Thanks for the mention Mixer.
Feels good to have hit 100, i only have 2 counselling sessions left now, she wants me to think about what i want out of my last 2 sessions, think we have covered a hell of a lot. i can see myself growing as a person, im getting more confident im doing things id have never done 2/3 year ago im opening up to friends, family and partner more often. No thoughts about gambling for a few weeks now which is great had a really good christmas and new year.
Had a bit of a meltdown the other day after managing to save money and treat myself the past few months i lost my wallet at York outlet which was a bummer as it was the better halfs birthday and i wanted to take her out that night (good excuse losing wallet 😉 ) luckily someone had found it and posted it to my work address all monies gift cards etc still inside.
enough waffling im off to see my beloved blades 🙂
Stay GF all
Hey guys . Checking in on 103 days ! Great to hit the century and I’m treating myself to something nice to celebrate !
Evening All; I'll have a personal reply to everyone whose checked in during the last couple of days tomorrow; and great to welcome a new member - Godoicul too! Full replies tomorrow, my friends 🙂 !
Hi mixer I'm striving to hit that striver level as you recommended. Last gamble day for me was 23rd Dec and the finances are already a lot better. Here's to go good start to 2018, thank you mixer for ur continued advice and faith in me.
​
Morning Mixer and all the Guru Challengers. Wishing everyone a great weekend. I am pleased as punch and 10 days gamble free.
Off to the gym shortly for a swim & a steam than spend the day pottering about. One things for sure, I won't be having a bet.
A quick Saturday update.
Christer1 - thank you for checking in. 'Steady as the ship sails', as they say!
Slot Fool - 9 weeks gambling free [quickly does the maths...], that's 63 days! Really great stuff SF!
Chartom3 - Good, good ... back up to Striver. All in the right direction.
Godoicul - A very warm welcome to our group. It takes a certain kind of person to join us ... you are that certain kind of person. You've made a good decision! Look forward to getting to know you.
Mitch - We'll talk about your reaching the triple day GF milestone tomorrow but great news to hear about the return of your missing wallet. I had a similar good result yesterday. I left my mobile in the cinema (good film, by the say - 'The Darkest Hour'), rushed back in and someone had handed it in. Good karma all round, Mitch? Who knows, but when we create our own luck (by not gambling), I like to think that luck generally is on our side... not always, for sure, but I'm glad, regardless of the result, you haven't relapsed.
Boxingday - enjoy that great feeling you get when you pass a major milestone. Just the beginning, in a way, but what a marker you've set 🙂
Adam123 - It's a real pleasure to see you are really having a go at this Adam. I continue to have faith in you - without a doubt. Really good to read your progress, my friend.
Abstainer - Thank you for the upate, Stephen, and great you're combining being gambling free with a healthy lifestyle. The perfect combination!
*** Full rollcall tomorrow! ***
Checking in 170 days gf
New year, new me positive and focused xx
Good morning, checking in with 30 days GF. Today I will not gamble good luck everyone!
226 GF DAYS ! Checking in, cheers mixer my man .
Checking in 102 days.
Hello fellow challengerschecking in on day 77. Hope we have all had a good weekend lets end it with another gamble free day!!!
** GURU CHALLENGE - Latest WEEKLY ROLLCALL! ***
It's Sunday, 14th January 2018
Good evening everyone and I hope you’re keeping well.
Now, normally I open with a preamble but, just for this week, am going to link to a post I wrote that was developed from what I wrote last week. It’s increased in length to around 1,800 words, but encapsulates much about what I’ve learned about this insidious addiction we have the misfortune to have. I’d be interested to hear what you think about it – it might take a while to read, just to warn you; but hopefully it’s worth it.
So, it’s on with the show.
WE WELCOME
Godoicul – A warm welcome to you. As you’ve said, having gone 16 months gambling-free, your relapse was the kick up the **** you needed to shake you back onto the gambling-free path again. A no-nonsense approach that is going to endear you to other members of our Challenge group; there’s no BS here. Welcome aboard.
