be free and be square!

Tri, Suzanne, DelBoyGolf....and all the other "old timers" so great to see you going strong.

I'm Mr Brightside.

Hi all,

Welcome to this weeks check-in. Firstly, thanks to Mr Brightside for dropping by. For those that don't know, he ran the 2014 challenge excellently. Sorry to hear about the blip...but if you'd been offered 1 day of gambling in 780 when you started, you'd have taken it.

Also congrats to Happy Days for a great post and sorting out his mortgage. Inspirational stuff mate.

Welcome to the challenge mjb123. Hope it helps you with your recovery and abstinence.

Apart from that - everyone else who has checked in has reported a gamble free week...testament to your own hard work and hopefully this challenge has also helped a tiny bit too (I find it helps seeing the days ratchet upwards).

We seem to have lost 7 people this week..please check in if you can and you'll be re-added to the challenge (Chartom3, brutus123c, D-Weston, Dez1, abc123, Halfmist43 & Ryan18).

Hope you all have a great, positive week ahead. Have a good gamble-free week!

Gary

Great post Mr B I too have turned my triangle into a square with will power in the other corner I'm sure it can share with common sense.

KTF

Ditto to that Mr B - So glad ur ok and are getting on with your life and not worrying about gambling at all

Glads dad in safe n sound

Thats the thing with addiction. It never really goes away for an addict. Glad your ok Mr Brightside 🙂

Checking in this week too. Gamble free but not complacent free.

Tri

Lovely to hear from you Mr B, and a great positive post as always:) I like the phase be square, :))

And a big week done to Happy Days being able to get a mortgage:)) and giving us another positive post.

Thsnks Gary for the weekly update, much appreciated.

Have a good, strong and positive week troops,keep strong and stay safe, and we are on the last week of Jsnuary, so thst in itself is positive :))

, Checking in for the week on 637 days of winning for real.

Suzanne xx

Day 1 - I'm not gambling anymore! Over the past 4 year's ive gambled alittle over £15,000 and only took approx £2000 away from this total. The issue is my family and friend's love to go to the casino 2-3 times a year!

Yesterday i lost £450 and that is the end of my gambling. im 26 year's old and have nothing going for me! so im going to give up chasing my loses and save for something else (my own place, car ect)!

Day 2 here we come!

I would like to join this. I gambled today but want to change starting from tomorrow. Tomorrow is fresh and new for me, hopefully. I currently owe around £2,700. Mostly it's money I owe my girlfriend and she wants the majority back by the time she starts university in Septmeber. I currently don't have a job either as I lost it due to redudant

Checking in day 152
Cheryl x

Back again,,,Day 5,,after over a year and having some money for a change I give in to the online casino and it hit back,, the next day I closed my acount and got myself blocked from it,, think thats about 10 now i am blocked from,, Anyway here goes another year,,no matter how long you think you have this Gambling under control,,never let down your guard it will be waiting to get you

barryt27 wrote:

Back again,,,Day 5,,after over a year and having some money for a change I give in to the online casino and it hit back,, the next day I closed my acount and got myself blocked from it,, think thats about 10 now i am blocked from,, Anyway here goes another year,,no matter how long you think you have this Gambling under control,,never let down your guard it will be waiting to get you

a lesson many never learn

barryt27 wrote:

Back again,,,Day 5,,after over a year and having some money for a change I give in to the online casino and it hit back,, the next day I closed my acount and got myself blocked from it,, think thats about 10 now i am blocked from,, Anyway here goes another year,,no matter how long you think you have this Gambling under control,,never let down your guard it will be waiting to get you

Well done Barryt27 for having the balls to come back to the forum and admit your minor blip. You have done brilliantly by going over a year without gambling, and if you can learn from you last mistake, I am sure you can go on another successful gamble free streak.

Mike