ROLLCALL OF HONOUR
Phil72 – Congratulations on hitting 700 days gambling free; that’s a terrific achievement and being ever-present on these forums show that every day is hard-won without an ounce of complacency. Fantastic stuff Phil!
Three new ELDERs join the ranks!
Mitch91 – Congratulations for this important achievement, proving you can handle, and have put in place an excellent strategy for, 3 solid months’ of tempations!
Boxingdayfresh – Our second ELDER meaning business. We congratulate you BoxingDay, you’ve hit that date and beyond. You know this matters. Great stuff!
Paulll – 102 days – And making up our triple-whammy of 100-dayers is Paul. We doff our caps, Paul, this is a real achievement hard-won and you’re ready for similarly better days ahead, proving your credentials. Well done mate.
Our GURUs
Phil72 – 705 days – ROCKING! Like you, I miss the Chatroom, what a ‘golden hour’ it is. Let’s hope the Gamcare top brass earn their brass and do something about it, soon.
Changemylife – 443 days – ROCKING! – Thank you for your kind words last week and glad you enjoyed the joke. You’ll be pleased to learn – another one today!
Our ELDERs
Degenerate – 292 days – ROCKING! I’ve enjoyed our ‘chats’ on the Forum Chatroom (R.I.P. but it was worth a shot!). Always good to chat to a fellow ‘techie’ too; I don’t know about you but I’m never far from a screen, coding, writing documents or on here! No wonder I’m so short-sighted!
Sars27 – 226 days – ROCKING! – I’ve been reading about your speeding incident the other day, and being fined for going 42mph in a 40mph zone seems a little harsh to me. A little flexibility from our Boys in Blue wouldn’t have gone amiss. But as you say, it hasn’t ‘tilted’ you and you remain GF. That's the money shot 🙂
Rubybaby – 170 days - ROCKING! – Thank you for the check in Ruby and wonderful to hear that you’re keeping GF and, as a result, positive and focused not any being GF, but for life itself. It’s always heartwarming to receive check ins like yours!
Adamjamal2014-2017 – 167 – ROCKING! – You’re sensibly, as I wrote last week, looking forward to short and medium term targets. That makes perfect sense and the way to go.
Mixer – 156 – ROCKING! I’ve been booking holidays for 2018 left right and centre (a series of short breaks), none of which would have been affordable if I’d’ve carried on gambling. This benefits my family who can’t wait. Isn’t this what life’s about?
Amt722 – 150 – ROCKING! – Thank you for checking in and hope January’s not too financially stretching for you. Christmas always takes it out of us, but at least, being gamble free, it was worth it.
Raj – 148 – ROCKING! – You haven’t checked in for a short while but hope all’s well with you Raj. Do get it touch, always good to hear from you!
4D – 130 – ROCKING! Thank you for your kind words and great to see you’re ‘trucking’ along. Hey, the middle lane is the best place to be. A bit of slow and fast good too, as long as we don’t veer off the GF motorway.
Boxingdayfresh – 105 days – ROCKING! Yes, a triple figure GF and storming past the milestone. Time to relax a little, catch your breath, and pace the next 100. You’ve passed the probation, here’s the real test. One day at a time!
Mitch91 – 102 days - ROCKING! – Once again congratulations for your ton-up. Don’t forget, once your counselling sessions have finished, keep the continuity. I’m sure your counsellor will advise you how to keep focused once the sessions complete.
Paulll – 102 days - ROCKING! Excellent Paul, steadily eating up those days, days of life itself, one day at a time. Focus, interest, awareness of yourself and others; it all returns when we’re gambling free. Clarity of thought is priceless.
Our STRIVERS
Velvet7 – 96 days – ROCKING! – Haven’t heard from you for a while, Velvet; I hope all’s well with you, do get in touch if you’re able.
Marson123 – 77 - ROCKING! – Thank you for checking in and your sentient is right – let’s finish the weekend with a gambling free day. It might be mid-January but when you’re gambling free it’s a good time.
Christer1 – 76 – ROCKING! – Thanks for the check in and your advice to others is spot on – self-exclude from everything. Us recovering gamblers can be very crafty so we need to block all tempations – willpower is usually not sufficient.
Slotfool - 66 – ROCKING! – 66 days gambling free, 2/3rds of the way to Elder. I believe you can do this, with a disciplined approach, one day at a time. I believe in you.
re-RESOLVED MEMBERS
Chartom3 (*ELDER status achieved*) – 36 – ROCKING! Yes. Back into Striver territory with a steely resolve. And delighted to hear your counselling sessions are really bearing fruit.
NiceNormalFamily - 30 – ROCKING! – A key, critical milestone navigated, NNF, you should be proud of your achievement. My goodness, you will be thinking about gambling a LOT now you’re in a ‘cold turkey’ state. My advice: Think about gambling by all means! Don’t suppress the thoughts; it’s hard enough stopping. But think to yourself: thank goodness I’m not gambling, that I don’t have to do this anymore. Be happy, that, day to day, you’re gambling free! That seems a counter-intuitive view, but how relaxing it is that you don’t have to stop the thoughts, simply don’t translate them into action. In time, these thoughts will start to disippate, slowly but naturally.
Adam123 - 22 – ROCKING! – You have played this Challenge honestly and warts an’ all from the start, Adam, and I am personally delighted you’ve broken away from the usual week or two before you’ve faltered again. Let’s build on this momentum, Adam, and see you hit Striver. I promise you, that would make my day! I KNOW you’ll be honest. I’m looking forward to next week!
Abstainer (*ELDER status achieved*) - 11 - ROCKING! – Thank you checking in and I read a lot of the inspirational, supportive messages you send to others, whilst continuing to keep a strong hand at the tiller for your own journey. I will pass by your diary later!
RESTING
Moorey – RESTING – It is with reluctance I have to rest you from the forum Moorey. But please get in touch if you can; you’re a member of our group no matter what. We’ll support you, you know that, Ok.
Veebee – RESTING - Sadly I have to rest you from the Challenge, Veebee, but do get it touch, and hope all’s well.
STATS FOR NERDS: Two of our team have been rested this week, and a new member has joined us. Our totals are: 2 GURUs, 11 ELDERs, 4 STRIVERs and 5 NEW/re-RESOLVEDs; a net total of 22.
Let’s keep 2018 going as we mean to go on!
*** JOKE OF THE WEEK ***
Jack was about to marry Jill and his father took him to one side.
'When I married your mother, the first thing I did when we got home was
take off my trousers,' he said.
'I gave them to your mother and told her to put them on.
When she did, they were enormous on her and she said to me that she
couldn’t possibly wear them as they were too large...
'I told her, 'of course they're too big. I wear the trousers in this family
and I always will’.
Ever since that day, we’ve never had a single problem.”
Jack took his father's advice and as soon as he got Jill alone after the
wedding, he did the same thing; took off his trousers, gave them to
Jill and told her to put them on.
Jill said that the trousers were too big and she couldn't possibly wear them.
'Exactly,' replied Jack. ‘I wear the trousers in this relationship and I always
will. I don't want you to forget that.'
Jill paused and removed her knickers and gave them to Jack.
'Try these on,' she said; so he tried them on but they were too small.
'I can't possibly get into your knickers,' said Jack.
'Exactly,' replied Jill..
'And if you don't change your bloody attitude, you never will!”
🙂
Let’s keep strong; keep sharing and keep strong!
Mixer
Thanks mixer for the words of encouragement it means a lot. Still gamble free horray
​
Cheers Mixer. The Jack and Jill joke brought a smile to my face.
Lol at the joke Mixer.
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